Special Exhibitions and Cultural Program in July and August 2011

Special Exhibitions

Radical Jewish Culture

The New York Music Scene Since 1990

At the beginning of the 1990s, an avant-garde Jewish music movement developed in the New York underground scene that became known as "Radical Jewish Culture." Musicians such as John Zorn, David Krakauer, Marc Ribot, Anthony Coleman, and Frank London passionately explored the possibilities for a new form of Jewish music, emancipating themselves from conformity and inconspicuousness. Their music blended free jazz forms with klezmer improvisations, experimental music with rock, blues, and punk. The exhibition "Radical Jewish Culture" presents this music scene through lots of music samples and primarily unpublished material.

An exhibition by the Musée d’art et d’histoire du Judaïsme, Paris.

When: 8 April to 24 July 2011

Where: Old Building, first level

Admission: 4 €, reduced rate 2 euros

Micha Ullman: Under

Micha Ullman is one of the most important Israeli sculptors of his generation. His family fled a Thuringian village in 1933 to Palestine, where he was born in Tel Aviv in 1939. His work has been shown in public places in Germany since the 1970s. Best-known is his memorial to the book burning at Bebelplatz.

The Jewish Museum Berlin acquired an important work by Micha Ullman last year: The installation "Under" is now on show with a series of works on paper by the artist acquired at an earlier date and a documentary film about Micha Ullman in the Eric F. Ross Gallery. The artist picks up on a thread that runs through many of his works, namely that the object itself is absent, invisible, and inaccessible. He thus enters into congenial dialog with the architecture of Daniel Libeskind and his concept of voids.

When: Extended to 31 July 2011

Where: Libeskind Building, ground level, Eric F. Ross Gallery in the permanent exhibition

Admission with the museum ticket (5 €, reduced rate 2 euros)

Program Surrounding the Special Exhibition "Radical Jewish Culture"

Socalled

Klezmer Hip Hop from Canada

Josh Dolgin aka Socalled, the klezmer-hip-hop maestro from Canada is musician, producer, beat architect, and visual artist all rolled into one. As a child of Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe, he came into contact with Jewish culture at an early age, but only as a university student did he discover the music that goes hand in hand with it. Initially he played piano and accordion in local funk, salsa, and gospel bands. Later he began to mix klezmer with samples from Yiddish theater records from the 30s to create his own sound. In the meantime, he is known for his genre-breaking approach and for his cooperation with greats from funk, hip hop, jazz, and classical music such as Fred Wesley, Frank London, Gonzales, and David Krakauer. At the Jewish Museum Berlin, alongside legendary songs from his album "Ghettoblaster," Socalled will present his latest project "Sleepover," a combination of folktronica, electro funk, neo soul, klezmer, rap, and dancehall.

Socalled (MPC, vocals, accordion, piano), Katie Moore (vocals), Allen Watski (guitar), Fred Liebert (bass), Michael Winograd (clarinet)

When: 11 August 2011, 8 pm

Where: Glass Courtyard, ground level

Admission: 15 €, 10 € reduced rate. Ticket reservation (for non-journalists) on tel. +49 (0)30 25993 488 or reservierung@jmberlin.de

Monday Movies

A Serious Man

Directed by Joel und Ethan Coen, USA 2009, 105 min, original English version with German subtitles

A black comedy drama revolving around the physics professor Larry Gopnik, whose quiet life in a Midwestern Jewish suburb is thrown off kilter by a series of unexpected incidents.

When: 4 July 2011, 7.30 pm

The "Socalled" Movie

Directed by Garry Beitel, Canada 2010, 86 min, original English version

Documentary film about the musical conjurer from Montreal, Josh Dolgin aka Socalled. The portrait consists of 18 short films on his creative process.

When: 18 July 2011, 7.30 pm

The following applies to all events in the "Monday Movies" series:

Where: Old Building, ground level, Auditorium

Admission: free with seat ticket only (available at the cash desk).

Ticket reservation (for non-journalists) on tel. +49 (0)30 25993 488 or reservierung@jmberlin.de

Cultural Summer Program

Edmond Jabès: "Das Buch der Fragen" (The book of questions)

Radio Drama // Reading // Song // Dance

Edmond Jabès’ "Das Buch der Fragen" (1963) is a "récit éclaté," a cycle of short stories made up of fragments. The work covers themes that played an important role throughout his life: exile, foreignness, Diaspora, and a life of prose, poetry, and language. And there is also the love story between Sarah and Yukel, a story that can only be hinted at in a narrative. The radio drama of the same name produced by NDR interprets the discursive text in an open, acoustic form that moves between speaking and silence, music and word. For the first time, director Kai Grehn brings the work to the stage, or more precisely into the room. At the premiere of this spoken, sung, and danced performance at the Jewish Museum Berlin, the actor Otto Mellies will read and Dan Pelleg and Marko E. Weigert will sing.

Reading: Otto Mellies, Kai Grehn

Vocals and dance: Dan Pelleg, Marko E. Weigert, Stephan Thiel, Nora Hageneier

When: 28 July 2011, 7.30 pm

Where: Old Building, second level, Great Hall

Admission: 8 €, reduced rate 5 euros

Ticket reservation (for non-journalists) on tel. +49 (0)30 25993 488 or reservierung@jmberlin.de

"Jazz in the Garden": Max Doehlemann Trio

The composer and pianist Max Doehlemann and his jazz trio let elements from Jewish songs flow into modern jazz. Two guest musicians on the saxophone bring yet more dynamic, free jazz flavour to the trio’s unique sound.

Max Doehlemann (composition, piano), Christian Schantz (composition, bass), Martin Fonfara (percussion) & Benjamin Weidekamp, Uli Kempendorff (saxophone)

When: 17 July 2011, 11 am to 1 pm (admission free)

"Jazz in the Garden": Jazzkomplott

Five musicians in their early 20s from Berlin and Brandenburg make up Jazzkomplott. Winners of the national competition "Jugend Jazzt" in 2005 and 2007, they combine modern jazz, funk, swing, and fusion in their catchy compositions.

Hannes Rössler (saxophone), Christian Lippert (guitar), Clemens Litschko (percussion), Kolja Legde (bass), Konrad Litschko (piano)

When: 31 July 2011, 11 am to 1 pm (admission free)

"Jazz in the Garden": Electric Krause

Anchored in jazz but with a large pinch of psychedelic groove and ecstatic intensity,

an affinity with Pink Floyd and Coldplay is palpable in Electric Krause’s music. Vocals as a backdrop to instruments is a typical feature of this guitar trio.

Rüdiger Krause (composition, guitar, E-Bow, vocals), Daniel Cordes (bass, Kaoss Pad, vocals), Andi Bühler (percussion, vocals)

When: 14 August 2011, 11 am to 1 pm (admission free)

All jazz events in the museum garden can be enjoyed with a picnic basket from Liebermann’s Restaurant. Please order with at least 24 hours advance notice on tel. +49 (0)30 25939 760.

Long Museum Night

Berlin choirs feature highly in the 29th Long Museum Night. At the Jewish Museum Berlin, two very different vocal ensembles will perform.

From 7 to 8.30 pm

We welcome Berlin’s oldest musical establishment as our guest - the well-known boys’ choir "Staats- und Domchor Berlin" headed by Kai-Uwe Jirka. The young voices carry pieces by Felix Mendelssohn and Kurt Weill among others through the exhibition into all the crooked corners of the Libeskind Building.

From 8.30 to 10.30 pm

At a later hour, the pop-up choir "Erstes Berliner Oktett" will surprise visitors with brief, unexpected performances of amusing pieces from the Jewish song treasury at various spots in the museum.

Every half hour from 6 to 11 pm

Only on Museum Long Night is the museum offering half-hour tours on exhibits related to music. Be it about instruments such as the violin and grand piano or about pictures and audio terminals - the visitors decide. They learn what the selected exhibits have to do with German-Jewish history and the personal story they tell.

7 and 8.30 pm

Moreover, on this evening, the museum shines light on what it otherwise collects behind the scenes - the museum’s curators will present the current cabinet exhibition "New Acquisitions."

Tour duration: 30 min.

Number of participants is limited. Bookings (for non-journalists) at the museum cash desk on the day.

Please gather at the Meeting Point in the museum lobby

When: 27 August 2011. The museum will be open until 2 am on Long Museum Night.

Admission: with the Long Night ticket: 15 €, reduced rate 10 euros