Jonah

I haven't written in this for a very long time, however I do have to remark that the title of the blog is "Jonah Kanin's Very Respectable And Impressive Group Blog".

KANIN!!!!!!!!! We're part of this too! Although I guess we all fell off after awhile, so it's only fair.

Transfer

I've started a wordpress blog instead, since there seem to be some annoyances with my blogger account and wordpress is an easier interface:

http://xrwang.wordpress.com/

Please see: http://www.flickr.com/photos/xrw/ for photo documentation of adventures.

Yesterday I had a long three hour walk at Volkspark Friedrichshain, resulting in absolute exhaustion after being in the cruel beating sun combined with being convinced it was Friday, still. I managed to see both "Bunkerbergs" in the park, and past Cafe Schonbrun, which I've read somewhere, was t h e hangout for DDR fatcats. It certainly looks like it was. But I digress. Instead, today was a rainy, cold day requiring both coat and scarf, two delectable and necessary fashion items.

A rainy day, cold day in Berlin – option one is stay inside, drink tea and stay bundled up in a warm flannel shirt, or option two, go venture outside and visit the heavy hitters of sadness: the Jewish Museum in Berlin, the Topography of Terror, the Holocaust Memorial. Oh, and a prominent section of the Berlin Wall, followed by a walk up Wilhelmstrasse, former center for Nazi Buildings (they are all gone now after extensive bombing).

After reading the NYTimes review of the Jüdisches Museum in Berlin, I was expecting my own visit to be very disappointing. One of the key points of the review is how the architecture (by architect Daniel Liebeskind) is not conducive to having informative displays and how the permanent exhibition itself “trivializes history”.

Certainly with the giant pomegranate tree and the giant garlic at the beginning of the permanent exhibit, there is somewhat of a schizophrenic quality to the entire thing; replicas of old synagogue windows, old letters and diaries, alongside slightly comical animations of “Why do cups have two handles?” create a sense of disjuncture that permeates the entire exhibit. Yet it certainly isn’t a cursory exhibit by any means, although some of the objects do end up feeling a little gratuitous – there’s an electronic Torah that you have to blow on, in order to turn the pages, but unless you’re equipped with a lung capacity of Olympic proportions, turning the pages seems an impossible task. Intermixed among the historical items are pieces by artist Via Lewandowsky as well as a an installation by Menashe Kadishman.

The basement of the museum is built with three intersecting lines – the Axis of Continuity, the Axis of Emigration, and the Axis of the Holocaust. The Axis of Continuity leads to the permanent exhibitions, upstairs. The Axis of Emigration leads to the “Garden of Exile”, a space full of physicality that uses the sensation of walking through the space as means of emotional contemplation. With tall stone pillars and slopes that make one feel completely disoriented, the Holocaust Memorial by Peter Eisenman (a mentor to Liebeskind) certainly evokes the forms generated in Garden of Exile. In a poetic gesture, Russian olive trees grow at the top of the pillars, forming somewhat of a covering, and meant to symbolize hope.

The Holocaust Tower was also incredibly effective in its architectural symbolism, as well as the sheer emotion embedded in the physical scenario itself. Many people sat on the floor, contemplating the space. The tower itself is a triangular enclosed concrete space, completely unheated, entirely dark except for a sliver of natural light at the top. Simple metal rungs hung towards the back of the tower, leading up – to where it was unclear, but imbued with layers of simultaneous hope and dread (knowing that it would be seemingly impossible to reach the first rung).

Certainly there can be issues in using architecture as a means of symbolism, or somehow presenting it as an indicator of memory/emotion. Perhaps the NYTimes reviewer felt that despite the flurry of Liebeskind’s conceptual justifications for the architecture, the material itself should speak to actually providing a sense of history and culture of the Jewish people in Berlin, without washing over conflict

Which I think the museum does, and quite well. Without something such as anti-Semitism or the Holocaust, the awfulness of such things are undeniable. The permanent exhibition does slant towards an overall “wishy washy” sort of message for you to take away with at the end (which according to the NYTimes review is a message of “ersatz tolerance”). Yet in a city with, what I would continue to argue still palpable racism/lack of religious or cultural tolerance, I think that message in a museum is necessary. I believe that all curatorial decisions are political in some way, and the effects of the decisions made inside the Jüdische Museum allow there to be room for the future, not just a monumentalization/memorialization of the past in a way that isn’t very helpful. Often times, I think there is a tendency to think that if we correctly memorialize something, it will never happen again; an idea which is essentially impossible to achieve since it involves having distance from an event in the past. For example, after walking through the Jüdisches Museum, and seeing parts on early discrimination and ideas of “otherness”, I think of the discrimination against Turkish immigrants; afterall it wasn’t until a few years ago that children born in Germany to Turkish immigrants were deemed to be citizens.

Beyond that, the permanent exhibition provides a lot of really interesting material. While the exhibition does have a tendency to bring up famous Jewish individuals almost as mascots or totems, I think it’s mainly a harmless attempt to “put a face” on history, instead of disassociating the historical facts from one’s present day experience. One comes away with a sense of how deep, rich, and multifarious Jewish history and culture is.

Also they had a display of tools for circumcision and my crotch hurt from looking at it.

I also visited Topography of Terror. Topography of Terror is an open air site located on former SS and Gestapo hang out grounds, as well as former Gestapo prisons. A morbid place to visit really, but addresses my own gross fascination with just how absurd the Nazi party was. The exhibit was incredibly informative and also reinforced my own stereotype of the Nazi party as a set of absolutely nuts individuals that were highly effective at what they were trying to do, sadly.

Nearby-ish was the Eisenman Holocaust Memorial, which I visited for the third time. I think it fascinates me because it’s supposed to be a memorial for something terrible, thereby indicative of a somber viewing experience, but every time I go, there are so many people having fun running up and down the rows and snapping photos of them sitting on the pillars smiling.

As a respite of sorts, I also headed to the Berlinische Galerie where I ran into my German teacher from 2 years ago. The artwork was so so, but along the way they have cool street signs with quotes from various people that I like.