ARNOLD DREYBLATT

LESEZEICHEN – BOOKMARKS

Jakob Wassermann

German and Jew

Exhibition at The Jewish Museum Franconia in Fürth

For the 150th birthday of Jakob Wassermann (1873, Fürth), the Berlin-based American artist Arnold Dreyblatt created an installation that focuses on Wassermann’s autobiographical work: „My Life as a German and a Jew“ (1921).

Dreyblatt has invited eleven people of different backgrounds and ages to read selected sections of Wasserman’s forensic analysis of German-Jewish relations – the result is a 55-minute three-channel film installation. In a second installation, Dreyblatt has created a series of six illuminated lenticular panels for which he selected photographs of Wassermann taken by the Jewish photographer Grete Kolliner in Vienna in 1920, as well as texts from „My Life as a German and a Jew“. Each work contains several image and text levels, which can be perceived fragmentarily from different viewing positions.

ARNOLD DREYBLATT (born 1953 in New York City) is an American media artist and composer. Since 1984 he has lived in Berlin, Germany. Dreyblatt is a member of the Academy of Arts in Berlin, where he is deputy director of the visual arts section. From 2009 to 2022 he was professor for media art at the Muthesius University of Art in Kiel.

In his artistic practice, Dreyblatt deals with the collection, visualization and vocalization of historical archive material. It resonates with larger themes such as memory, history, preservation, preservation and loss of culture. This process of finding and losing, and the associations that bind these fragments together, form the core of his practice.

The art installation is on display at The Jewish Museum Franconia in Fürth (Königstraße 89) until November 26, 2023 // Tues-Sun 10am – 5pm

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