Closeup of chair made from chair in photo of Isifor Kauffmann’s “Gute Stube” 2023, Sculpture / Closeup of Candlestick Legs for a Table, 2023, PLA, Spraypaint, Epoxy / Closeup of Dybbuk costume, 2023, Found metal, bull horn / Photo of Isifor Kauffmann’s Gute Stube, 1899, Traveling Installation (1899-1911) of the Jewish Museum in Vienna / Comfort Station Exterior
דאָיִקייט- doikayt - “hereness"
Here and then exists simultaneously as it is retold, rehearsed, reshaped. Through archiving Jewish folktales, studying incantation bowls and Jewish households from the Aramaic period to now, When Souls Stick collages and interprets Jewish history and mysticism to discuss the human impulse, throughout time, to imbue matter with souls and purposes.
The exhibition and corresponding performances explore how non-conscious objects come to life through mystical encounters, making bonds through human attachments.
In our tale, the Dybbuk (the vengeful ghost), Golem (the savior and destroyer), Ziz (sky and ruler of all birds) and Leviathan (the primordial sea monster) join in a familial affair, connected yet estranged, woven through the sharing of space. Through activated encounters, demons and angels appear.
The audience is asked to engage and move with the performers, following the Anti-Zionist diasporic concept of Doikayt, translated from Yiddish as “hereness.”
September 1 - October 1, 2023
