Reesa Greenberg's examination of the 2002 show Mirroring Evil looked at various elements that caused the show to be so controversial. Naturally, when responding to what I was reading I tried to keep an open mind about was being presented. The show was mostly a collection of works by artists of a younger generation not directly associated with the Holocaust, who created responses using Nazi imagery. With this basis, I was intrigued and wasn't completely put off by the idea. Greenberg states "The Jewish Museum believed it was important to exhibit artworks that portrayed a different range of responses..."(105). This is certainly a valid point, but I felt the art described in this show was a bit of a let down, and when the stakes are this high it certainly didn't help matters.
The article states a variety of conjectures for why the show was so unwelcome, both before and after, looking at the recent terrorist attacks as a main source for the controversy: "The timing of the exhibition, March 2002, may well have been too soon after the September 11, 2001 mass murders at the Twin Towers..."(111). While the timing surely had a legitimate impact on people's sensitivity to the art, I find that it was more a questions of the quality of the art. In particular, Rudolph Herz's Zugzwang was particularly weak, covering the walls with a checkerboard pattern of repeated images of "Adolph Hitler, murderer of millions of Jews, and Marcel Duchamp, murderer of the traditional art found in Jewish Museums" (110). I find the comparison to be fairly over dramatic and trite, and certainly more offensive to those who place little value in art in the first place (How can you compare a urinal to murdering millions of innocent Jews?!). Similar reactions can be drawn from other pieces in the show. I believe the concept was not all together wrong, but considering the circumstances, the curators and artists should have pulled together something a little more universal and thought out.
The article states a variety of conjectures for why the show was so unwelcome, both before and after, looking at the recent terrorist attacks as a main source for the controversy: "The timing of the exhibition, March 2002, may well have been too soon after the September 11, 2001 mass murders at the Twin Towers..."(111). While the timing surely had a legitimate impact on people's sensitivity to the art, I find that it was more a questions of the quality of the art. In particular, Rudolph Herz's Zugzwang was particularly weak, covering the walls with a checkerboard pattern of repeated images of "Adolph Hitler, murderer of millions of Jews, and Marcel Duchamp, murderer of the traditional art found in Jewish Museums" (110). I find the comparison to be fairly over dramatic and trite, and certainly more offensive to those who place little value in art in the first place (How can you compare a urinal to murdering millions of innocent Jews?!). Similar reactions can be drawn from other pieces in the show. I believe the concept was not all together wrong, but considering the circumstances, the curators and artists should have pulled together something a little more universal and thought out.
Greenberg, Reesa. "Mirroring Evil, Evil Mirrored: Timing, Trauma, and Temporary Exhibitions." (2002): 104-17. Print.
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