Snow white and the madness of the truth
Snow white and the madness of truth ( Swedish : Snövit och sanningens vansinne ) is the title of an installation by the Swedish , Israeli- born composer and musician Dror Feiler and his wife, the artist Gunilla Sköld-Feiler . Feiler and his wife created the images and music of the work of art together, which was exhibited in the History Museum in Stockholm in 2004 .
The installation consisted of an elongated pool full of blood-red water on which floated a small white boat named “Snövit” (“Snow White” or “Snow White”), which carried a portrait of Hanadi Jaradat , a Palestinian suicide bomber , the whole thing accompanied by text on the walls and the sound of Johann Sebastian Bach's cantata 199 My heart swims in blood . This piece begins with the words: “My heart is in the blood / Because the brood of sins / In God's holy eyes / makes me a monster.” According to the artist, the installation was created to “draw attention to it, like those left alone weak people are capable of terrible things ”.
The artwork became the focus of controversy when Zvi Mazel criticized it for being anti-Semitic in nature. It was countered that the criticism did not understand the central message of the artists: tolerance , freedom of thought and multiculturalism . Reactions to the work were compared to those on Steve Earle's song " John Walker 's blues ", which appeared on his 2002 album "Jerusalem".
As intended, the artwork was dismantled on February 8, 2004.
controversy
In early 2004, the work of art came into the focus of international media after it was vandalized and damaged on January 16 by Zvi Mazel , Israel's ambassador to Sweden at the time. Among other things, Mazel cut the power supply to the installation and threw one of the spotlights into the pool. When Mazel was asked to leave the museum, he refused and had to be escorted by security guards from the museum. The entire event was filmed by a TV news crew.
Mazel later gave conflicting statements about the attack. He told the Swedish media that it arose out of instant anger, whereas he told Israeli media that the attack was thought out and planned in advance, even before he saw the artwork. On January 20, Feiler appeared on Nyhetsmorgon on the Swedish fourth television program and declared that the white boat symbolized the truth; and if an individual believes that their point of view is the embodiment of absolute truth, the end result could well be a pool full of blood like in the installation.
According to Sköld-Feiler, the name "Snow White" was chosen simply because Hanadi Jaradat in her portrait, with her black hair, pale skin and red lips, reminded of Snow White .
The installation was part of an exhibition in the National Historical Museum. On January 18, 2004, Thomas Nordanstad, the person in charge of the exhibition, was attacked by an unidentified man who tried to push him down a flight of stairs. Nordanstad also received over 400 emails with various threats. The same thing happened to the museum director Kristian Berg as it did to the two artists. The following Sunday, a museum attendant had to remove a group that was throwing various objects into the water.
After the attack on Nordanstad, the number of visitors rose to around 1,400 per day, the same number as before per week.
There may have been hidden motives behind Zvi Mazel's act. In the opinion of Dagens Nyheter journalist Henrik Brors , the attempt could have been to portray Sweden and the European Union as anti-Semitic and thus discredit the EU's mediation efforts in the Middle East. In an analysis in Dagens Nyheter, Henrik Brors speculates that Mazel may have done it to apologize to Israel for not attending the Stockholm International Forum's International Anti-Genocide Conference , held January 26-28.
Diplomatic relations between Israel and Sweden continued to suffer when Galei Tzahal , the Israeli army radio station, falsely claimed that a pro-Israel film had been removed from the exhibition at Syria's request . Both Thomas Nordanstad and Kristian Berg proved that this claim was wrong, as the documentary in question, “Map” by the award-winning Israeli filmmaker Amit Goren, remained in the exhibition. It is believed that the rumors may have originated because the film in Tensta konsthall was canceled due to some internal problems . During the whole time, however, another work by Goren, the film "119 Bullets + Three" was played. The work of Goren was sponsored by the Israeli Embassy, and the cultural attaché, Lizzie Oved Scheja , said the exhibit had her absolute support.
The Young Christian Democrats , the youth organization of the Swedish Christian Democratic Party, reported the work to the police in the hope that it could be banned against hate preachers due to strict Swedish laws . Mazel himself asked in an interview: "If we Jews say that this hurts us, why can't a government remove it?"
Storstockholms Lokaltrafik (SL) decided to remove the advertising posters from the “Making-Differences-Exhibition” which showed a picture of Hanadi Jaradat, as these posters were part of CMV Houswolf's artwork “God made me do it” and had nothing to do with Feilers / Skölds installation “Snövit och sanningens vansinne”.
An e-mail protest organized by the Simon Wiesenthal Center was addressed to Prime Minister Göran Persson's office . On the morning of January 27, 2004, 13,603 emails had been received.
Kristian Berg stated: “I have not heard anyone say who saw the work that it was an anti-Semitic installation, directed against Jewish people or the Israeli people, so I think that this work has been politically hijacked - Ambassador Mazel's interpretation was very narrow and very political. "
Web links
- Title page from Dagens Nyheter
- photography
- Interview with Zvi Mazel and Dror Feiler, Reshet Bet Israël
- Who is Snow White? - Gunilla Sköld-Feiler, one of the two artists, explains the event.
Individual evidence
- ↑ album
- ↑ Lyrics
- ^ Square , follow Carte Blanche for Blixa Bargeld v. September 14, 2016 (min. 7:40 pm to 9:34 pm)
- ↑ a b Sharon vill försvaga Sveriges trovärdighet , Dagens Nyheter. January 19, 2004.
- ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original dated July 6, 2004 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Mazel skonar Persson i ny attack
- ↑ Portail d'informations ( Memento of the original from July 17, 2007 in the web archive archive.today ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/390062.html
