Starting in June 2017, The Israel Museum will begin exhibiting the work of Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei. The exhibition, titled “Ai Weiwei: One and the Multitude” will feature four works by the artist, including “Sunflower Seeds,” (2010) a work comprising millions of handcrafted and hand-painted porcelain sunflower seeds that many have interpreted to be…
British-Indian artist Anish Kapoor made news in three European capitals over the Jewish High Holy Days, marching with Ai Weiwei for refugees in London, fighting anti-semitism in France, and opening a major exhibit in Moscow. The biggest of this media trifecta was the vandalism on a sexually-suggestive piece nicknamed the “queen’s vagina” at the Palace…
Two Israeli films are on the Academy Awards’ short list for the best documentary category, along with one created by a 2012 Forward 50 selection. “5 Broken Cameras,” directed by Emad Burnat and Guy Davidi; and “The Gatekeepers,” directed by Dror Moreh, were among the 15 finalists culled from 126 films in the best documentary…
My documentary “Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry,” about a Chinese artist who fights for freedom of expression and clashes with authorities because of it, had its first public screenings in January at the Sundance Film Festival. I was wide-eyed, dazzled and overwhelmed that week, my first film festival experience with my first film: audiences clapping, countless…
The final winners at the Sundance Film Festival were announced on the evening Sunday January 29 and there were big wins for Israel and Jewish themed films as well as films helmed by Jewish directors. Alison Klayman, who was featured on The Arty Semite blog last week, won the U.S. Documentary Special Jury Prize for…
Having grown up in suburban Philadelphia, born to a Yiddish-speaking mother, Alison Klayman is a surprising conduit for China’s most famous dissident artist. In between many jobs, including writing for this newspaper (and interviewing the Chinese about their knowledge of Jews and Judaism before the influx of visitors for the 2010 Olympics, for JTA), she…
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