ON FRIENDSHIP / (COLLATERAL DAMAGE) III - THE THIRD GALUT - BAGHDAD, JERUSALEM, AMSTERDAM (SEPTEMBER 2019 - JANUARY 2020) In 2015 Metropool International Art Projects initiated and produced the artistic-philosophical project On Friendship/(Collateral Damage) in which the claim of the Judeo-Christian origins of European civilisation is questioned. In 2017 the follow-up On Friendship/(Collateral Damage) II: The Guardians of the Door took place at De Nieuwe Kerk, Stedelijk Museum, Joods Historisch Museum and Goethe-Institut in Amsterdam, an artistic critical project on Luther and 500 years of Reformation. On Friendship/(Collateral Damage) III - The Third GaLUT: Baghdad, Jerusalem, Amsterdam is part of this multiannual project. On Friendship / (Collateral Damage) II - The Guardians of the Door (June 22 2017 - January 2018) During his long-term project On Friendship / (Collateral Damage) in which he collaborates with Metropool International Art Projects / Studio Meritis MaKOM (Linda Bouws), the main question is how western art and culture are presented and why. In Part 1 (2015) Semah searches for the specific Jewish implications in Kazimir Malevich's (The Black Square) and Barnett Newman's work, and also critically researches the claim by a growing group of people that refer to the Jewish-Christian origin of European culture. Through his lawyer Bob Vink, Semah makes contact with Beatrix Ruf, director of the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam and asks her to account for the 'empty page' in art history on behalf of the art world. On Friendship / (Collateral Damage) 23-25 October 2015 The project will deal with the topic of Western history of art and its Judeo-Christian roots; is this hypothesis tenable, defensible or does it require an adjustment? Joseph Semah and representatives of museums, art and culture discussed profoundly one of the most significant questions concerning art historical research: the search for coherence in making works of art, and what this consistency means for contemporary thought on art historical research. Read more...... Amsterdam of Above / Amsterdam of Below Site-specific art created to celebrate Felix Meritis 225th anniversary, 2013 Location: The Observatory of Felix Meritis, Keizersgracht 324, and in the city of Amsterdam. Please note: only from the Observatory of Felix Meritis, Amsterdam (the area where the 4x optical telescopes were installed), blue neon lit citations are visible on remarkable buildings all over the city. The Observatory of Felix Meritis, Keizersgracht 324, Amsterdam: Granite - black galaxy (The carving depicts in a mirror image, the design of the Amsterdam Canal District), 4 x bronze casted tripods + 4x optical telescopes Height 170 cm. (Deel III van III) 72 Privileges [A second chance]: 'It is precisely this balance between exile and the emotion of the privileged which forms the unique originality of our Breathing in Reverse. As will be clear already, there is no past or future in Exile, only an immediate present'. 2012 Kochi-MuzirisBiennale 2012 /2013, India72 Privileges [.....]: 'It is precisely this balance between exile and the emotion of the privileged which forms the unique originality of our Breathing in Reverse. As will be clear already, there is no past or future in Exile, only an immediate present'. Tracing Martin Heidegger's hut and Paul Celan's clouds, 2011 Autobiographical Memory 2007 In de liftschacht van Felix Meritis verschijnt een 'geweven kunstwerk van neon' met de grote namen uit de geschiedenis van Felix Meritis uit het verleden tot en met heden. Het kunstwerk, een verankering van namen in spiegelbeeld in neon op de bakstenen, plaatst de geschiedenis van het gebouw tegen twee eeuwen hoofdstedelijke culturele, sociale, politieke en economische ontwikkeling. Prominente figuren uit diverse departementen van Felix Meritis worden zo vereeuwigd. Dit kunstwerk legt niet alleen het geheugen van het gebouw en haar bezoekers vast en van de stad Amsterdam en haar internationale positie. Het vormt ook een soort canon, een culturele, typografische atlas van Amsterdam. (Deel II van III) Echo / Echo, Kunst in Kirchen Raum geben, Hannover, Germany 1993 Echo / Echo is a site specific art work in memory of the synagogue which was built next to the Ev.- Luth. Neustädter Hof- und Stadtkirche St. Johannis, Hannover. The main synagogue of Hannover was destroyed during the Kristallnacht pogrom, 10.11.1938. The main synagogue of Hannover, architect: the German-Jewish Edwin Oppler (1831-80), inaugurated 1870. Closed/ Open: "After Sovereignty, Fear, Hospitality and Friendschip"; Between remembering and retelling (1989). (Deel I van III) Letter image and mother-tongue A mountain and its blue shadow 1987 Beyond performance SeFeR Yetzirah 1985
