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 The Jewish Museum
1109 Fifth Avenue at 92nd Street
New York, NY 10128
Admission: Adults, $12, Seniors over 65, $10
Students, $7.50, Children under 12 and Jewish Museum Members: free
212-423-3200
jewishmuseum.org
The Jewish Museum, one of the world's largest and most important institutions devoted to exploring the remarkable scope and diversity of Jewish culture, was founded in 1904 in the library of The Jewish Theological Seminary of America, where it was housed for more than four decades. In 1944, Frieda Schiff Warburg, widow of the prominent businessman and philanthropist, Felix Warburg, who had been a Seminary trustee, donated the family mansion at 1109 Fifth Avenue at 92nd Street to the Seminary for use as the Museum.
Current exhibitions:
 Mother Economy: A Film by Maya Zack
July 1- October 23
Mother Economy, a film by Israeli artist Maya Zack, is a meditation on Holocaust remembrance and an homage to resourceful women during violent periods of political upheaval. Wearing glasses, a lace-collared blouse, and her hair neatly arranged in a bun, the protagonist maintains order and composure by performing domestic chores with scientific precision and efficiency. The homemaker locates and identifies objects belonging to absent family members while broadcasts from the radio suggest the destruction and chaos occurring outside her controlled space. She traces a tennis racquet, cigarette ash, pocket change, and other personal artifacts on paper covering the walls and floors. The paper is pink, a color associated with financial newspapers and femininity. Taking on the role of home economist, she proceeds to catalogue objects before her. Using an abacus and formulas from her notebook, she compiles data to bake a round kugel (noodle pudding) which is cut to resemble an economic pie chart.
Both the artist and her fictional character struggle to make sense of personal and collective trauma when information is scarce. Zack’s video was strongly influenced by a visit to her grandmother’s former house in Kosice, a city in present-day Slovakia. Unable to enter the house, Zack tried to imagine the interiors-both present and past. For the film’s mise-en-scène, Zack incorporates period clothing and furniture, but it remains an incomplete sketch of the past. Although the work is entitled Mother Economy, the artist intended her hero’s identity to remain ambiguous. The protagonist may be a dedicated non-Jewish housekeeper who remained in the house long after the family’s deportation and continued to perform rituals in their absence. If she is the Jewish mother, she survives because of calculated efforts to distance herself from traumatic memories.
Maya Zack (Israeli, b. 1976) lives and works in Tel Aviv. Her work has been exhibited at the Noga Gallery of Contemporary Art (Tel Aviv), Artneuland Gallery (Berlin), The Israel Museum, The Haifa Museum of Art, The Tel Aviv Museum of Art, and the 4th Gwangju Biennale in Korea. In 2008 Zack was awarded Germany’s Celeste Art Prize for Mother Economy.
 Archaeology Zone: Discovering Treasures from Playgrounds to Palaces
October 14- June 15 2009
Archaeology Zone: Discovering Treasures from Playgrounds to Palaces is inspired by the Museum's renowned collection of extraordinary art and artifacts. Children will be invited to discover the world of archaeology through a fascinating in-depth study of art and artifacts from ancient times to the present day. They will explore the methods employed by archaeologists after an excavation occurs, specifically, how they analyze the objects that have been unearthed. The exhibition will illuminate how the analysis of artifacts teaches us about the development of art and cultures over time, while establishing connections to objects and ideas in our daily lives.
Assuming the role of the archaeologist, children will embark on an exciting adventure where they will encounter unusual objects and determine how and why they were made. Children will piece together two larger-than-life vessels, examine replicas through weighing and magnifying, interpret symbols in a colorful mosaic, create works of art inspired by unique objects in the Museum’s collection, dress in costumes from long ago, and much more. This exhibition will also include an introductory video, original artifacts, and colorful illustrations that will provide a visual context for how objects were used and preserved over time.
 Culture and Continuity: The Jewish Journey
May 5, 2007 - September 16, 2007
At the heart of The Jewish Museum is its permanent exhibition, Culture and Continuity: The Jewish Journey, representing one of the world's great opportunities to explore Jewish culture and history through art. This vibrant two-floor exhibition features 800 works from the Museum's remarkably diverse collection of art, archaeology, ceremonial objects, video, photographs, interactive media and television excerpts. It examines the Jewish experience as it has evolved from antiquity to the present, over 4,000 years, and asks two vital questions: How has Judaism been able to thrive for thousands of years across the globe, often in difficult and even tragic circumstances? What constitutes the essence of Jewish identity?
The exhibition traces the dynamic interaction among three catalysts that have shaped the Jewish experience: the constant questioning and reinterpretation of Jewish traditions, the interaction of Jews and Judaism with other cultures, and the impact of historical events that have transformed Jewish life. Culture and Continuity: The Jewish Journey proposes that Jews have been able to sustain their identity, despite wide dispersion and sometimes tragic circumstances, by evolving a culture that can adapt to life in many countries and under various conditions. Survival as a people has depended upon both the continuity of Jewish ideas and values and the flexibility to adapt to changing circumstances.
We invite you to visit the Museum and see Culture and Continuity: The Jewish Journey in person. Visitors to the Museum can enjoy random access audio guide tours of the exhibition, including a "Director's Highlights" audio guide featuring Joan Rosenbaum, Helen Goldsmith Menschel Director of The Jewish Museum, and a special audio guide for children and families. Audio guides are free of charge with Museum admission and were made possible by Bloomberg.
Several of the outstanding works featured in this exhibition may be viewed on-line in the on-line exhibition, Making Connections in Art and Jewish Culture which requires the Flash plug-in, and in the Collection Overview. In addition, a selection of these works have high resolution images and may be rotated.
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