Vot ken you mach?

“Vot ken you mach?” is Yiddish for “What can you do?” The question comes from a song written in the 1920s about the situation of Jewish immigrants in the United States. What can you do when modern times are changing the world around you? How well can traditions be passed on and how do you express your sense of belonging to a certain group or culture? This project sought answers to these questions, presenting works by young Jewish artists, writers, comic illustrators and musicians who express their identity in a very special way. The core of the project was an exhibition held in Dresden and Wroclaw. It presented media-based, installative and illustrative works by artists who explore the issue of identity in an abstract, but very personal manner. The exhibition was supplemented by readings, discussions, concerts, workshops and a film programme. A mobile exhibition, designed for presentation in schools in Saxony, and a research project with the Malmö Konsthall in Sweden aimed to increase the visibility of the project well after the exhibition concludes in Wroclaw and Dresden.

Artistic directors: Christiane Mennicke-Schwarz, Dorota Monkiewicz (PL)
Curators: Valentina Marcenaro, Rafal Jakubowicz (PL)
Artists: Maya Schweizer (F/ Berlin), Rafal Jakubowicz (PL/ Poznan), Nikola Radic Lukati (IL/ Tel Aviv / Belgrad), Barak Reiser (IL / Frankfurt a. M.), Ruth Novaczek (GB /London), Shira Wachsmann (I /Berlin), Sharone Lifschitz (GB /London), Eduard Freudmann (AU /Vienna), Karolina Freino (PL / Wroclaw), Gergely Laszlo (HU/ Berlin / Budapest), Amit Epstein (IL / Berlin), Claire Waffel (GB / Berlin), Yael Bartana (IL /Amsterdam / Berlin), Arye Wachsmuth (D / Vienna).