Making Differences
Historiska Musset, Stockholm
01.16—02.07.2004

 

The exhibition was realized in conjunction with Stockholm International Forum: Preventing Genocide: Threats and Responsibilities. The group show intended to focus on and artistically depict the political, social and personal realities of genocides. To raise the awareness, reconciliation and highlight the importance of remembrance.[1]

Making Differences became a highly debated and controversy exhibition and catalyzed a political turmoil, due to an incident at the vernissage: Zvi Mazel Israeli, Ambassador in Sweden at that time, damaged the installation, Snow White and the Madness of Truth, claiming that the piece “glorified suicide bombers” by misinterpreting the original artistic intention.[2]

The installation was created by Swedish, Israeli-born composer, musician Dror Feiler and artist Gunilla Sköld-Feiler. The outdoor installation consisted of a pool filled with red-colored water, on the top of the fluid, a small white boat floated carrying a smiling portrait of Hanadi Jaradat, a Palestinian suicide bomber.

This incident led not only to a debate about the artistic freedom of expression or interpretation of the piece itself, but also to the attack of the exhibition curator, Thomas Nordanstad. Moreover, the show and the turmoil around it directly contributed to a delicate political situation between Sweden and Israel.[3]

Participating artists: Roland Neveu, Philip Blenkinsop, Carl Michael von Hausswolff, Bigert & Bergström, Dror Feiler & Gunilla Sköld-Feiler.

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Bigert & Bergström took part in the exhibition with the large-scale installation, The Weeping Wall. The featured piece, made by undulating reflective surface, mirrored and distorted the image of its surroundings. In addition, water flowed on the wall, which made the perception uncertain, the borders and contours blurred. The work made the audience’s presence and perspicacity unstable, indefinite by questioning the hegemony of our dichotomy-based interpretation system.[4]

 

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[1] Making Differences press release 
[2] Myre, Greg. “Israel Diplomat Defends Attack On Bomber Art in Stockholm.” New York Times, January 18, 2004. 
[3] Lekholm, Kalle and Wannerskog, Kalle. "Konstbråk! Provocerande konst i pressen." Göteborgs Universitet, 2009, 20-26. 
[4] Nilsson, John Peter. “Mördarna som hör roster.” Aftonbladet, January 21, 2004.