PRESS RELEASE

Command J: Jewish Laws, Digital Arts

WHERE: XPACE, 303 Augusta in Kensington Market
WHEN: October 21st – November 20th 2005
EXHIBITION HOURS: Wednesday - Sunday 12-5 pm. plus additional evening hours to be announced.
Contact: rejewven@rejewvenation2005.com
Gallery: xpace@xpace.info

The impact of the Ten Commandments and of Jewish laws in general permeates the fabric of Western civilization and Judeo-Christian culture, and the ethical ideals of Judaism have motivated the desire for social justice throughout the centuries. Featuring work by four internationally recognized contemporary media artists Helene Aylon, Simon Glass, Melissa Shiff, and Jeffrey Shaw who work in digital photography, video, computer graphics, and installation art, Command J: Jewish Laws, Digital Arts examines important issues related to Jewish laws, ethics, and the ongoing demand for justice.

The four artists in the Command J exhibition confront difficult and important philosophical and social questions in their interrogations of Jewish law. The Second Commandment (the prohibition against idol worship and graven images) is at the heart of Jeffrey Shaw's interactive computer installation The Golden Calf (1995) as he asks us to consider whether we are setting up technology as a new golden calf in our own time. Meanwhile, Simon Glass' series The Ten Commandments/Prohibited Weapons (2005) consists of ten giclee prints 40” x 20” embellished with golden leaf. Containing the Hebrew text of the Ten Commandments coupled with images of actual prohibited weapons, these images meditate on both the possibility and impossibility of justice and the necessary violence of the law.

It is the questioning of the covenantal commandment to circumcise the male at eight days that motivates the feminist inquiry of Melissa Shiff's video installation, Gender Cuts/ The Jew Under the Knife (2005). Building a circumcision tent featuring a video projection, Shiff turns the viewer's gaze to this normally occluded rite of male initiation and to an audio track where religious and cultural leaders discuss the pros and cons of this hotly debated issue. Finally, it is the comprehensive desire to confront and transform the patriarchal legacy of Jewish law when it is informed by sexism and/or misogyny that drives Helene Aylon's interactive computer installation, The Digital Liberation of G-d (2004). The installation allows users to respond directly to questionable passages from the sacred Torah that are highlighted by the artist. While both these feminist inspired works address legal issues internal to the Jewish covenant (i.e., ritual circumcision or the rules of patriarchy), they also address the place of women in religious orthodoxy and traditional communities more generally.

The exhibition Command J is held in conjunction with a workshop at the University of Toronto entitled “ReJewvenation: The Futures of Jewish Culture” organized by University of Toronto Faculty Andrea Most (English), Anna Shternshis (Yiddish/German), and Louis Kaplan (Art History), and sponsored by the Chancellor Jackman Fund, the Graduate Centre for Study of Drama, the Jewish Studies Program, the Department of Fine Art, and other Departments and Centres at the University of Toronto. ReJewvenation will feature a Visual Arts panel on the Command J exhibition that will include Louis Kaplan, Carol Zemel (Chair, Art History Department, York University, Toronto), Jessica Wyman (Art Critic and Historian, Ontario College of Art, Toronto), and Norman Kleeblatt (Susan and Elihu Rose Curator of Fine Arts, The Jewish Museum, New York).

Command J is conceived and organized by Louis Kaplan who is an historian and theorist of art, photography, and new media and also an associate faculty member in Jewish studies at the University of Toronto . The curatorial committee also includes ReJewvenation co-organizers Andrea Most and Anna Shternshis. The curatorial assistants for the exhibition are Heather Diack and Romi Mikulinsky, both graduate students in History of Art at the University of Toronto . The exhibition has received generous support from both the Ontario Arts Council and the Toronto Arts Council.

Professor Kaplan writes about the importance of Command J as follows: “These are thoughtful and provocative works by four contemporary artists in technologically based media who are raising important questions for traditional Jewish laws and commandments whether it be Jeffrey Shaw on the Second Commandment, Melissa Shiff on the rite of circumcision, Simon Glass on the Ten Commandments, or Helene Aylon on the Torah in general. But, even more importantly, these artists and their works are delving into Jewish laws, ethics, and ideas of justice in order to help us to think about and imagine possible Jewish futures.”

Bringing Jewish culture back again to the historic Kensington Market area in Toronto where it once thrived, Command J will be held at the XPACE Gallery located on 303 Augusta Avenue from October 21st to November 20th. The opening reception for the community will take place on Sunday afternoon October 23rd from 3-7 pm . The gallery will be open from noon to 5 pm on Wednesdays through Sundays and additional evening hours will be posted.

For more information about Command J, please contact:

Email Address: rejewven@rejewvenation2005.com
(Please note "Command J" as Email Subject Heading)

Telephone: 416-978-7986

With the generous support of...