Jewish Museum London and Birkbeck launch new exhibition: Blood, Uniting and Dividing
Runs from 5th November 2015 to 28 February 2016
Blood – Uniting and Dividing, a cutting-edge exhibition at the Jewish Museum London, developed in collaboration with the Pears Institute for the study of Antisemitism, Birkbeck, University of London, opens on the 5 November 2015 and runs until 28 February 2016.
Drawing together religious, historical and medical artefacts, as well as literature, art, film and cultural ephemera, this exhibition explores how blood, in its regulation and its representation, has been interpreted and traded as a symbol between Jews and non-Jews through the centuries, with a particular focus on the real and symbolic links between Christians and Jews.
The exhibition confronts some of the most difficult issues surrounding Jewish culture and identity: the rite of circumcision, the slander of the blood libel, and ideas of the Jewish ‘race’ and of racial purity.
The Director of the Pears Institute, David Feldman, along with Anthony Bale, Professor of Medieval Studies at Birkbeck have acted as academic advisors for the exhibition and as editors for an accompanying publication, Blood – reflections on what unites and divides us, a collection of specially commissioned essays from leading international scholars which expand on the exhibition’s themes. A series of public lectures will run alongside the exhibition.
Speaking about the exhibition and its themes, David Feldman, Director of the Pears Institute for the study of antisemitism at Birkbeck, University of London, said:
“Blood is central to Jewish religion and ritual: it has been used by Jews for their own self-definition and it has also been used by others to mark Jews as different and to persecute and discriminate against them. Through the exhibition and the associated collection of essays we hope to provoke thoughtful responses to the paradox of blood. Human blood looks the same when one cuts the veins. Yet the differences ascribed to blood and invested in it have been central to the idea of the human for thousands of years.”
The Illustrated publication Blood – reflections on what unites and divides us, is available on-line from the Pears Institute, price £4.99 plus postage.
Further information
- Blood: Uniting and Dividing
- Pears Institute for the study of antisemitism
- Department of History, Classics and Archaeology
- Jewish Museum London