A talk by Sharon Adler on Jewish life in Berlin before and after the Holocaust and by artist Shlomit Lehavi on her art project inspired by "The Jewish Address Book of Berlin 1931."
On Tuesday, December 1, at 6:30 p.m. Deutsches Haus at NYU will present a talk by Sharon Adler on Jewish life in Berlin before and after the Holocaust and by artist Shlomit Lehavi on her art project inspired by "The Jewish Address Book of Berlin 1931." Sharon Adler serves as CEO of Stiftung Zurückgeben, a foundation which supports the endeavors of Jewish women in arts and sciences including, among many others, Shlomit Lehavi's project. Their presentations will be followed by a conversation with Professor Susanne Rohr, current DAAD Visiting Scholar at Deutsches Haus, who will discuss contemporary artistic practices examining Jewish life in Germany with Sharon Adler and Shlomit Lehavi.
Deutsches Haus is located at 42 Washington Mews, New York, N.Y. (access the Mews from University Place). Events are free and open to the public. If you would like to attend this event, send an email to deutscheshaus.rsvp@nyu.edu. Space at Deutsches Haus is limited, so please arrive ten minutes prior to the event.
Sharon Adler, born in 1962 in Berlin, is a photographer, journalist, and the founder and editor-in-chief of AVIVA-Berlin, an online women's magazine that provides reports on feminist issues, intercultural understanding, women's contributions to culture and science, women and politics, and campaigns against racism and anti-Semitism, among other topics. In 2005, she published a volume of photographs and essays titled, “Ladies Choice. Women and their cars." Through AVIVA-Berlin, she initiated an international project in 2012 that aimed to integrate women without professional writing experience with female journalists from Israel, and train them in research, interviewing, writing, and publishing.This resulted in "Writing girls", a research-based project about the lives of Jewish women primarily in Berlin, before, during, and after the Holocaust. Over twenty women from all over the globe participated in the project. In 2012, Ms. Adler was awarded the "Berliner Frauenpreis" (Berlin's Woman of the Year Award), for her pioneering achievements in the fields of online journalism, publishing, and feminist photography. Since 2013, she has served as the CEO of "Stiftung Zurückgeben", a foundation for the advancement of Jewish women in arts and sciences.
Shlomit Lehavi was born in Tel-Aviv and currently lives in Brooklyn and Berlin. She is a multidisciplinary artist, working primarily with new media, multi-channel video installations, and site-specific installations. Narrative identities and their intersections across time and space are key concepts to her work. In examining these networks of identity, her work reflects upon balances, tensions, and conflicts between the collective and the individual. She has exhibited and curated shows internationally, and is the recipient of numerous international fellowships and awards. She holds a master's degree from NYU's Interactive Telecommunications Program.
Susanne Rohr is a professor of American Studies at Hamburg University, Germany and is currently Deutsches Haus’ DAAD Visiting Scholar. She received her academic education at the John F. Kennedy Institute of the Freie Universität Berlin and Cornell University. From 1986-1994 Susanne Rohr was a member of the academic faculty at Stanford University, Study Center Berlin. As of October 2006, Susanne Rohr is a full professor of American literature and culture and chair of American Studies at Hamburg University. She is the author of Comedy – Avant-Garde – Scandal: Remembering the Holocaust after the End of History (2010), together with Andrew S. Gross. Susanne Rohr has also published numerous essays in the fields of literary and cultural theory, semiotics, American pragmatism, epistemology, and on a broad range of topics in American literature of the 19th and 20th centuries. She teaches a wide range of courses on American literature and culture. In 2006 she was awarded the “Outstanding Teacher Award 2005-06” from the J. F. Kennedy Institute, Berlin, determined by student vote.
Before/After: Jewish Lives in Berlin is a DAAD-supported event.