Choisic (2022)

curated exhibition by Talia Rudofsky
Displaying works by Talia Rudofsky and Simon Rosenthal
Rosenberg Gallery, NYU Steinhardt

---

<sup>Choisic’, meaning ‘to make fun of’ in Yiddish. This exhibition is an attempt to ‘let people in on the joke’. What we mean by this, is we want to explain the nuance and linguistics that align with our own Jewish identity. In turn, it is to understand how humor throughout history has always been used as a tool in order to overturn many of the prejudiced ideas that have been created surrounding being Jewish. Here we explore the idiosyncrasies of being a Jew living in America, as well as how the radicalization of social media has created an intersection between technology and orthodoxy, thus creating a different expression of spreading Jewish iconography and values.

This collection of works reflects our own interaction with our Jewish identity, which mostly surround a humorous, and highly contrasting difference of outcome from other members of our Jewish community from home.

What would it look like to delve into the iconography and faces that represent stereotypes in a wider realm? And how would this in turn cause Judaism be received on a mostly very surface level. This translates into certain images and iconographies being filtered through a hyper-polarized lens, and thus creating these art pieces that represent what being Jewish is, in a vague and palatable way. One piece in particular (Tik Tok, 2022) is an iPad that plays a compilation of Tik Toks made by Hasidic creators, who are too, trying to create this means of acceptance through building relatability and a humor factor, that once again could play into this factor of self-deprecation, now through more modern methods such as social media.  “Discussions revolve around whether Jewish art should be limited only to any art made by a Jew, independent of content, or whether both the artist and the artwork must be identifiably Jewish, expressly engaging the Jewish experience” (Larry Silver and Samantha Baskind, p.g. 662)</sup>

Playlist comprised for choisic ︎

Works


Bir
2022



︎︎︎︎︎︎

Installation Images