Quantcast

The DNAinfo archives brought to you by WNYC.
Read the press release here.

Daniel Libeskind Designs Menorah Show at the Jewish Museum

By DNAinfo Staff on November 17, 2010 9:52am

By Jennifer Glickel

DNAinfo Reporter/Producer

UPPER EAST SIDE — A new show featuring 40 Hanukkah menorahs from around the world designed by renowned architect Daniel Libeskind opens at the Jewish Museum Friday.

There's an 18th-century lamp created from the helmet shield of a Hessian soldier who fought in the American Revolution, a 19th-century Eastern European silver menorah that President George W. Bush lit at the White House, Karim Rashid's 2004 "Menoramorph," which the artist fashioned out of neon green silicon, and even one from Iraq.

The menorahs of "A Hanukkah Project: Daniel Libeskind's Line of Fire" span four centuries and are displayed atop a zigzagging bright red structure that diagonally bisects the gallery.

The striking display platform was designed by Daniel Libeskind, the architect whose design for rebuilding Ground Zero was critically acclaimed but never came to fruition. He has used similar designs for Jewish museums in Berlin, San Francisco and Denmark to symbolize the continuity of Jewish existence through an often tumultuous history.

"For Libeskind the Hanukkah fire is very spiritual in nature, and is more a beacon of hope than it is a sign of destruction," said Susan Braunstein, the Jewish Museum Curator of Archaeology and Judaica. “The idea behind the shape of the design is that the strong lines represent sharp changes in the history of the Jews, while the soft curves symbolize more gradual changes.”

Of special note is Richard Meier's 1985 menorah, in which each candle holder represents an era of persecution in Jewish history. The holder for the first night resembles an Egyptian obelisk, while the last one depicts a watchtower from a Nazi concentration camp.

While the show opens Nov. 19, the first night of Hanukkah is Dec. 1.

"A Hanukkah Project: Daniel Libeskind’s Line of Fire" opens at the Jewish Museum on Friday, Nov. 19. The Jewish Museum is located at 1109 Fifth Avenue at 92nd Street.