Hanukkah-Related Works on View at the Jewish Museum November 19

New York, NY — Three major sculptural installations related to Hanukkah will be on view in the contemporary gallery of Culture and Continuity: The Jewish Journey, The Jewish Museum’s permanent exhibition, from November 19, 2010 to January 30, 2011. Alice Aycock’s Greased Lightning (1984) is a motorized kinetic sculpture featuring an oversized moving dreidel, the small, inscribed top that children play with during the holiday. Miracle (2004) by Lynn Godley is a playful and monumental Hanukkah lamp that uses multiple lights to evoke the cumulative effect of progressively lighting the candles over eight nights. Matthew McCaslin’s Bring the Light (2000) fashions metal electrical conduit, light switches and porcelain light fixtures into an innovative and decidedly nontraditional Hanukkah lamp. In addition, a selection from Eleanor Antin’s video Vilna Nights (1993—97), a photograph by Mike Mandel entitled Robot Lights the Chanukah Candles (1985), and works on paper by Larry Rivers (1982) and Marc Alan Jacobs (1994) will be included.

These works are presented in conjunction with the exhibition, A Hanukkah Project: Daniel Libeskind’s Line of Fire, and are part of Light x Eight: Hanukkah 2010 at The Jewish Museum, a new, annual, eight-day celebration of the holiday featuring eclectic music, family festivities, provocative talk and more. More information about Light x Eight may be obtained by visiting the Museum’s web site at http://www.TheJewishMuseum.org/Hanukkah2010.

The festival of Hanukkah commemorates an ancient victory for religious freedom — the liberation and reestablishment of Jewish worship in the Temple in Jerusalem in 164 BCE. According to legend, a miracle occurred as the Jews gave thanks for divine intervention. A one-day supply of consecrated oil necessary for worship burned for the entire eight-day celebration. One of the most popular and beloved Jewish ceremonial objects, the Hanukkah lamp has evolved over the centuries for the kindling of lights during the eight nights of Hanukkah. The Jewish Museum’s collection of Hanukkah lamps reflects the multitude of places where Jews have lived and flourished, as they often incorporate local styles and motifs. The design and history of each lamp speak to a complex interaction of political events, Jewish law, artistic expression, and personal experience. The millennia-old tradition of kindling the festival lights on a winter’s evening continues to have profound meaning around the world as a celebration of freedom and miracles. Hanukkah begins at sundown on Wednesday, December 1 and continues until sundown on Thursday, December 9, 2010.