MARCH 23 ― October 16 2022
Heidi in Israel. Searching for Traces
An exhibition of the Heidiseum in cooperation with the Jewish Museum Munich.
The mountains are Heidi’s world and these have become a place of longing for countless young readers around the globe. In Israel, “Heidi” also took center stage. With “Heidi” (1880), the Swiss author Johanna Spyri wrote Europe’s last, major tale about heimat and homesickness which has become firmly embedded in the childhood memories of innumerable people worldwide—in Palestine, and later Israel, as well.
The motifs addressed in “Heidi” were identity-generating and of great emotional importance to…
MARCH 23 ― October 16 2022
Heidi in Israel. Searching for Traces
An exhibition of the Heidiseum in cooperation with the Jewish Museum Munich.
The mountains are Heidi’s world and these have become a place of longing for countless young readers around the globe. In Israel, “Heidi” also took center stage. With “Heidi” (1880), the Swiss author Johanna Spyri wrote Europe’s last, major tale about heimat and homesickness which has become firmly embedded in the childhood memories of innumerable people worldwide—in Palestine, and later Israel, as well.
The motifs addressed in “Heidi” were identity-generating and of great emotional importance to young readers. First translated into Hebrew in 1946, Spyri’s novel appeared at a time when the subject of heimat, its loss, and new beginnings were highly relevant. As a result, the work quickly became absorbed into the canon of children’s literature in Israel as well; the history of its reception and its impact up to this day is unexpectedly fascinating. The world-famous story has been translated into Hebrew, as well as adapted and republished several times. However, “Heidi” is not only to be found in book form in Israel. Whether on the big screen, as a play or a radio drama, the most famous Swiss girl is still very much present to this day and has even found her way into the social media.
The exhibition takes visitors on a journey through time, tracing the reception this Swiss children’s classic was given over the decades from a Jewish perspective.
Curator
Nurit Blatman
Concept
Peter O. Büttner and Peter Polzin
Exhibition design
Roland Seltmann, Promuseo
A photo installation by the Israeli artist Niv Fridman will be shown together with the exhibition: “Heidi in Israel Photo series by Niv Fridman".
To the exhibition in the Study Area
Duration of exhibition
March 23 – October 16, 2022
Where
Exhibition Level 1
Collaboration
Concept: Peter O. Büttner and Peter Polzin
Architecture
Roland Seltmann, Promuseo
HEIDI IN ISRAEL
Photo series by Niv Fridman
An Exhibition in the Study Area at the Jewish Museum Munich to accompany the exhibition “Heidi in Israel. Searching for Traces”
The Israeli artist Niv Fridman has re-staged “Heidi” in a Near Eastern setting. Fridman approached this subject by taking a close look at historical postcards from the early 20th century which show the “Holy Land” in a romantic light as a place of longing. He associated these postcards with Heidi and her attachment to her native country. Similar to the landscapes on the postcards, Heidi’s world in the mountains is also a romantic place of longing of great symbolic power. In this way Fridman consciously places “his Heidi”—potrayed by the Israeli dancer and performance artist Tamar Rosenzweig—in locations and landscapes which for him symbolise the Israeli countryside and, in so doing, creates his own Near Eastern “Heidi Land.”
A sculpture, made of real Swiss chocolate complements the photo series as a tribute to Heidi’s native country. Based on a photograph, it shows the dancer Tamar Rosenzweig as Heidi, looking self-confidently and full of hope at the sun, her arm held protectively against the bright light.