GUY GOLDSTEIN: Freigedank (Free Thinker) 2017
Opening : Saturday , September 16, 2017, 20:00
Herzliya Museum of Contemporary Art
4 Ha’banim St
Herzliya, Israel
Curator: LOUIS GRACHOS
Using the musical compositions and published writings of German composer Richard Wagner as a starting point, Guy Goldstein strategically employs the prohibited—the taboo
—to illuminate the relationships between government, religion, and society. Using one of
the most notorious artworks as a test case, he engages with it in a way that not only
makes reference to the unique nature of historical European racist crimes but also
cautions against any agenda-serving manipulation or censorship in art or on its behalf.
Published under the pseudonym K. Freigedank (Free Thinker) in 1850, Wagner’s article
“Das Judenthum in der Musik” (Jewishness in Music) was paramount in planting the seeds
of German nationalism and anti- Semitic sentiment in the 19th century. Goldstein boldly
appropriates the Friegedank alias as a title for his own current installation. He uses the
medium of sound—specifically, pirated radio transmission—to disassemble and restructure
Wagner’s opera Rienzi.
