Monthly Archives: May 2015

(Baroque) Art Mosque (Christoph Büchel)

Posted on May 10, 2015 by zjb

Christoph Büchel, turned Santa Maria della Misericordia,  a disused church in the heart of Venice, into a functioning mosque to serve as Iceland’s national pavilion for the Venice Biennale. Excluded from the town center, members of the local community have … Continue reading →

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Jewish Cemetery Bunnies (Haarlem)

Posted on May 8, 2015 by zjb

Compliments of friend-student AJL from the Jewish cemetery in Haarlem, Netherlands. The green is pacific; the bunnies are quiet; the stones are elegant. The slant of the light suggests early evening, right? In the medieval/early modern Jewish iconographic tradition typically … Continue reading →

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St John The Divine North Wall Residential (April)

Posted on May 8, 2015 by zjb

I took these shots sometime back in April from Morningside Drive and Park. The new residential tower begins to wrap itself in front and around the north wall of St John the Divine on 113th Street. The view of the … Continue reading →

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Archaic Stone Modern Eruv

Posted on May 7, 2015 by zjb

I like these photographs of neolithic cult stones from the Aravah desert in Israel, about which you can read more here. They are both abstract and sexual at the same time, aniconic and iconic at once. Of interest to me has to do … Continue reading →

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Idol Worship? (West Semitic Material & Empty Space Aniconism)

Posted on May 6, 2015 by zjb

I took these from Trygge N.D. Mettinger’s No Graven Image?: Israelite Aniconism in Its Ancient Near Eastern Context, the point of which is to show that aniconic non-figurative “representation” of divinity was not, as is so often assumed, unique to … Continue reading →

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This Geological Shift of Human Pressure

Posted on May 6, 2015 by zjb
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Charlie Hebdo & PEN America Center (Jeffrey Goldberg)

Posted on May 5, 2015 by zjb

I know many people hate Jeffrey Goldberg because he’s not an anti-Zionist. And they won’t like this piece by him in the Atlantic, which you can read here, excoriating (I think eviscerating) the arguments made by critics who protested the decision … Continue reading →

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No Graven Image? West Semitic Aniconic (Reading T.N.D. Mettinger)

Posted on May 5, 2015 by zjb

Apparently, everything we thought is wrong, especially all highfalutin talk about icons, aniconism, and “representation.” I’ll say so on the authority of Tryggve N.D. Mettinger., whose  No Graven Image? Israelite Aniconism in Its Ancient Near Eastern Context I just recently … Continue reading →

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Heschel Conference at UCLA (May 3-4)

Posted on May 4, 2015 by zjb

A little late, but here’s the program for the big Heschel at UCLA. Looking forward to the gossip. You can find the full schedule here.

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Orchard Beach — Modern Classical Decrepit

Posted on May 4, 2015 by zjb

Found myself at Orchard Beach in Pelham Bay Park in the Bronx. The place was designed by Robert Moses in the 1930s. The style is modern classical.  Today, large parts of the place, especially the bathhouse pavilion feels like a … Continue reading →

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