Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden will be opening their doors at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, 16 January 2024 for the “Martin and Harriet Roth Lecture”, held in the atrium of the Albertinum

Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden will be opening their doors at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, 16 January 2024 for the “Martin and Harriet Roth Lecture”, held in the atrium of the Albertinum

Prof. Dr. Meron Mendel: “When Art Wounds: Some Reflections On Antisemitism And Artistic Freedom”

In 2018, the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden (Dresden State Art Collections) began holding the Martin Roth Lecture once a year. These lectures by significant figures working in the cultural sector were introduced to commemorate a past Director General, Martin Roth (1955–2017), who left his mark not only on the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden (Dresden State Art Collections) but on museums as a whole. Since 2022, the series has been continued under the title “Martin and Harriet Roth Lecture”, now also in memory of his wife, the celebrated art historian Harriet Roth (1964–2021).

This year’s lecture, entitled “When Art Wounds: Reflections On Antisemitism And Artistic Freedom”, will be held by Meron Mendel (b. 1976 in Ramat Gan, Israel). It will examine the debates about documenta15 and how the arts and culture reacted, and look into the massacre carried out in Israel by the terrorist organisation Hamas on 7 October 2023.

Meron Mendel is the director of the Anne Frank Educational Centre in Frankfurt and a professor of transnational social work at Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences.

Having studied History and Educational Science in Haifa and Munich, he completed his doctorate at Goethe University, Frankfurt in 2010 with a thesis on the “Lifeworlds of Jewish Youth in Germany”.

Over the years, Meron Mendel has published numerous books, written academic articles and had pieces published in various newspapers. Conjointly with Saba-Nur Cheema, he writes the monthly column “Muslimisch-Jüdisches Abendbrot” (Muslim–Jewish Supper) in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. The most recent of his books to be published were “Singularität im Plural. Kolonialismus, Holocaust und der zweite Historikerstreit” (Singularity in the Plural. Colonialism, the Holocaust and the Second Historians’ Debate) and “Über Israel reden. Eine deutsche Debatte” (Talking about Israel. A German debate). In December 2023, the documentary “Return to Israel” was shown in “auslandsjournal”, by ZDF, a German national TV broadcaster. In the documentary, Mendel travels to Israel with a ZDF reporter.

If this information is reported in advance, please add the following note:

The Dresden State Art Colections requests that anyone interested in attending the event please register at the latest by 14 January 2024, at http://event.skd.museum/ or by emailing anmeldung@skd.museum (subject heading: Martin and Harriet Roth Lecture). As the number of places is limited, bookings will be made in the order in which they are received. Only those who register may attend the event.

Members of the media are requested to apply for accreditation by emailing presse@skd.museum by 2 p.m. on Monday, 15 January 2024 at the latest.