SEEKING REDEMPTION? 

German artists live
with lice in Israeli museum

Artists catch head lice for show
BBC News  Monday, 28 April 2008

TEL AVIV — Seven German artists are living with lice
in their hair in an Israeli museum for three weeks in
the name of art.

The Berliners aim to stretch boundaries of what is art,
saying they are toying with ideas about hosts and guests
in line with a theme set by the museum.

"The idea is that we live in the museum as their guests,
and at the same time we are hosting lice on our heads,"
said artist Vincent Grunwald, 23.

The artists are wearing shower caps to prevent the lice
from spreading.

Milana Gitzin-Adiram, chief curator of the Museum of Bat
Yam, near Tel Aviv, said: "Art is no longer just a painting
on the wall.

"Art is life, life is art." 

Exhibition could cause memories 

She said she spent weeks exploring the gallery's theme of
"hosting", turning to philosophers such as Jacques Derrida
and the Bible for inspiration.

But after receiving proposals from around the world,
she decided to choose the head lice.

But artists also stressed the show was not meant to be
a reference to the Holocaust®.

"We were aware that, as Germans in Israel, there was
a risk we may be misunderstood, that we would open up
wounds," said Stefan Reuter, 27.

The exhibition has the potential to cause controversy in
Germany, where the mention of lice could prompt memories
of Nazi propaganda that described Jews as "parasites."*

"People ask about it — we had one woman who came
and thanked us for making such a great statement against
the fascist rhetoric of German history," Reuter said.

Living with lice uncomfortable

He and his fellow artists said the exhibition offered the
chance to explore the concept of the parasite and to ask
whether the word could be "reclaimed" in Israel.

The group acknowledged that living with lice was
uncomfortable, but said it was worth it for the sake of art,
and insisted it was not a gimmick.

"We are serious," said Akim One Machine-Tu Nyuyen.
"The lice are part of the art."

Other controversial artworks have included last year's
Turner Prize winner Mark Wallinger, who also made a film
called Sleeper in which he dressed as a bear and wandered
around Berlin's National Gallery.

And an Australian performer, Stelios Arcadiou, also garnered
attention when he had an ear grafted onto his forearm in
the name of art in 2007. He said his extra ear, made of
human cartilage, was an augmentation of the body's form.

http://news..bbc.co.uk:80/1/hi/entertainment/7370842.stm 

*Perhaps the "artists" should incorporate Zyklon-B into their "art." 
It was used effectively as a disinfectant at Auschwitz and other wartime
internment centers to prevent disease and death, permitting millions
of Jews to become "survivors" and go on the postwar lecture circuit!