"The Great Synagogue Restores Memory" and "Dedications to Bashert"

Koła wypełnione liniami. Na środku okrąg z napisem Gabi von Seltmann. Galeria Rotacyjna. / Circles filled with lines. In the centre a circle with the inscription Gabi von Seltmann. Rotating Gallery.

Gabi von Seltmann na tle projekcji Wielkiej Synagogi.

Projekcja Gabi von Seltmann - "Wielka przywraca pamięć".

Na ścianie projekcja "Wielka przywraca pamięć" autorstwa Gabi von Seltman.

Prace Gabi von Seltmann w Galerii Rotacyjnej.

Dwie kobiety oglądają film wyświetlany w Galerii Rotacyjnej.

Presentation of the works by Gabi von Seltmann is the second artistic activity in the new Rotating Gallery. "The Great Synagogue Restores Memory" is a video recording of a multimedia art project held in public space. On 19 April 2018, on the 75th anniversary of the outbreak of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, an image of the Great Synagogue rising from rubble appeared on the wall of the Blue Tower skyscraper which today stands in the Synagogue’s location. The projection on the wall was repeated several times. In the Rotating Gallery, "The Great Synagogue Restores Memory" is accompanied by another video work titled "Dedications to Bashert." Both projects are connected by the figure of Jewish poet Irena Klepfisz and by fragments of her poem.

13-22 July, during museum opening hours, in the last gallery of the Core Exhibition

The year 2024 marks POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews’ 10th anniversary. To celebrate this occasion, we want to make the voices of Jewish artists heard by creating a rotating, lively, polyphonic space in the last gallery of the Core Exhibition—a space for Jewish artists to express themselves.

Gabi von Seltmann on her work:

"Since we don’t exist in a vacuum, my art encompasses Jewish past and Jewish present. A symbolic reconstruction of the Great Synagogue in Warsaw works as a time machine of sorts—it helps me internalize the past while at the same time firmly grounding me as an artist in the present.

I began the presentation of 'The Great Synagogue Restores Memory' by showing the audience animated images of the Synagogue rising to the sound of an archival recording of a prayer sung in Hebrew by the Great Synagogue cantor, Gershon Sirota. Towards the end, we hear the voice of Jewish poet Irena Klepfisz—born in the Warsaw ghetto, currently residing in the United States—and the voice of Paula Sawicka, a resident of Warsaw. They both read out excerpts from Irena Klepfisz’s poem titled 'Bashert' (Yiddish for 'destiny').

Putting together the voices of contemporary Jewish women (reading in Polish, Yiddish and English) allows me to address the entire Polish audience—both Jewish and non-Jewish—and proudly affirm: 'Mir zenen do! We are here!' There’s Jewish life in Poland today. At the film’s culminating moment, the Yiddish word ליבע ('love') appears—love for our ancestors, love for our Jewish life in Poland, and hope for a Jewish future. Love that overcame hate, restoring the memory of the city’s Jewish community."

The main idea behind "The Great Synagogue Restores Memory" project—most likely the first virtual commemoration of that sort in public space—was to recall the history of this place and the history of Jewish residents of Warsaw. Video recorded at Bankowy Square with the audience, passers-by and street traffic touches upon the issue of memory and oblivion, of recalling a city that no longer exists. It represents a visual gesture of recalling the memory against an altered urban fabric.

Even though made in 2017, "Dedications to Bashert" video complements "The Great Synagogue Restores Memory" project. It contains the entire poem whose excerpts we hear in "The Great…" The poem was penned by Irena Klepfisz—a poet, a feminist, a lesbian activist, a pioneer in discovering Yiddish female writers. In 2024, her book titled "Pomiędzy światami" [In-Between Worlds]—a selection of poems and essays, including "Bashert"—was published by słowo/obraz/terytoria publishing house.

Excerpt from the poem "Bashert" by Irena Klepfisz

"These words are dedicated to those who survived

because life is a wilderness and they were savage

because life is an awakening and they were alert

because life is a flowering and they blossomed

because life is a struggle and they struggled

because life is a gift and they were free to accept it

These words are dedicated to those who survived

Bashert"

Gabi von Seltmann is an interdisciplinary artist, producer and animator. Using various forms of artistic expression, she seeks answers to the questions concerning memory, Jewish identity and historic entanglements. "The Great Synagogue Restores Memory," a multimedia project which premiered in 2018, is one of her most widely known works. The projection of an image of the Great Synagogue at the very spot where it once stood contained the Yiddish word ליבע which means 'love', thus affirming the author’s belief that death and destruction may be overcome through acts of remembrance and love.

"The Great Synagogue Restores Memory" project

Concept and direction: