a note about this document [not to be printed]

the following texts include:

1) the text for an
opening panel
(title m
imaamaqim
), signed by david wilson & francesco
spagnolo, on page 1 (
wall texts
, please edit as needed!)
2) bios
and
magnes
collection description, on page 2 (
wall texts
, please edit as needed!)
3) three versions of
psalm 130
, on pages 3-4: hebrew (masoretic); english (king james); and latin
(vulgata), all taken from
http://www.academic-bible.com/en/home/
; another version of the
hebrew text is available at
http://www.mechon-mamre.org/i/t/t26d0.htm
(these could be
displayed on a single panel, or on separate ones:
ideally, wall texts
).
4) exhibition texts
by francesco spagnolo, on pages 6-17

:
19 individual cards
that w
ill be
sequenced by david wilson
in the course of the exhibition installation, to be p
rinted and
displayed beneath the cases
, re-using the long horizontal label from the previous exhibition
(these cards include magnes accession numbers in brackets)
5) the same exhibition texts, on pages 18-30 to be printed individually and left in a dedicated
pick one up box
in the gallery (the cards include a creative commons licence but not
magnes accession numbers in brackets)
6) Please note the following:
a) the
sequence of the cards will be determined by david wilson
: texts were written
so that cards don't have to be displayed in any particular order
b) numbers in brackets
(in a larger, bold, font) refer to the Magnes accession numbers of
some of the objects drawn by david wilson (which include the same numbers at the
bottom of each sheet)
c) please do
not add any capital letters
to these texts (and ensure that no auto-correct
function does that automatically)
d) the
type and size of the font can be changed
to reflect installation requirements
e) line spacing
should try to match the large font size of the accession numbers in
brackets
f) please
email me a proof of the exhibition texts before printing them
(spagnoloacht@gmail.com)
g) i need a
creative commons attribution-noncommercial-sharealike
licence logo (source
files
here
) added to the cards in the pick up box (
but not to the exhibition texts
),
as follows:

francesco spagnolo, 2015

Thank you!
Francesco
bit.ly/spagnoloacht

[1 | WALL TEXT / opening panel]

mimaamaqim
from the depth of collections
inspired by the hebrew word found in psalm 130,
mimaamaqim
, we have
been collaborating on a deep study of the magnes collection of jewish art
and life at uc berkeley.
mimaamaqim
, translated as out of [or,
from
] the depths, and often
referred to, in literature, music, and the arts, as
de profundis
, evokes
deep valleys, dark places, and mysteries.
for several months, david worked in the deep storage of the magnes
collection: exploring, researching, looking at, and drawing objects from
the four corners of the world. each drawing session culminated in a
conversation with francesco, who expanded on and played with the
origins and meanings of the objects he portrayed.
this installation is the result of our collaboration. artifacts from the
magnes, drawings and annotations by david, and written texts by
francesco, open a window into a process of bringing forth the life of
objects, unleashing their performative powers.
the conversation is by all means not over.
david wilson & francesco spagnolo

[2 | WALL TEXT / bios]

DavidWilson
isanartistbasedinOakland,CA.Hecreatesobservationaldrawingsbasedinlandscape
experienceandorchestratessitespecificgatheringsthatdrawtogetherawidenetofartists,performers,
filmmakers,chefs,andartisansintocollaborativerelationships.Herecentlyorganizedtheexperimental
exhibition
ThePossible
attheBerkeleyArtMuseumandPacificFilmArchive,andreceivedtheSan
FranciscoMuseumofModernArt's2012SECAArtAward.HehasexhibitedhisworkwithSFMOMA,was
includedinthe2010CABiennialattheOrangeCountyMuseumofArt,hadasoloMatrixexhibitionat
BAM/PFA,andhasreceivedgrantsfromTheAndyWarholFoundation,SouthernExposure,andTheCenter
forCraft,Creativity,andDesign.
Francesco Spagnolo
(PhD Hebrew University 2007) is the Curator of The Magnes Collection of Jewish
Art and Life and a Lecturer in the Department of Music at the University of California, Berkeley, as well
as a host for the cultural programs of RAI Radiotre (Italian National Radio) in Rome, Italy. A
multidisciplinary scholar focusing on Jewish studies, music and digital media, he intersects textual,
visual and musical cultures, contributing to academia, cultural heritage institutions, and live and
electronic media in Europe, Israel and the US. His publications include the Italian edition of Imre Toth's
Palimpsest
(2003), the audio-anthology
Italian Jewish Musical Traditions
(Hebrew University, 2006),
three books (including
The Jewish World
, 2014), and articles on philosophy, music, film and literature.
At UC Berkeley, he teaches about ritual performance, music, and digital humanities, and curates
research and exhibitions on the cultures of the Jews across the global diaspora.
The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life
, one of the world's preeminent Jewish museum
collections embedded in a university setting, was established in 2010 after the transfer of the Judah L.
Magnes Museum to the University of California, Berkeley. Its remarkably diverse archive, library and
museum holdings include art, objects, texts, music, and historical documents about the Jews in the
Global Diaspora and the American West.

][3 | WALL TEXT / Psalm 130

Psalm 130 | Three Versions

2



3

6


7

Psalm 130 (King James Version)

Out of the depths
have I cried unto thee, O LORD.

2 Lord, hear my voice: let thine ears be attentive to the voice of my

supplications.
3 If thou, LORD, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?
4 But
there is
forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared.
5 I wait for the LORD, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope.
6 My soul
waiteth
for the Lord more than they that watch for the
morning:
I say, more than
they that watch for the morning.
7 Let Israel hope in the LORD: for with the LORD
there is
mercy, and with
him
is
plenteous redemption.
8 And he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities.

Psalmus 129 [130] (Vulgate)

De profundis
clamavi ad te Domine

1 CANTICUM GRADUUM

2 Domine exaudi vocem meam fiant aures tuae intendentes ad vocem

deprecationis meae
3 si iniquitates observabis Domine Domine quis sustinebit

4 quia tecum est propitiatio cum terribilis sis sustinui Dominum

sustinuit anima mea et verbum eius expectavi
5 anima mea ad Dominum
6 a vigilia matutina usque ad vigiliam matutinam expectet Israhel
Dominum
7 quia apud Dominum misericordia et multa apud eum redemptio
8 et ipse redimet Israhel ex omnibus iniquitatibus eius

[3 | EXHIBITION TEXTS / by francesco

spagnolo]
methodology I | access/research
so, david (wilson) is @magnes. he is not just visiting. he is inhabiting the
place. he works with me. he works with all of us. for some time, or at
least for some time, he is one of us. david is now trained in object
handling. he works in collection storage. he sees and finds objects. he
opens doors and drawers and boxes. everyone knows he is an artist, and
watches him draw. david has access. he is an artist with
research
access.

methodology II | fragments
working with a collection means working with fragments. its inevitable.
regardless of its topic, the subject matter of a collection is that it
includes chosen items, or bits, from the world. in a best case scenario, a
collection is an anthology of the world. (but is that really a
best
case
scenario?). a jewish collection is not an anthology, though. that simply
cannot be. it often represents what is left. what was left behindby
those, as derrida was fond of repeating, who of their home, only carry
the dirt that is stuck to the bottom of their shoes. a jewish collection
sometimes is all that could be found. all that survived. that is: all that is
present, and posthumous, at once. this feeling is at times so pervasive
that one may get lost in it. but what survives is not necessarily the best.
what survives is (just) fragments.

methodology III.c | drawing & talking

<this is a bit personal>david draws, and i look, and we talk. this is
familiar to me. i grew up in a painters studio. i would watch my friend
(the italian painter, carlo bert) paint, then take a break, and sometimes
talk. not too much talking. then go back and follow the painting, the
drawing lines, the shadows, one by one, each in its own unique resolute
destiny. in my teens, in milano, i would often cut school to go watch my
friend paint. so working with david is instantly familiar to me. we talk,
but not too much. i let him draw. he lets me talk. and i dont even have
to cut school anymore. school is my work.</this was a bit personal>

methodology III.a | drawing

how does david choose what he draws? i will never understand that, i
know. sometimes it seems casual. he draws whatever falls under his gaze.
but if i wait a bit, i can see that he is following a red thread. perhaps
more than one red thread. he draws small things, large things. he draws
objects. he also draws drawings. (i never really thought that one would
draw
a drawing, but it completely makes sense). eventually, his drawings
grow in number, and in size. since david draws
at scale
, if he is drawing
something big, he uses two or more sheets of paper, dividing his drawing
evenly among them. after a while, i think i see the patterns. similar-sized
objects. series of objects. very tiny objects (also a few rather large
ones). unique objects. and many many amulets. (on amulets, elsewhere).
david draws and i watch. this is a methodology.

methodology III.b | talking

when david is done with drawing for the day, i begin. i begin talking, i
mean. i look at each drawing. most times, the object in the drawing is
familiar to me. i like that, because i can talk about it without looking at
catalog records, which are as useful as they are distracting. sometimes
the object in the drawing is completely unknown to me. and i like that
too, because i can research it, or because its a good feeling, for me, to
realize that i cannot always talk about everything. regardless of the
known or the unknown, i
see
davids drawings, and i see the objects as
new each time around. this is provoking. this forces me to retrace my
steps, to rethink. but in the end i talk, and david draws my words. this is
a methodology.

methodology IV | depth
<purposefully left incomplete>depth is a form of study. and study, a form
of depth. [remember to re-read walter benjamin on kafka, the last
section, the one about the hassidic story of the beggar and the shirt,
about
sancho panza
, & about the (very silent) students]</purposefully
left incomplete>

methodology V | writing (writing

this
)
this is a text written in no particular order. its not that there is no order
the order, the sequencing, is very clear in my mind, and it appears
before me in every letter i type. it is so clear that
even i
could draw it
and yet, it is important that there is no apparent order. each unit of text
i write here is in fact a sequence in its own right. (thank you, luciano
8

berio). this is a text that is supposed to exist only in its modularity. each
independent sequence can be juxtaposed in a collage. i will not be, i do
not want to be, the author of that collage. (hopefully, david wilson will
take this on, or perhaps it will be left to chance). what i am after, is a
sequence of radical juxtapositions. sontag described modernity as an
allegory-littered wasteland. and allegories as spatialized ideas. here,
ideas are drawn. and not by me.

on cherishing
to me, perhaps the most inspiring words in psalm 130 are in verse 6. no
translation does them full justice.
nafshi l-adonay mi-shomrim la-boqer
shomrim la-boqer
. my soul is towards god like the guards of the dawn
guard the dawn: this is a somewhat appropriately literal rendering
(perhaps). my focus, my obsession, is the word,
shomrim
(repeated
twice: it must be important): "guards." the setting is, perhaps, a walled
city. and the guards are those on duty during the last shift of the night,
who watch the dawn in trepidation.
by struggling with this word over many years, i have come to understand
the reason of my deep concern with it.
the hebrew verb for guarding (
lishmor
) invokes custody, guardianship,
as well as the military duty of a long watch. this very same verb is the
one used by the bible to command the observance of the sabbath. and
thats where i feel that it also invokes the related, and oh so distant,
notions of deep gazing, of (safe) keeping, of observing, and, above all, of
cherishing. and, of course, of curating as in taking, giving, and
providing care.
curating objects, and ideas, and the people and stories that come with
them.
9

what continues to fascinate me and upset me about the very word,

cherishing, a word i adore (especially in its french version,
chrir
), is
that it has no direct equivalent in italian, my mother tongue.

on performing I (
performing for the "other")
esther
: the biblical story of a jewish queen, her righteous uncle, their
powerful king, his evil prime minister, a thwarted plot to exterminate all
jews, and a hidden god. there is a religious expectation about owning a
personal manuscript copy of this story, in the form of a scroll (
megillah
),
so that scrolls of esther are somewhat ubiquitous.
a question lingers when looking at these scrolls.
since modern times, many a
megillah
is illustrated (at times masterfully
so), and also kept in a beautifully decorated case
[99.19.5]
.

decorating esther scrolls began in italy, and it was the renaissance, and
one would think that it makes sense for jews to want to have their own
art during the renaissance, right? some suggest that illustrations were
added so that women, who were illiterate, could follow the story. and
this seems to also make sense. except it also makes little sense, since we
do know that jewish women in the italian renaissance were usually quite
literate, and likely did not need illustrations to follow a story they could
read on their own.
so, why add images to a
megillah
? why make it look so good? for whom? i
sense it was for the benefit of non-jewish synagogue goers, who were
relatively numerous in the ghettos, especially on
purim
(when the story
of esther is read in the synagogue), and who certainly could not read the
story in hebrew. jews performing jewish art for non-jews.

10

on performing II (
when the finger points to the torah
)
<this is technical>
torah pointers
are a very special type of jewish ritual
object. like many jewish ritual objects, they blend normativity and
subversiveness. but torah pointers do so in a highly unique way.
in one version, a torah pointer is an object that does what it says it does:
it points to the text of a torah scroll, to each word, one by one, while the
hebrew bible is chanted. it helps reading the torah.
in earlier iterations
[82.25.1 & 68.33]
, pointers look like short
sticks, or quills. this helped reading the bible so that it could be
memorized. (with copies few and far in between, committing text to
memory was essential).
more modern pointers are shaped like a hand, with a pointing finger. and
in hebrew they are called just that,
yad
, or hand
[85.42]
. despite all
appearances, these pointers are very different from the older kind,
precisely because, with their pointing fingers, they perform that very
action that human hands are not supposed to do. they
touch
the torah,
which is forbidden to humans, but apparently not to inanimate objects in
human form.
out of respect, humans cannot touch a torah scroll (unless they are
writing or repairing it, of course).
when shaped like a human hand, pointers become the extension of an
illicit act, and allow one to actually perform it.
torah pointers
are subversive.</this was technical>

11

on performing III (sounds)

<this is technical>david wilson
has drawn a

torah shield
[66.0.2]
. this
is technical language to say that it is an ornament for a scroll of the
hebrew bible. which, in turn, is technical language to say that it is a
tag
used to mark a book (scroll).
a torah shield is
bookmark
.
shields are used to label a specific scroll of the bible when a synagogue
(and it is often so) owns more than one scroll. this is necessary because
when torah scrolls are read in synagogues they must be cued to the exact
reading point each week, and it is practical to have several scrolls
available, cued to different reading points so that they can be more
easily read from.
but since its already there as a label, a shield can also be used for other
purposes. shields are often made of silver and inscribed in honor of
someone special (typically somebody who is either very important, or
very generous, or already dead).
equally often, movable parts, even bells, are attached to shields so that
when a torah scroll is carried around, it makes sound, even though sounds
are not really supposed to be there in the first place.
torah shields
are subversive.</this was technical>

diaspora |
diaspora | d
asp
r
/
diaspora
is a greek word. it means scattering, of seed. usually, seed is
understood as sperm, thus the genetic implication of the scattering of
a people. but a botanical explanation may work equally well. if one has in
12

mind how farmers used to spread seeds on a field, by scattering them

with a fanning gesture of their arm. its a theatrical gesture. its a display
of seed.

diaspora |
golah
|
galut
in hebrew, diaspora is usually rendered as
golah
or
galut
. here, the
traditional understandings of the word ranging from expulsion to
captivity to, of course, exile (which is both, in a way) are not
enough, and the conversation must go further. an implication of this word
may instead have a lot to do with nudity and exposure. even ezekiel
(ch. 12), who obsesses with the word
golah
, seems to suggest that exile
involves being exposed to the sight, and specifically to the eyes, of
others.

diaspora
diaspora is to be seen.

biographies in diaspora
life in diaspora is life in motion.
is writing the biography of a diasporic artist all that different from
writing that of a diasporic object? in describing the magnes collection,
ive left behind most conventions. artists no longer have nationalities,
even when they do carry a passport (some carry more than one, others
13

none at all). their biographies are told, sparsely, by the dates that frame
their lifespan and, even more importantly, by the territories, countries,
and sometimes cities, in which they lived and worked.
take abram krol, the artist who donated the original etching plate

[97.14]
of his portrait of isaac bashevis singer to the magnes in 1997.
according to MoMA.org, he is
Abram Krol (French, born 1919)
. and if one
follows artnet.com, he was instead
Abraham (Abram) Krol (Polish,

1919-2001)
. in his full diasporic biography, in his life within the jewish

world, this visionary artist who crossed from hassidism to cubism is better
described as
Abraham (Abram) Krol (Poland, France & Nazi-occupied
France, 1919-2001).

nationalities do not necessarily matter here. quite paradoxically, in

diaspora, it is instead the sense of place that truly matters.
the same is true of objects. material culture in diaspora always belongs
to many a place. the very materials that make a ritual object often come
from different parts of the world among my favorites @magnes are
torah ark curtains, one of which combines an inscription from ukraine
with a textile from india, where it was used by jews from iraq the
biography of diasporic objects does not stop at their materials, though. it
includes that of the (often unnamed) makers, of those to which the
objects were dedicated (this is the case of many ritual objects), and of
those who used them. and each of these biographies may very well bring
together an array of places, of individual paths, of narratives.
thebiographyofobjectsandofpeopleindiasporaisnotatrajectory
from
here
,to
there
.itsanetworkanetworkofplaces.

14

amulets I
<this is technical>thrown into the world without clothes, we spend most
of our lives covering up, and trying to shield ourselves from illness, and
from the world. our body is how we are most exposed. (or is it our
voice?).
when clothing, and a roof over our head, are not enough to protect us,
there comes the amulet.
amulets can be quite small
[78.69.1]
, but also rather large

[2010.0.31]
, made of silver, cloth, or paper
[2009.0.71 A.31]
.
they can be worn around the neck
[2008.27.1]
, or atthached to a
brides hair
[2011.6.3b]

, carried in a pocket, posted on a wall

[91.49]
, or when they protect small babies hung by a crib
[67.1.1.3]
and even tucked in it, between the sheets.

amulets involve text. amulets need to

say
something, something specific.
amulets have voices. they also always have words written on/in them.
(when they do not, words are implicit). words that are often exciting to
read: they include all possible names of god (and god has so many
names). amuletic texts contain many possible permutations, and
intentional misspellings, of biblical texts. they also contain the names of
angels.
in hebrew, angels are named for what they do.
gavriel
gives strength,
raphael
heals,
ezriel
helps, and so on. the performative power of these
names was once lost. and yet, their very sound maintains protective
powers.
words, written and sounded out, carry protective powers that go far
beyond ones body and personal space. small parchments with biblical
15

texts are tucked into boxes

[67.58]
affixed on doorposts (
mezuzot
).
thanks to this public display of identity, one can tell a jewish home from
its door. this is a fairly common practice, although a m
ezuzah
can also be
disguised
the command of writing biblical words on doorposts
[67.0.5]
is
repeated twice in deuteronomy (it must be important), but the bible does
not say anything about putting these words in a box. so perhaps it is only
the box
[77.249]
, the
mezuzah
itself, that is the actual amulet.<this
was technical>

amulets II
i wonder why david (wilson) is so fascinated with amulets. he draws and
draws them, and now wants to make his own but then, i think i know
why. its only that i do not want to talk with him (or write here) about it.

time
a pocket watch with hebrew numerals. i remember reading somewhere of
a man going to synagogue with a pocket watch (it was the 1860s, and he
wrote at length about carrying his new, modern, gizmo with him) just to
measure how long services lasted. he wrote that they lasted a long, long,
time. the length of modern time.
the watch drawn by david wilson
[79.67.1]
is remarkable, and it
screams look at me! its a show-off piece, created to display the
(jewish) identity of its owner. (its from germany).
16

i can see the image before my eyes: a wealthy man (it had to be a man)
in a top hat, emphatically taking the watch out of his vest pocket,
performing himself as a modern jew. (hebrew, incidentally, fits with
that. using hebrew in everyday life is a quintessentially modern thing to
do).
i wonder why i am so harsh in evaluating this otherwise beautiful,
intimate, inspiring object. perhaps its only because its mechanics were
not adjusted to move counter-clockwise (like hebrew, which is written
from right to left). this watch is all show, and a bit of a cheat.

memorabilia
davids access to the collection @magnes is unconditional. he has access
to
everything
. and so he uncovers not only that which is precious, unique,
exciting. he also uncovers, and draws, the commonplace
[96.47]
, and

even the seemingly

unwanted
[2002.10]

. (there is such a thing as an

unwanted past, isnt there?). (and isnt a collection a way to forget, as
much as it is a way to remember, the past?). its surprising to see all of
this buttons, figurines, knick-knacks in his drawings. and its also not
surprising at all. the past can be embarrassing. the past is cumbersome.
the past is both supremely lovely and supremely unwanted.
i spend a lot of my time (thinking about) forgetting.

17

[3 | 19 PICK UP CARDS / in box]

methodology I | access/research
so, david (wilson) is @magnes. he is not just visiting. he is inhabiting the
place. he works with me. he works with all of us. for some time, or at
least for some time, he is one of us. david is now trained in object
handling. he works in collection storage. he sees and finds objects. he
opens doors and drawers and boxes. everyone knows he is an artist, and
watches him draw. david has access. he is an artist with
research
access.

francescospagnolo,2015

methodology II | fragments
working with a collection means working with fragments. its inevitable.
regardless of its topic, the subject matter of a collection is that it
includes chosen items, or bits, from the world. in a best case scenario, a
collection is an anthology of the world. (but is that really a
best
case
scenario?). a jewish collection is not an anthology, though. that simply
cannot be. it often represents what is left. what was left behindby
those, as derrida was fond of repeating, who of their home, only carry
the dirt that is stuck to the bottom of their shoes. a jewish collection
sometimes is all that could be found. all that survived. that is: all that is
present, and posthumous, at once. this feeling is at times so pervasive
that one may get lost in it. but what survives is not necessarily the best.
what survives is (just) fragments.

18


francescospagnolo,2015

methodology III.c | drawing & talking

<this is a bit personal>david draws, and i look, and we talk. this is
familiar to me. i grew up in a painters studio. i would watch my friend
(the italian painter, carlo bert) paint, then take a break, and sometimes
talk. not too much talking. then go back and follow the painting, the
drawing lines, the shadows, one by one, each in its own unique resolute
destiny. in my teens, in milano, i would often cut school to go watch my
friend paint. so working with david is instantly familiar to me. we talk,
but not too much. i let him draw. he lets me talk. and i dont even have
to cut school anymore. school is my work.</this was a bit personal>

francescospagnolo,2015

methodology III.a | drawing

how does david choose what he draws? i will never understand that, i
know. sometimes it seems casual. he draws whatever falls under his gaze.
but if i wait a bit, i can see that he is following a red thread. perhaps
more than one red thread. he draws small things, large things. he draws
objects. he also draws drawings. (i never really thought that one would
draw
a drawing, but it completely makes sense). eventually, his drawings
grow in number, and in size. since david draws
at scale
, if he is drawing
something big, he uses two or more sheets of paper, dividing his drawing
evenly among them. after a while, i think i see the patterns. similar-sized
objects. series of objects. very tiny objects (also a few rather large

19

ones). unique objects. and many many amulets. (on amulets, elsewhere).
david draws and i watch. this is a methodology.

francescospagnolo,2015

methodology III.b | talking

when david is done with drawing for the day, i begin. i begin talking, i
mean. i look at each drawing. most times, the object in the drawing is
familiar to me. i like that, because i can talk about it without looking at
catalog records, which are as useful as they are distracting. sometimes
the object in the drawing is completely unknown to me. and i like that
too, because i can research it, or because its a good feeling, for me, to
realize that i cannot always talk about everything. regardless of the
known or the unknown, i
see
davids drawings, and i see the objects as
new each time around. this is provoking. this forces me to retrace my
steps, to rethink. but in the end i talk, and david draws my words. this is
a methodology.

francescospagnolo,2015

methodology IV | depth
<purposefully left incomplete>depth is a form of study. and study, a form
of depth. [remember to re-read walter benjamin on kafka, the last
section, the one about the hassidic story of the beggar and the shirt,
about
sancho panza
, & about the (very silent) students]</purposefully
left incomplete>
20


francescospagnolo,2015

methodology V | writing (writing

this
)
this is a text written in no particular order. its not that there is no order
the order, the sequencing, is very clear in my mind, and it appears
before me in every letter i type. it is so clear that
even i
could draw it
and yet, it is important that there is no apparent order. each unit of text
i write here is in fact a sequence in its own right. (thank you, luciano
berio). this is a text that is supposed to exist only in its modularity. each
independent sequence can be juxtaposed in a collage. i will not be, i do
not want to be, the author of that collage. (hopefully, david wilson will
take this on, or perhaps it will be left to chance). what i am after, is a
sequence of radical juxtapositions. sontag described modernity as an
allegory-littered wasteland. and allegories as spatialized ideas. here,
ideas are drawn. and not by me.

francescospagnolo,2015

on cherishing
to me, perhaps the most inspiring words in psalm 130 are in verse 6. no
translation does them full justice.
nafshi l-adonay mi-shomrim la-boqer
shomrim la-boqer
. my soul is towards god like the guards of the dawn
guard the dawn: this is a somewhat appropriately literal rendering
(perhaps). my focus, my obsession, is the word,
shomrim
(repeated
twice: it must be important): "guards." the setting is, perhaps, a walled

21

city. and the guards are those on duty during the last shift of the night,
who watch the dawn in trepidation.
by struggling with this word over many years, i have come to understand
the reason of my deep concern with it.
the hebrew verb for guarding (
lishmor
) invokes custody, guardianship,
as well as the military duty of a long watch. this very same verb is the
one used by the bible to command the observance of the sabbath. and
thats where i feel that it also invokes the related, and oh so distant,
notions of deep gazing, of (safe) keeping, of observing, and, above all, of
cherishing. and, of course, of curating as in taking, giving, and
providing care.
curating objects, and ideas, and the people and stories that come with
them.
what continues to fascinate me and upset me about the very word,
cherishing, a word i adore (especially in its french version,
chrir
), is
that it has no direct equivalent in italian, my mother tongue.

francescospagnolo,2015

on performing I (
performing for the "other")
esther
: the biblical story of a jewish queen, her righteous uncle, their
powerful king, his evil prime minister, a thwarted plot to exterminate all
jews, and a hidden god. there is a religious expectation about owning a
personal manuscript copy of this story, in the form of a scroll (
megillah
),
so that scrolls of esther are somewhat ubiquitous.
a question lingers when looking at these scrolls.

22

since modern times, many a

megillah
is illustrated (at times masterfully
so), and also kept in a beautifully decorated case.
decorating esther scrolls began in italy, and it was the renaissance, and
one would think that it makes sense for jews to want to have their own
art during the renaissance, right? some suggest that illustrations were
added so that women, who were illiterate, could follow the story. and
this seems to also make sense. except it also makes little sense, since we
do know that jewish women in the italian renaissance were usually quite
literate, and likely did not need illustrations to follow a story they could
read on their own.
so, why add images to a
megillah
? why make it look so good? for whom? i
sense it was for the benefit of non-jewish synagogue goers, who were
relatively numerous in the ghettos, especially on
purim
(when the story
of esther is read in the synagogue), and who certainly could not read the
story in hebrew. jews performing jewish art for non-jews.

francescospagnolo,2015

on performing II (
when the finger points to the torah
)
<this is technical>
torah pointers
are a very special type of jewish ritual
object. like many jewish ritual objects, they blend normativity and
subversiveness. but torah pointers do so in a highly unique way.
in one version, a torah pointer is an object that does what it says it does:
it points to the text of a torah scroll, to each word, one by one, while the
hebrew bible is chanted. it helps reading the torah.

23

in earlier iterations, pointers look like short sticks, or quills. this helped
reading the bible so that it could be memorized. (with copies few and far
in between, committing text to memory was essential).
more modern pointers are shaped like a hand, with a pointing finger. and
in hebrew they are called just that,
yad
, or hand. despite all
appearances, these pointers are very different from the older kind,
precisely because, with their pointing fingers, they perform that very
action that human hands are not supposed to do. they
touch
the torah,
which is forbidden to humans, but apparently not to inanimate objects in
human form.
out of respect, humans cannot touch a torah scroll (unless they are
writing or repairing it, of course).
when shaped like a human hand, pointers become the extension of an
illicit act, and allow one to actually perform it.
torah pointers
are subversive.</this was technical>

francescospagnolo,2015

on performing III (sounds)

<this is technical>david wilson
has drawn a

torah shield
. this is technical
language to say that it is an ornament for a scroll of the hebrew bible.
which, in turn, is technical language to say that it is a t
ag
used to mark a
book (scroll).
a torah shield is
bookmark
.
shields are used to label a specific scroll of the bible when a synagogue
(and it is often so) owns more than one scroll. this is necessary because
24

when torah scrolls are read in synagogues they must be cued to the exact
reading point each week, and it is practical to have several scrolls
available, cued to different reading points so that they can be more
easily read from.
but since its already there as a label, a shield can also be used for other
purposes. shields are often made of silver and inscribed in honor of
someone special (typically somebody who is either very important, or
very generous, or already dead).
equally often, movable parts, even bells, are attached to shields so that
when a torah scroll is carried around, it makes sound, even though sounds
are not really supposed to be there in the first place.
torah shields
are subversive.</this was technical>

francescospagnolo,2015

diaspora |
diaspora | d
asp
r
/
diaspora
is a greek word. it means scattering, of seed. usually, seed is
understood as sperm, thus the genetic implication of the scattering of
a people. but a botanical explanation may work equally well. if one has in
mind how farmers used to spread seeds on a field, by scattering them
with a fanning gesture of their arm. its a theatrical gesture. its a display
of seed.

francescospagnolo,2015

25

diaspora |
golah
|
galut
in hebrew, diaspora is usually rendered as
golah
or
galut
. here, the
traditional understandings of the word ranging from expulsion to
captivity to, of course, exile (which is both, in a way) are not
enough, and the conversation must go further. an implication of this word
may instead have a lot to do with nudity and exposure. even ezekiel
(ch. 12), who obsesses with the word
golah
, seems to suggest that exile
involves being exposed to the sight, and specifically to the eyes, of
others.

francescospagnolo,2015

diaspora
diaspora is to be seen.

francescospagnolo,2015

biographies in diaspora
life in diaspora is life in motion.
is writing the biography of a diasporic artist all that different from
writing that of a diasporic object? in describing the magnes collection,
ive left behind most conventions. artists no longer have nationalities,
even when they do carry a passport (some carry more than one, others
none at all). their biographies are told, sparsely, by the dates that frame

26

their lifespan and, even more importantly, by the territories, countries,

and sometimes cities, in which they lived and worked.
take abram krol, the artist who donated the original etching plate of his
portrait of isaac bashevis singer to the magnes in 1997. according to
MoMA.org, he is
Abram Krol (French, born 1919)
. and if one follows

artnet.com, he was instead

Abraham (Abram) Krol (Polish, 1919-2001)
. in
his full diasporic biography, in his life within the jewish world, this

visionary artist who crossed from hassidism to cubism is better described

as
Abraham (Abram) Krol (Poland, France & Nazi-occupied France,
1919-2001).

nationalities do not necessarily matter here. quite paradoxically, in

diaspora, it is instead the sense of place that truly matters.
the same is true of objects. material culture in diaspora always belongs
to many a place. the very materials that make a ritual object often come
from different parts of the world among my favorites @magnes are
torah ark curtains, one of which combines an inscription from ukraine
with a textile from india, where it was used by jews from iraq the
biography of diasporic objects does not stop at their materials, though. it
includes that of the (often unnamed) makers, of those to which the
objects were dedicated (this is the case of many ritual objects), and of
those who used them. and each of these biographies may very well bring
together an array of places, of individual paths, of narratives.
thebiographyofobjectsandofpeopleindiasporaisnotatrajectory
from
here
,to
there
.itsanetworkanetworkofplaces.

francescospagnolo,2015
27

amulets I
<this is technical>thrown into the world without clothes, we spend most
of our lives covering up, and trying to shield ourselves from illness, and
from the world. our body is how we are most exposed. (or is it our
voice?).
when clothing, and a roof over our head, are not enough to protect us,
there comes the amulet.
amulets can be quite small, but also rather large, made of silver, cloth,
or paper. they can be worn around the neck, or atthached to a brides
hair, carried in a pocket, posted on a wall, or when they protect small
babies hung by a crib and even tucked in it, between the sheets.
amulets involve text. amulets need to
say
something, something specific.
amulets have voices. they also always have words written on/in them.
(when they do not, words are implicit). words that are often exciting to
read: they include all possible names of god (and god has so many
names). amuletic texts contain many possible permutations, and
intentional misspellings, of biblical texts. they also contain the names of
angels.
in hebrew, angels are named for what they do.
gavriel
gives strength,
raphael
heals,
ezriel
helps, and so on. the performative power of these
names was once lost. and yet, their very sound maintains protective
powers.
words, written and sounded out, carry protective powers that go far
beyond ones body and personal space. small parchments with biblical
texts are tucked into boxes affixed on doorposts (
mezuzot
). thanks to this
public display of identity, one can tell a jewish home from its door. this is
a fairly common practice, although a
mezuzah
can also be disguised
28

the command of writing biblical words on doorposts is repeated twice in

deuteronomy (it must be important), but the bible does not say anything
about putting these words in a box. so perhaps it is only the box, the
mezuzah
itself, that is the actual amulet.<this was technical>

francescospagnolo,2015

amulets II
i wonder why david (wilson) is so fascinated with amulets. he draws and
draws them, and now wants to make his own but then, i think i know
why. its only that i do not want to talk with him (or write here) about it.

francescospagnolo,2015

time
a pocket watch with hebrew numerals. i remember reading somewhere of
a man going to synagogue with a pocket watch (it was the 1860s, and he
wrote at length about carrying his new, modern, gizmo with him) just to
measure how long services lasted. he wrote that they lasted a long, long,
time. the length of modern time.
the watch drawn by david wilson is remarkable, and it screams look at
me! its a show-off piece, created to display the (jewish) identity of its
owner. (its from germany).
i can see the image before my eyes: a wealthy man (it had to be a man)
in a top hat, emphatically taking the watch out of his vest pocket,
performing himself as a modern jew. (hebrew, incidentally, fits with
29

that. using hebrew in everyday life is a quintessentially modern thing to

do).
i wonder why i am so harsh in evaluating this otherwise beautiful,
intimate, inspiring object. perhaps its only because its mechanics were
not adjusted to move counter-clockwise (like hebrew, which is written
from right to left). this watch is all show, and a bit of a cheat.

francescospagnolo,2015

memorabilia
davids access to the collection @magnes is unconditional. he has access
to
everything
. and so he uncovers not only that which is precious, unique,
exciting. he also uncovers, and draws, the commonplace, and even the
seemingly
unwanted
. (there is such a thing as an unwanted past, isnt
there?). (and isnt a collection a way to forget, as much as it is a way to
remember, the past?). its surprising to see all of this buttons,
figurines, knick-knacks in his drawings. and its also not surprising at
all. the past can be embarrassing. the past is cumbersome. the past is
both supremely lovely and supremely unwanted.
i spend a lot of my time (thinking about) forgetting.

francescospagnolo,2015

30