24. November 2022
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Jewish Museum Vienna receives the artwork "Endsieger sind dennoch wir"

by Jüdisches Museum Wien
© Ouriel Morgensztern
The FRIENDS of the Jewish Museum Vienna have purchased the artwork "Endsieger sind dennoch wir" ("We Are the Ultimate Winners Nevertheless") by the Viennese artists Sophie Lillie and Arye Wachsmuth for the museum’s collection. The light installation can be seen as of November 30th in the new exhibition "100 Misunderstandings about and among Jews".
 
Contribution to the culture of remembrance
“I am the ultimate winner nevertheless”, formulated the artist and Auschwitz survivor Heinrich Sussmann. He was alluding to Hitler’s vision of ultimate victory, which envisaged the annihilation of the European Jews, as well as to his own survival. The Viennese artists Sophie Lillie and Arye Wachsmuth took up this quote and transformed it into a disturbing and unsettling contribution to the culture of remembrance.
 
As Director Barbara Staudinger points out: “Our new exhibition, "100 misunderstandings about and among Jews", raises various questions with which we would like to invite our visitors to a discourse. ‘We Are the Ultimate Winners Nevertheless’ stands for the question of what a culture of remembrance could be like in the future.”
 
The works of Sophie Lillie and Arye Wachsmuth bring together contemporary historical research and artistic presentation. As an interface between the past and the future, they concern themselves with questions of remembrance culture and perpetration. Sophie Lillie and Arye Wachsmuth have already implemented several projects in public spaces. They recently won the Vienna Chamber of Labor competition for a memorial installation at the site of the former Central Office for Jewish Emigration.
 
"100 misunderstandings about and among Jew"s from November 30th on
The exhibition "100 misunderstandings about and among Jews" investigates these misunderstandings, searches for their backgrounds, questions and parodies them or meets them with a tongue-in-cheek laugh. The exhibition is not about dispelling prejudices against Jews, but about asking about the underlying misconceptions and countering them on different levels – from the historical to the artistic.
"100 misunderstandings about and among Jews" can be seen from November 30, 2022 to June 4, 2023 at the Jewish Museum Vienna. It was designed by the curatorial team of the Jewish Museum Vienna under the leadership of Director Barbara Staudinger and Chief Curator Hannes Sulzenbacher.