STAND UP AND RECLAIM YOUR RIGHT!

Video, Odesa Fine Arts Museum, 2020

Manifest of Neue Judische Kunst

My name is David Magen. I am the speaker for the cultural association Neue Judische Kunst. Today, we’re facing the end of history. These noisy days call for counting and reevaluating casualties culture workers have suffered. It’s time to wake the political and esthetical consciousness. We are raising our banner in Kyiv high enough to be seen from the Donbas, the Carpathians, the left and the right banks of Dnipro, Southern Palmiras. Neue Judische Kunst committee has decided to revive Sorosyan trade union that previously rallied those who constitute Neue Judische Kunst today. The established circumstances have posed the question: who if not we?
We want to act as righteous, though faceless, revolutionaries. We may not have every trump in our hands, but we’ve got a great goal in our hearts, which is to rise a revolution!
We’re ready to become fuel to start a fire in the huge, stagnant industry.
Stand up to protect the white Jewish boy, bending over backwards to repress his will to trample the rats and take his revenge for racism that has flooded the techno scene in Kyiv.
Dark circles around the eyes, trembling hands. Willful and determined, we’ve been sacrificing our lives on the altar of the common cause for 5 years. Now it’s time to reap the rewards.

Will we be lucky enough to appreciate the fruits of our effort?

Will we be defiant enough so as to crush the political dancers accusing us of peddling trash?

Will we be strong enough so as to put an end to these schlockmeisters?

To step on their throats, to rip out the lump of indifference lodging in our throats, to regain the heritage that belongs to the people by right!

Wake up, you honest man!

Stand guard over the truth with springiness and thrift!

I remember the days spent by the Potemkin stairs. Back then, we took our place on the stage. We won back the right to make honest statements. We retrieved the narrative.
Don’t stand on someone else’s scene! Our time demands for radical action. We’re waiting for the speakers able to protect us from the filthy hands of formalists, sacred scholars, constructors, and the offspring of SS!
Wake up you lively chatty lad, cry out in unison with the crowd. Big round ears, big round eyes, the betrayingly mispronounced ‘r’.
Stand up and reclaim your right!

Translated text from video.