Seth Kramer
Artworks
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Untitled 14 minute video The video shows the film-maker trying to conceptualize the killing of six million Jews by counting 6 million grains of rice. This can be listened to individually by viewers on cordless headsets. |
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Untitled 14 minute video The video is artisically cut with references to Holocaust denial, aspects of the life of Hitler, musical references to Aryan stereotypes and the Jewish fate during the 1930's, as well as a scene from Lanzmann's film SHOAH dealing with the number of Jews who were killed during a day at Treblinka. |
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Untitled 14 minute video The artist decided to count rice because he "wanted to have something concrete to show" after his counting was finished. Two of the many jars of rice shown are equivalent to the American war dead in Vietnam. The number of Jewish children killed during the Holocaust is 1.5 million. |
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Untitled 14 minute video Teachers may obtain a free copy of the video by writing to the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at the University of Minnesota on their school's stationary. |
Artist Statement
His film is, originally from the show Too Jewish at the Jewish Museum in New York, shows the film-maker trying to conceptualize the killing of six million Jews by counting 6 million grains of rice. This can be listened to individually by viewers on cordless headsets.
Teaching Applications
Questions:
- Can the Holocaust be understood by counting objects like rice?
- How long does it take to count to 6 million?
- The Artist makes an analogy between the Jewish dead in the Holocaust and American war dead from Vietnam. Can you make such a comparison?
- Can a counting project be useful for remembering?