good morning. welcome to mosaic. i am honored to be your host this morning. the san francisco bay area is blessed with notable cultural institutions. among them, contemporary jewish museum. we would like to invite you into a conversation and introduce you to the executive director laurie star and chief curator renny pretty. welcome. >> thank you. >> delighted to be here. >> let's tell us what's new at the contemporary jewish museum. >> one of the things that's new is renny joined almost a year

ago as chief curator. we have programs of music, literature, film. >> i introduced you as pretty and you are pritic. you know as we get older, our hearing isn't as better. i am sorry. >> that's fine. >> one of the things lori asked me to do when i started a year ago, anniversary part, was to really ramp up the experience of the visitor the moment they set foot in the building. we wanted it not to be dry. institutions can be cold. we wanted it to be celebratory when they walk in, before they even have to pay, to be

confronted with our other jewish theme. i have done several things. the most spectacular is we have a gigantic art piece installed on the ceiling of the lobby by david blaine. it's 90 feet long, weighs six tons, and is titled lamp of the covenant. it's symbolic. it's covered with lights and globes. he talks about it as a model of this about the covenant between man and god which in judaism as you know, it's all about the ongoing conversation about what is the nature of the covenant between man and god. so symbolically putting this dramatic piece at the entrance we are saying whoever enters

jewish or not jewish, you are welcome to join us in this ongoing conversation about the meaning of life. >> the contemporary jewish museum is notable i think from its very beginnings even when it was a vision in people's minds and souls and hearts that it would be the kind of museum that would engage people beyond what you might think as traditional frameworks for coming to see a picture on a wall or coming for a tour or a lecture, all of which are vital and important and contribute to the arts experience of any community but the contemporary jewish museum has always had an understanding of what it means to go beyond what you might think of traditional paradigm of museum experiences. i am wondering if you can talk a little bit about this notion of the piece around the covenant and why it is in the lobby and that sort of thing. most people when they come to

museums, the lobby is just a place to check your coat, take a breath, and then decide where you are going to go. >> the building itself has become very important architectural icon of the city of san francisco and the bay area. the history of the building is really where it all begins because it was an electric sub station, p g&e sub station, that provided electricity to the city right after the earthquake. then it was reenvisioned by willis polk, neoclassical architect around 1911, 1912, to be this phenomenal facade, a registry historical facade with the incredible architectural features. inside, this is really where the magic happens because the

museum founders commissioned daniel leveeskin to reenvision this station, to be a post modern contemporary art hall for now and the future. unlike traditional museums with the collection, our building is the collection. our literally says to life just as an electric station puts out power and communicates in a galvanizing way, the architect daniel leaveskin focused on how to make a building that would look forward and to the future, not only the jewish future but the future for all of us in society. the building literally says to life if you read the roof line. the yud is expressed through this tumbling blue cube which becomes that iconic image that people now would associate with our museum. it's also the context of this former power station and this

incredibly post modern and talking building as a mnemonic device saying to life. it's across from a garden. the front door is on access with the martin luther king memorial. we have a lot to say about life and about our joined human history as we move forward through the 21st century. and unlike a traditional museum we are all about change. every time you come to the cjm, you are going to see something new. you are also going to hear something new. more and more, you are going to engage with artists in a kind of authentic and almost spontaneous way through a number of new programs in our galleries such as master chats that we do at lunchtime. it becomes a place of community. >> wonderful. we will take a quick break.

before our break, we will let you know in hebrew, they pronounce hi which means life in hebrew. we'll be back with rennie and lori with the contemporary jewish museum. [baby talk] [child giggles] children: "i," "j," "k"... [telephone rings] man: hello? man: you may kiss the bride.

[applause] announcer: a full life measured in seats starts with the right ones early on. car crashes are a leading killer of children 1 to 13. learn how to prevent deaths and injuries by using the right car seat for your child's age and size. welcome back to mosaic. we are in the middle of a wonderful conversation with the contemporary jewish museum with its executive administrator and its chief curator. what is going on inside the walls of the museum? >> right now we have two major exhibitions. we actually have more exhibitions going on now than we have ever had, something like five. the two are letters to afar and about to be held. i will talk about about to be held. it is my first show that i did

by myself at the museum. it just opened a month ago. it's with a young man, josh green, who grew up in l.a., a jewish fellow but he lived most of his adult life here in the bay area. he is what they call a social practice artist which means that he is not so interested in making objects. it's a very cutting edge idea. he is more interested in setting up social situations where the audience reacts to each other and bonds are built and a community is built. it's a very interesting development. the bay area is one of the national leaders. >> it's called social practice. >> social practice, yes. the more fancy name is relational aesthetics. what josh has done is essentially turn one of our galleries into a public library. using the institutions ways it wasn't originally thought of to be used and he solicited 1000

books from the community to be the library in the gallery. and the catch is anyone who donates a book has to write in the book on the fly leaf why they feel strongly about this book. so what happens is when you get 1000 books that 1000 people have written their most heartfelt feelings about, it's a very moving experience to browse the library. it also becomes a portrait of the community. >> what we are seeing on the screen where it says chelsea girl is a book that somebody donated. >> yes, this is what they had to say about why this book meant something to them. this is actually from the second part of the show which is also very interesting. he did the same thing with celebrities, famous people, and people like philip seymour hoffman, sissy swig, and other

notables nationally and locally have donated books. so you get to see what more celebrated people are thinking and reading and what regular folks are reading. >> when somebody comes into that exhibit so to speak, the relational art experience, what does somebody do? >> that's a great question. we have 25 of the books that the people donated on view and you can read what they wrote and see the book that they wrote about. but we also -- all the books that were located are on library shelves and you can browse them. the third section is that we have pillows and chairs and carpeting so we are encouraging folks to hang out. if you come to friday between noon and 1:30 you can get in free if you have a book and promise to read it in the gallery. >> bring your own book and read it in the gallery and not leave

it in the gallery but continue on your way. >> it's also a library on the honor system. you can take any book for two weeks and bring it back. it's working. we are so pleased. >> how beautiful. >> people borrow books and bring them back. >> you are chief curator. the contemporary jewish museum has always had this vision to break the notion of what a museum is. can you talk more about when people think about the way in which art influences one's life and that's such a vast conversation, but what does this represent in that world on the cutting edge? >> one thing off the top of my head, i have to say this, traditionally long before i got there, the museum has had a major commitment to education. we have won many national prizes for the quality and commitment we have to children

and young adults in the museum. it's not a tag. it's essential to what we do. then in terms of the adult programming, it's very eclectic. we have exhibitions for people for whom their jewish identity is central, and we have other exhibitions that have jewish themes but nonjewish artists, nonjewish artists looking at jewish themes. it's really a tremendous program that lori has given me the leeway to build. >> we are going to take another break in a moment. it seems one of the distinctions about this kind of exhibit is that in say a traditional way a curator will choose the specific say paintings or etchings or lithographs that will be displayed or textiled. so what people see is dictated in large part by say the vision of the philosophy of the museum

or curator. it seems to me that the primary frame is a social frame because you couldn't predict who would give what book. so you couldn't predict what the visual experience would be. it's a concept of interaction rather than traditional way of using the visual arts to stimulate the mind, the soul, the heart. >> you talk about cure ating rather than objects, cure ating artists. you pick an artist and trust them and you negotiate the project. >> and in some way trust the public. >> exactly. >> wonderful. we are about to take a break. come back for this wonderful conversation with the contemporary jewish museum.

good morning. welcome to mosaic. we are in the middle of a

conversation with the jewish contemporary museum. you have an interesting exhibit i know that's happening inside the walls of the museum to letters to afar. what is that. >> it is by a hungarian born jewish artist who specializes in researching found footage and putting footage together in unique ways. this exhibition is an epic story made up of home movies that jews made of their relatives, american jews going back to poland in the '20s and '30s, with their movie cameras, creating films of their families. it tells the story of what life was like in poland between the wars 1917 to 1939. some of the images are incredibly warm and friendly

and family and really celebrates life as it was lived. some of the images were taken by american photographers and film makers as part of social documentary film making. if you think about the depression era and social documentary photography of the time in the u.s., some of the footage was made for the purpose of getting out to the world the news of the poverty that many jews lived in in eastern europe during this time. in although, as one takes in these images and these darkened galleries sitting under these amazing sound showers with music originally composed and newly created, frank london, listening to this music that accompanies images plus the spoken word, poetry, narrative. as you sit under the sound showers and look at the images what you are looking at as the

artist says is a world that was soon to be vanished. it's another way of understanding what civilization of europe was before the holocaust, how life was lived. in that way it's another way of understanding the dimension of what was lost. >> it seems fascinating that it's a juxta position between what you might think of as a contemporary in its time personal family recording of an event and then also professional effort to give information. >> it's both. you are seeing people living life sophisticated city people beautifully dressed, celebrating life, not really knowing what's coming. >> it's a big question, but i am thinking if you are somebody that doesn't know much about the holocaust, to what degree do you bring the awareness of

what you are watching in the now contemporary retrospective understanding that these people didn't know what was coming if you yourself don't have that much exposure to world war ii or the holocaust? >> i would recommend visitors who plan to come to the show, stud he the interwar years, 1917 to 1939. really immerse yourself in that period. it was during a relatively, relatively speaking, fulsom time for jews in europe particularly in the cities like warsaw and then study a little bit about what happened that summer, the summer of '39, how life changed. once one studies how life changed and what happened between 1939 and 1945, when you come to the exhibition it becomes all the more meaningful for you. >> we're going to continue our

conversation in a moment. please join us when we return here to mosaic.

welcome back to mosaic. we are in the middle of a wonderful conversation with the contemporary jewish museum with its executive director and chief curator. what are the future exhibits inside the walls of the museum? >> i can start by sharing that we're bringing a fantastic exhibition to san francisco this summer. it's called amy winehouse, a family portrait. it celebrates the life of amy winehouse. it's an exhibition that originated at the jewish museum of london, went to vienna and now is in tel aviv on extended showing. it will come to us in july. it really celebrates the early

life of amy winehouse. it's a show very much put together by her family. it really is a loving portrait. >> was she a londoner? is her family from london? >> a londoner, originally jewish family from bell ruth, creative early on realizing she had great interest in music. the exhibition features much of her own personal memorabilia, things she lived with, photographs she collected. even her play list she listened to as a young woman studying music preparing for a career in music. so the exhibition really is a way of understanding her in a new way, a different way than the celebrity that we came to know. >> was she as a citizen of the united kingdom, were her parents immigrants or her grandparents? >> her grandparents. it tells a wonderful story of

how jews came out of the settlement and came to the uk which in and of itself is a fascinating story. also a little bit on doubten abbey, this past season. we will talk about the the various things that forced jews out of the palliative settlement. it's a way of telling the story of jewish immigration into england. >> interesting. what else? >> i am working on my first major show that's going to open in about a month. it's called night begins the day which we thought was a poetic way to title something because most of us think of day starting at sun up. in jewish tradition the day begins at sun down. that we took as a metaphor for artists mixing everything up and challenging our everyday assumptions about reality. the show was inspired by the

notion of the hebe row word for awe and feeling small in the face of creation. it rhymes with the notion from the 19th century of the sublime. when people discovered the incredible beauty of the earth and the incredible scale of the universe. we use sublime now as a word to mean nice. in the original use, sublime was a mixture of terror at the smallness of human existence. we have 25 artists who are tackling that subject of man's relationship with the cosmos. >> what are we looking at on the screen? >> this is an artist from australia. this is a still of a video

piece. we are looking at a figure moving from left to right. this is a carefully edited art video in which the sea strangely morphs as you move from left to right. you realize it's not a real city. it's many, many cities. it is to carefully put together and you realize that artists not only look at time differently but they look at space differently. these are the three themes of the show. time, space, beauty reimagined by artists. >> beautiful. believe it or not, we have just a moment left. it's a big question but what is a chief curator? >> that's easy. chief curator is ultimately responsible for selecting the exhibitions and shaping them and also being on television and talking about it. >> which you have done beautifully. thank you so much for being

with us and thank you for joining us here on mosaic. have a wonderful day. [music] ♪ and i can't change,

even if i tried even if i wanted to. my love my love my love she keeps me warm, she keeps me warm, she keeps me warm, she keeps me warm, she keeps me warm, she keeps me warm, ♪ we are neighbors and best friends. i love my sister. my heart doesn't see race. love is love. our family is no less than any other family.

terrific show this morning and with a bit of happy sunday. welcome to bay sunday. we've got a great for you today -- show for you today. we will kick it off with a bit of broadway. this is simply a must see show. the book of mormon. it takes you on a mission featuring two elders who hope to save orlando florida. it's great stuff. hi guys. how are you? nice to have you up bright and early. i know you go to bed