Gelitin

Golem

2017,
1. Glazed ceramics, plinth (wood, reinforcing iron, concrete). 2. Glazed ceramics, plinth (enameled cooking pot, concrete, plastic cushion). 3. Glazed ceramics, plinth (wood, screws, modelling clay, wax).

The Golem figures by Austrian artist group Gelitin from 2017 do not correspond at all to popular conceptions of the mute, human-like being from the realm of Jewish mysticism that date back to the early Middle Ages. The artists interpret the human dream of creating life itself, which is at the center of the golem legend, in their characteristic way. The ceramic elements, made of lumps of clay, feature impressions of the artists’ genitals and buttocks, traces of their creative act. In addition to conventional materials like wood, concrete, and metal, the sculptures, with their excessively high integrated bases, also incorporate modeling clay, along with banal contemporary utensils, such as cooking pots or hot water bottles. Viewed in the original tradition as the savior of a Jewish community in peril, in many later tales the assistant without free will, subjugated to his master, became a threat to his creator. Gelitin contrasts the often sinister, frightening traditional images of the golem with an unheroic, laconic group of figures. In this way, they bring the former symbol of human fears and threats into the present aesthetically. (Susanne Jäger)