Pride and Prejudice
Focus on the Jewish People | Exhibition 2026
Here you can listen to the full versions of the conversations featured in the audio installation. Find out more about the challenges and opportunities that shape the visual (self-)representation of Jewish people today.
Discussions
Tobias Ebbrecht-Hartmann
The massacres carried out by Hamas on 7 October 2023 marked a turning point for Jews worldwide. In this interview, media studies scholar Tobias Ebbrecht-Hartmann examines how this act of violence has also altered the images of Jews and Israelis circulating on social media platforms and in traditional media. What does Hamas’s anti-Semitic visual propaganda have to do with images of the Holocaust? And how is the use of generative AI changing our visual culture?
Tobias Ebbrecht-Hartmann is an Associate Professor of Visual Culture, Media Studies and German Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His research focuses on Holocaust remembrance, public history and the preservation of digital cultural heritage. In 2025, his essay „Violence as Image: The Images of 7 October in the Mirror of Visual Memory of the Shoah“ was published by Neofelis Verlag.
You can listen to the full conversation here:
Rosa Jellinek
What does it mean to showcase the diversity of contemporary Jewish life online? What kind of reactions does one encounter when, as a queer Jewish woman, one becomes visible on Instagram? And can one really convince anti-Semites by presenting counter-narratives? Content creator Rosa Jellinek answers these questions in an interview. She also explains why, despite hostility and doubts, she continues to champion a self-determined representation of Jewish people.
Rosa Jellinek is a content creator (@rose_igeaussichten), activist and political educator. She works both online and offline on the topics of Judaism and anti-Semitism, queerness and feminism, and internet activism and hate speech. She is currently employed as a TikTok creator at the Jewish Museum Berlin and is studying philosophy and history.
You can listen to the full conversation here:
Gertrud Koch
The question of how to portray Jews in films and in visual media in general is not a new one. Nor are the difficulties associated with such portrayals. In this interview, film scholar Prof. Dr Gertrud Koch discusses the unique film project „Below the Surface“ – a so-called test film intended to be made in 1945 in response to the Holocaust and anti-Semitism in American society – and explains the representational problem that ultimately led to the film’s failure. How does this historical example continue to have an impact today?
Gertrud Koch is Professor Emeritus of Film Studies (Free University of Berlin). She has researched and taught film and visual theory at, amongst others, Brown University, the University of Oslo and New York University (NYU). As a contributor to feminist journals and author of standard works on film philosophy, she has had a significant influence on film culture.
You can listen to the full conversation here:
Hili Perlson
It is not only in the media world that there are disputes over images – in the art world, too, Jewish people have to fight for their images. In this interview, art critic Hili Perlson explains the role that Jewish traditions of representation play in art history and how, since 7 October, Israeli and Jewish artists have been seeking new forms of expression for their experiences as Jews and Israelis.
Hili Perlson is an independent art critic with over twenty years’ experience. She is the executive editor of Forecast, an interdisciplinary programme designed to support new artistic productions.
You can listen to the full conversation here:
Daniela Santus
AI is on everyone’s lips – or rather, in everyone’s eyes: synthetic images, generated or manipulated by so-called artificial intelligence, are already flooding every channel and raising the question of how our visual communication is undergoing a fundamental transformation. But where does AI get its ideas about Jews from? What exactly do they look like? And what can be done to combat the widespread dissemination of anti-Semitic AI images? AI researcher Daniela Santus provides the answers.
Daniela Santus is a professor of cultural geography at the University of Turin. Her research examines the relationship between space, religion and society, with a particular focus on the geography of Judaism and the various dimensions of anti-Semitism – ranging from academic forms of „respectable prejudice“ to contemporary manifestations on social media and in artificial intelligence.
You can listen to the full conversation here:
About the exhibition
Pride and Prejudice
- Focus on Jews
The exhibition „Pride and Prejudice – A Focus on Jews“ is a joint project between the Neue Synagoge Berlin – Centrum Judaicum Foundation and the association Jüdisches Leben in Europa e. V. (JEWLIF), curated by Jonathan Guggenberger.
From 28 August to 17 November 2026, the exhibition will be on display at the Stiftung Neue Synagoge Berlin – Centrum Judaicum, Oranienburger Straße 28–30, 10117 Berlin.
The exhibition has been made possible thanks to funding from the Federal Ministry of the Interior and Homeland (BMI), following a resolution by the German Bundestag; Senate Department for Culture and Social Cohesion.
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Anyone who has reached the age of 18 and has their main place of residence in the EU can take part.
Exactly 60 seconds - no more, no less. The end credits do not count towards the total length.
An authentic, creative portrait of a Jewish person in Europe. Whether everyday life, work, family or culture. Anything that touches, moves or surprises is allowed.
Please submit your film in German or English. In case your film is shot in another language, please add subtitles in English.