Limmud Michigan 2020

In 2018, Beit Venezia brought five artists together for an intense residency in Venice, Italy. The collaborative project, Living Under Water, was an approach to the climate crisis, informed by Jewish sources.  Topics presented to the five participating artists (lead artist Andi Arnovitz, Lynne Avadenka, Meydad Eliyahu, Ken Goldman and Leora Wise) ranged from hard science to philosophical questions, from radical to traditional approaches, from secular to religious responses, all related to climate change and all viewed through a Jewish lens. In response, the five artists created a body of work across a variety of media: prints, drawings, photographs, journal entries and sculpture. The overall project was two-fold: first, the visual artists created new artwork in response to the material presented to them by scholars, scientists and rabbis; and secondly the creation of a publication (including artwork and essays) to be used as a starting point/basis for study in the broader Jewish community. The magazine exists in print and also as a free digital download. The Living Under Water project is a unique combination of art and scholarship, philosophy and science in a format that is visually appealing and intellectually demanding. The contributors, both artists and writers, came to the project from a variety of perspectives across the Jewish spectrum and it is thrilling to have them coexist on the pages of the magazine in support of a common goal: to combat climate change informed by irrefutable science and by our own Jewish ethics and beliefs. It is a body of work that will serve as a sourcebook for discussion and action.
As a participating artist in the Living Under Water project, I welcome the opportunity to present it to the Limmud community.