Abstract
Profile pictures from gay dating sites of young men posing with the stelae of the Memorial to the Murdered Jews in Europe in Berlin have been subject to an art exhibition at the Jewish Museum in New York and a tribute online blog. This paper unveils the meaning of these pictures on this particular site, in an effort to understand why these men chose to portray themselves at the Holocaust Memorial in order to cruise the digital sphere of gay dating websites. In three consecutive sections, the paper asserts that, on the one hand, the conversion of the Holocaust Memorial into a cruising scenario is facilitated by a design that —putting forward autonomy and abstraction— allows and even invites its constant resignification in terms of everyday practices. And, on the other hand, it posits that the images exhibited at the Jewish Museum can be interpreted as a performative memorial which reinscribes sexuality and gender into Holocaust narratives.
Highlights
On December 22, 2011, the exhibition Composed: Identity, Politics, Sex opened at the Jewish Museum of New York
This paper unveils the meaning of these pictures on this particular site, in an effort to understand why these men chose to portray themselves at the Holocaust Memorial in order to cruise the digital sphere of gay dating websites
If we extend the same interpretation to Adelman’s pictures we can recognize them not just as documents of cruising, but as images that can reveal inner realities of the men portrayed and the men who chose to interact with them on the digital dating sphere
Summary
On December 22, 2011, the exhibition Composed: Identity, Politics, Sex opened at the Jewish Museum of New York. The exhibition at the Jewish Museum portrayed 50 of those profile pictures, individually framed, measuring 3.5 by 2.5 inches, and hung on a grid reminiscent of that of the Holocaust Memorial itself (ADELMAN, 2011). The sexual poses and flirtatious gazes of the depicted individuals contrast with the solemn and abstract Memorial designed by New York-based American architect Peter Eisenman. Provocative and insulting to some, these pictures redefine the meaning and interpretation of the Memorial For some supporters it creates a new kind of commemoration (WILLIAMS, 2013), while for its critics it is an indecorous subversion (MILLS, 2013). This paper unveils the meaning of these pictures on this particular site, in an effort to understand why these men chose to portray themselves at the Holocaust Memorial in order to cruise the digital sphere of gay dating websites. The first section explores Peter Eisenman’s design for the Holocaust Memorial (2005), searching for the ideals and components that offer themselves as subjects for everyday life reinterpretation
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