April 06

The Medium is the Matzo

Melissa Shiff

Melissa Shiff, The Medium is the Matzo

This image was created by multi-media artist Melissa Shiff for the invitation for her Passover Installation “The Medium is the Matzo” -- which she described as “a three dimensional Haggadah” -- held last year at New York University. Built with 4000 pieces of expired Manischewitz matzo, the installation featured spaces including The Ten Plagues video room, The Matzo Mitzrayim tunnel (the “narrow space”), and “Passover Projections,” where people could leave “Egypt” through video technology. Her “Crush Oppression” matzo pillows and Matzo Ball Activist Kits are for sale on www.japshopper.com.

Melissa Shiff is a media artist who reinvents, reformats and rejuvnenates Jewish rituals applying critical analysis to Jewish religion and culture. Her video sculpture Elijah Chair is in the permanent collection of the Jewish Museum in New York, and Shiff has been selected to be the keynote artist by the Jewish Museum in Prague for their 2006 Centennial year celebration.

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