In That Case: Havruta in Contemporary Art—Anthony Discenza and Peter Straub

Dialogue has always been an integral part of learning in traditional Jewish contexts. Now, The Contemporary Jewish Museum repurposes the centuries-old practice of havruta—the study of religious texts by people in pairs—for the contemporary art community. Artist Anthony Discenza collaborates with horror novel author Peter Straub in the third installation of the new exhibition series, In That Case: Havruta in Contemporary Art.

In That Case: Havruta in Contemporary Art brings individual Bay Area artists together with a scholar, scientist, writer, or other thinker of his or her choice for a ten-week fellowship in creativity. The resulting collaborations are presented in The Museum’s Sala Webb Education Center.

Discenza, who has shown his work extensively, including at the Whitney Biennial, is known for working with text, both in written and aural works. He is particularly interested in “disturbing the flow of information.” Straub works in horror fiction and has received numerous literary honors such as the Bram Stoker Award (several times) and the International Horror Guild Award.

The two artists are collaboratively conducting research into the history of an obscure late nineteenth-century artists’ movement known as “Das Beben,” focusing on an ill-fated exposition the group had planned to mount at a private estate in England.