Snow White and The Madness of Truth

Snow White and The Madness of Truth (Swedish: Snövit och sanningens vansinne) was an item of installation art by Swedish, Israeli-born composer and musician Dror Feiler, and his Swedish wife, artist Gunilla Sköld-Feiler. Feiler and Sköld-Feiler created the visuals and the music for the artwork together, which was installed in the Museum of National Antiquities (Historiska muséet) in Stockholm, Sweden.

The installation consisted of a long pool of water coloured blood red, upon which floated a small white boat named "Snövit" ("Snow White") carrying a portrait of Hanadi Jaradat, a Palestinian suicide bomber, which were accompanied by text written on the nearby walls, and the sound of Bach's Mein Herze schwimmt im Blut (Cantata 199). That piece begins with the words, "My heart swims in blood / because the brood of my sins / in God's holy eyes / makes me into a monster". According to the artists, the installation was made to "call attention to how weak people left alone can be capable of horrible things".

The artwork became the centre of some controversy when the Israeli ambassador to Sweden, Zvi Mazel, claimed it was antisemitic in nature. Some argued that critics failed to understand the artists' central message about tolerance, freedom of thought, and diversity. Reactions to the piece have been compared to reactions to Steve Earle's song "John Walker's blues", which appeared on his 2002 album "Jerusalem".

As scheduled, the artwork was removed from display on February 8, 2004. In 2011 the Feilers created a new installation called "Once upon a time in the middle of winter" based on the events.

Read more about Snow White And The Madness Of Truth:  Controversy

Famous quotes containing the words snow, white, madness and/or truth:

    You have to make more noise than anybody else, you have to make yourself more obtrusive than anybody else, you have to fill all the papers more than anybody else, in fact you have to be there all the time and see that they do not snow you under, if you are really going to get your reform realized.
    Emmeline Pankhurst (1858–1928)

    The white dominant culture seemed to think that once the Indians were off the reservations, they’d eventually become like everybody else. But they aren’t like everybody else. When the Indianness is drummed out of them, they are turned into hopeless drunks on skid row.
    Elizabeth Morris (b. c. 1933)

    Television is actually closer to reality than anything in books. The madness of TV is the madness of human life.
    Camille Paglia (b. 1947)

    The truth is, I do indulge myself a little the more in pleasure, knowing that this is the proper age of my life to do it; and, out of my observation that most men that do thrive in the world do forget to take pleasure during the time that they are getting their estate, but reserve that till they have got one, and then it is too late for them to enjoy it.
    Samuel Pepys (1633–1703)