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:

    Rigidly they
    Persisted, linked, through lengths and breadths
    Of time. Snow fell, undated.
    Philip Larkin (1922–1986)

    The Thirties dreamed white marble and slipstream chrome, immortal crystal and burnished bronze, but the rockets on the Gernsback pulps had fallen on London in the dead of night, screaming. After the war, everyone had a car—no wings for it—and the promised superhighway to drive it down, so that the sky itself darkened, and the fumes ate the marble and pitted the miracle crystal.
    William Gibson (b. 1948)

    ...I have ... been guilty of watching Westerns without acknowledging that Native Americans have gone through the same madness as African Americans. Isn’t it extraordinary that sometimes the most offended have not seen others being offended?
    Judith Jamison (b. 1943)

    Tell all the truth but tell it slant,
    Success in circuit lies,
    Emily Dickinson (1830–1886)