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A Trove of Zohars: Lawrence Weschler and Stephen Berkman in Conversation

Thursday, January 12, 2023 | 6–8:30pm

ADMISSION: $0–$10; in-person at the Mechanics' Institute

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2023-01-12 18:00:00 UTC2023-01-12 23:00:00 UTC America/Los_AngelesThe CJM - 736 Mission St, San Francisco, CAA Trove of Zohars: Lawrence Weschler and Stephen Berkman in ConversationPredicting the Past: Zohar Studios, the Lost Years—a mysterious exhibition by photographer Stephen Berkman—opened at The CJM in 2020. A tribute to nineteenth-century Jewish immigrant photographer Shimmel Zohar, the exhibition caught the eye of writer Lawrence Weschler, who began to trace the murky origins of Zohar and his curious story. His long journey led him to write A Trove of Zohars, a book chronicling the remarkable tale of Weschler’s investigation into the story of Shimmel Zohar. In advance of the book’s release, dive into the adventure in this conversation between author and artist.

Predicting the Past: Zohar Studios, the Lost Years—a mysterious exhibition by photographer Stephen Berkman—opened at The CJM in 2020. A tribute to nineteenth-century Jewish immigrant photographer Shimmel Zohar, the exhibition caught the eye of writer Lawrence Weschler, who began to trace the murky origins of Zohar and his curious story. His long journey led him to write A Trove of Zohars, a book chronicling the remarkable tale of Weschler’s investigation into the story of Shimmel Zohar. In advance of the book’s release, dive into the adventure in this conversation between author and artist in-person at the Mechanics' Institute.

Book Tickets

This program will take place in person at the Mechanics' Institute in San Francisco. Click below to reserve your tickets.

BOOK TICKETS
About the Speakers
Stephen Berkman

Born in Syracuse New York and now based in Pasadena, California, Stephen Berkman's work revolves around the use of antiquated photographic and optical processes. Having worked with the wet collodion process since 1997, Berkman exploits the archaic quality of the medium to reimagine the nineteenth century and create displacements between notions of the past and the present. In his work, history is viewed as an evolving work in progress still open to moments of serendipity.

Berkman’s work has been featured in the definitive compendium on the revival of historic photography: Photography’s Antiquarian Avant-Garde, published by Abrams in 2002 and authored by New York Times contributor Lyle Rexer, as well as in Blind Spot; Art in America; i-D magazine; and the book The Journal of Contemporary Photography: Strange Genius, among others.

Berkman’s photographs have also been included in solo and group exhibitions at The Museum of Photographic Arts (MoPA) Laband Gallery; University of Southern California, Cepa; and the Howard Greenberg Gallery, New York. His photographs are in the permanent collections of MoPA and Portland Art Museum. In addition to his fine art work, Berkman has been commissioned to create historic photographs for many films and documentaries, including Deceptive Practice: The Mysteries and Mentors of Ricky Jay; The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford; and Cold Mountain. Berkman currently is on the film faculty at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California, where he has taught since 1995.

Lawrence Weschler
Lawrence Weschler

Lawrence Weschler, a graduate of Cowell College at UC Santa Cruz (1974), was for twenty years a staff writer at The New Yorker (1981–2001), where his work shuttled between political tragedies and cultural comedies, and then for thirteen years (2001–2014) the director, now emeritus, of the New York Institute for the Humanities at New York University. A regular contributor, among others, to the New York Times magazine, Vanity Fair, Harper's, The Atlantic, McSweeney's, and The Believer, he is the author of over twenty books, including Seeing is Forgetting the Name of the Thing One Sees (a life of artist Robert Irwin); And How Are You, Doctor Sacks? (a biographical memoir of his thirty-five-year friendship with the neurologist Oliver Sacks); Vermeer in Bosnia; Everything That Rises: A Book of Convergences; Mr Wilson's Cabinet of Wonder (on the Museum of Jurassic Technology); and now that book’s notional sequel, A Trove of Zohars.

About the Exhibition

Predicting the Past: Zohar Studios, The Lost Years includes photography and installation by Los Angeles-based artist Stephen Berkman, who grew up in the Bay Area. The exhibition features images by the nineteenth century Jewish immigrant photographer Shimmel Zohar from his studio on the Lower East Side in New York City. Prints in elaborate Victorian frames address both Jewish life and the scientific state of understanding over one hundred years ago. In addition, environmental installations utilize antique technological visual phenomena.

A sepia-toned photo of a woman standing to the right of a sign embroidered with the words "Zohar Studios"
LEARN MORE
Explore the online exhibition
Partners

This program is presented in partnership with the Mechanics' Institute.

sUPPORTERS

Public Programs at The CJM are made possible thanks to generous support from Grants for the Arts and the Walter & Elise Haas Fund.

Header image:

Stephen Berkman, Portrait of Lawrence Weschler, undated. Wet-collodion photograph, 8x10 in.