Guy Goldstein -

“Oh, The Humanity” is a sound installation that responds to a historical famous catastrophe of the Hindenburg – a German (Nazi) airship that managed to cross the Atlantic and reach the US, but burned into flames completely while attempting to land in New Jersey May 1937 and caused the deaths of 36 people. The accident accelerated the end of the era of airships as a major means of transportation and the transition to the era of flying aircraft.

It was a groundbreaking event both in the aviation world of the time and in the world of mass media before the age of television, as the crash was documented in film and live radio broadcasts. The words of Herbert Morrison on the radio broadcast that accompanied the landing attempt, and his broken cries following the accident, were composed and performed by Goldstein, turned into a contemporary pop song played through a radio carried by a balloon airship; A song about heartbreak that ends with the cry “Oh, The Humanity”.

As a background for the installation, Guy placed an emergency blanket which looks like a media wall with handmade “logos” of the title “Oh The Humanity” and invites the viewers to take photos of themselves. Goldstein deals with the world of advertising and media reports that rely on frequency transmission in the air (ironically, the zeppelin is currently used as an advertising balloon that sends advertising messages in the air). It creates a kind of photo booth suitable for the digital age, and thus refers to several generations of methods of transmission and communication on air – from the age of radio to the cellular age.