New Yorkers who are still mourning the closure in 2015 of the popular Fifth Avenue toy store FAO Schwarz should head further north to the Jewish Museum for whimsy, colour and a heap of stuffed toys in the exhibition Charlemagne Palestine’s Bear Mitzvah in Meshugaland (Yiddish for “crazy land”; until 6 August). The Brussels-based artist, known for his experimental sound, composition and performance works, has filled a gallery space with the cuddly creatures. Palestine is a native of the Brooklyn neighbourhood where the “Teddy’s Bear” was invented in 1902, and considers these plush toys to be “shamanic representations of the soul”. Surrounded by the sound of Palestine’s recordings, stuffed animals—some made by the artist, some found and clearly well-loved—parachute in from the ceiling, pose in front of a piano and pile into a rowing boat in the work Noah’s Ark (2017), which includes critters of all kinds. Some of the bears even wear tallitot (prayer shawls) and yarmulkes (skull caps).
