Seven beggars
a site-specific performance and video artwork based on an 18th-century hasidic tale
2023–2024
The Twisted Throats, Seven Beggars, documentation of a performance in Krakow, Poland on June 28, 2023 (photo credit Konrad Obidzinski)
Seven Beggars boldly reimagines an 18th-century Hasidic tale by Rebbe Nachman of Breslov, brought to life on the streets of Krakow, Poland. Weitz and her collaborators staged six live street performances and one theatrical production at the Galicia Jewish Museum during the 32nd Jewish Culture Festival. In each performance, Weitz embodied a different beggar from Nachman’s renowned story, The Seven Beggars, accompanied by a cast of queer Ashkenazi diasporic artists, including poet Moriel Rothman-Zecher, musician Ira Khonen Temple, and art director Anna Lublina. Their vibrant reimagining of Nachman’s cryptic tale invited audience participation, blending poetry, music, movement, and visual art to uncover how each beggar’s impairment is actually a blessing in disguise. Using film footage of the live performances, Weitz is currently developing a video artwork.
The Hunchback, Seven Beggars, documentation of a performance in Krakow, Poland on June 29, 2023 (photo credit Konrad Obidzinski)
The Hunchback, Seven Beggars, documentation of a performance in Krakow, Poland on June 29, 2023 (photo credit Konrad Obidzinski)
The Withered Hands, Seven Beggars, documentation of a performance in Krakow, Poland on June 28, 2023 (photo credit Konrad Obidzinski)
The Withered Hands, Seven Beggars, documentation of a performance in Krakow, Poland on June 28, 2023 (photo credit Konrad Obidzinski)
The Stammerer, Seven Beggars, documentation of a performance in Krakow, Poland on June 29, 2023 (photo credit Konrad Obidzinski)
The Stammerer, Seven Beggars, documentation of a performance in Krakow, Poland on June 29, 2023 (photo credit Konrad Obidzinski)
The Legless, Seven Beggars, documentation of a performance at the Galicia Jewish Museum, Krakow, Poland on July 2, 2023, duration 55 minutes (photo credit Ada Kopec-Pawlikowska)
The Hunchback, Seven Beggars, documentation of a performance in Krakow, Poland on June 29, 2023 (photo credit Konrad Obidzinski)
Seven Beggars, Installation view, Galicia Jewish Museum’s High Synagogue in Krakow, Poland, 2023 (photo credit Konrad Obidzinski)
The Twisted Throats, Seven Beggars, documentation of a performance in Krakow, Poland on June 28, 2023 (photo credit Konrad Obidzinski)
Seven Beggars was supported in part by Mid Atlantic Arts through USArtists International, a program in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts; the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation; and the Trust for Mutual Understanding. Seven Beggars is also supported by Asylum Arts at The Neighborhood: An Urban Center for Jewish Life. Julie Weitz's My Golem is a project of Fulcrum Arts’ Emerge Program.