By Zion and Dutch waters, remembering Babylon
Baghdad-born Jewish conceptual artist Joseph Sassoon Semah—now based in Amsterdam—feels perpetually like a guest in foreign territory.
Its elements symbolize science and art, but Joseph Sassoon Semah’s “Breaking News” (1990)—wherein three iron compasses pierce a bronze violin—contains unmistakably violent arachnoid imagery. It seems we are watching music’s martyrdom.
After poring for hours over an abstruse catalog accompanying the artist’s new solo show in The Hague and over his website…