Israel's traumas and dreams: a mega-exhibition titled "The New Hebrews" used a combination of art and documentary material to tackle a century of Israeli culture and history.(REPORT FROM BERLIN)

Exhibitions at the juncture of art and history are curious hybrids, yet they continue to play a serious role in the curatorial repertoire within art museums. Generally, such synthetic displays concern themselves with the formation of communal or national cultures and link societal yearnings with art and various types of visual representation. Two examples that appeared last summer were the exhibitions "Summer of Love: Art of the Psychedelic Era" at the Tate Liverpool and "The New Hebrews: 100 Years of Art in Israel" at the Martin-Gropius-Bau in Berlin. While radically different in…