The Museum of Tolerance has slated a new exhibit, “Lactose” for public release on December 1st, 2019. Museum curator, Max Reichman gushed, “In an unforgiving world, we are pleased to be the ones publicly tolerating — no, publicly accepting lactose. The public exclusion and vilification of lactose is unforgivable, and we are proud to fight back against the lactose intolerant”.
The exhibition’s release is an innovative venture for the Museum of Tolerance, a museum dedicated to examining prejudice and racism across the globe, with a strong emphasis on the Holocaust. The mass public outcry against lactose in recent years encouraged the exhibition’s development — the cry of “Hey hey, ho ho! Lactose in foods has got to go!” inciting polarized reactions within the public. Indeed, it’s ever more heroic when one realizes that 75% of Ashkenazi Jews are lactose intolerant, making up roughly 70% of all Jews. Despite their body’s rejection of the substance, many Jews have retaliated against this undesired, automatic reaction, ingesting even more lactose substances as a form of protest against their body. Local Harvard-Westlake Semitic senior Sarah Schwartz commented, “Last week, we held a lactose rally at school. We collectively ate pizza. Sure, the plumbers had to be called, but in a way, we’re the Martin Luther Kings of our generation.” This form of protest is captured in the exhibit, the multimedia work presented through stomach gurgling audio channels situated next to images of curly-haired sophomores eating pizza.
Other fixtures of the exhibit include a ceramic jug of milk with a yarmulke atop its cover, a 3 ft wide wheel of cheese being slowly rotated while videos of Gandhi play in the background, and more. Art critic Clara Glorik reviewed, “This may sound cheesy, but this innovative foray is groundbreaking, stomach-shattering; it’s truly milking public controversy for all it’s got.”
In March 2020, the exhibition will close as the ‘Gluten’ exhibition opens. Obtain a ticket while you still can.