Sea of Death , Irit Amar

Performed at the Dead Sea in collaboration with Irit Amar

The performance: Sea of Death (Yām ha-Māvet)  is the first of a series of performances that symbolises the wound that runs within the human body and through the landscape. Here in 'Sea of Death' the bandaged body suggests both the slow death of the Dead Sea and human finitude. During the performance Irit Amar wrapped up my body with sterile bandages until I was gradually immobilised and eventually disconnected from my environment. Mummified and prisoner of this 'cocoon' I was then carried into the Dead Sea. Before parting from me Irit released the bandages that kept my two hands tied together, leaving me to drift away, diving within my thoughts into the Sea of Death.

Smoking Utopia #2 , Reuven Zahavi

Smoking Utopia #2 is a collaborative project undertaken together with my colleague Reuven Zahavi. It is part of an ongoing project started in 2006 called Night and Smoke,  a project triggered by  the violence near the Gaza border after the attack on June 25^th 2006 by  the Hamas at the Kerem Shalom crossing during which Cpl. Gilad Shalit was abducted and which was followed by  an IDF operation codename 'Operation Summer Rain.' Underlining our work is a concern to infuse artistic autonomy to items utterly immersed in actuality, challenging the usual disinterestedness of aesthetic language regarding the 'here and now' through the use of  photography, 3D animation videos and manipulated interactive texts, while breaking up the customary visual and textual meaning of political events channeled through the medias.

Smoking Utopia , Reuven Zahavi

In this site specific collaborative installation with Reuven Zahavi which took place in an ancient Jerusalem Print Workshop, objects in the space are concealed by dim red light and by the actual smoke expelled from a smoke machine. Virtual smoke appears in  the video and sound animation of Reuven Zahavi’s work Just Smoke and in Just Words.

Donald Duck’s Dream , Reuven Zahavi

Donald Duck’s Dream (2005-2006) is the outcome of a joint dialog with my colleague Reuven Zahavi on the manipulative regime of images and an attempt to infuse artistic autonomy unto extremely saturated images and texts. It is a multimedia and interactive project specifically related to series of images which I shot during the Israeli Disengagement from the Gaza Strip in 2005. Our conceptual discourse regarding the emotional and psychological manipulation of the Disengagement’s images and their circulation in the local and international press, initiated a mutual aspiration to look for alternative ways to present and to distribute such overloaded images. Underlining our whole project was the recurring concern of an uncertain endeavor: that of infusing artistic autonomy onto items so utterly immersed into actuality. The painstaking and scrupulous creation of programs specifically related to series of images taken during the Disengagement allowed the re-manipulation of images and texts, to which Kiki Keren Huss added a further dimension with her sound track created from radio and TV communications obsessively collected and recorded over that period of time.

Surgical Operation , Irit Amar

Installation and Performance with Irit Amar Surgical Operation was exhibited at 'Heara 8, Comments on Hospitals & Schools,' a contemporary art event taking place in November 2004 at the International Anglican School which beautiful building had since 1862 intermittently hosted on its premises missions, hospitals and schools. During the performance that lasted for seven hours, maps of Jerusalem were brought on stretcher to the operation table where they were dissected and then sewn and mended amidst recurring breaking news. The absurdity of the whole action conveyed in a metaphorical way the chronic condition of the city of Jerusalem, a sick ‘patient’ suffering from an incurable pathologic violence.

The Mobile Wall , Hannan Abu Hussein

In September 2003 I went with Hannan Abu Hussein, a friend and colleague to Abu Dis an Eastern suburb of Jerusalem which was then divided by temporary cement walls before the erection of the much higher 8 meter 'Separation Wall.' For the contemporary art event of Heara 6 – On the borders of the Comment – taking place at the David Tower Museum, we decided together to create an exact replica of two of these concrete walls adding graffiti we had seen.  

None of Your Sting, None of Your Honey , Jordan Honey

In 1994, for the first time I asked the company Jordan Honey which comprised four kibbutzim from the Upper Galilee to allow me to introduce a new text in their label quoting from Deuteronomy, thus creating a link between the present marketing of honey and the mythical 'land of olive oil and honey.' I also added the logo of the contemporary art event, Tel Hai 94, and I signed and numbered 1000 honey jars. For that same art event, I also asked the Kibbutz Ayelet Hasharar to give me beehives which I exhibited under a army tent, the work was called: Virgin of Israel and Her Daughters. In 1996, I acquired the permission from a major government-owned company Arim (in Hebrew: cities) to print its logo on a special edition of 200 earth bags that I signed and numbered.