MEDIATING SAND AND SEA: VIDEO LANDSCAPES BY ISRAELI WOMEN ARTISTS

by Daniella Edith Gold

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A Thesis Presented to the FACULTY OF THE USC ROSKI SCHOOL OF FINE ARTS UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree MASTER OF PUBLIC ART STUDIES May 2010

Copyright 2010

Daniella Gold

EPIGRAPH

Who sees? Who is capable of seeing, what, and from where? Who is authorized to look? How is this authorization given or acquired? In whose name does one look? What is the structure of the field of vision? Ariella Azoulay, Deaths Showcase, 4.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS In writing this thesis, I have been incredibly fortunate to receive the support of several people. My advisor Karen Mosss positive attitude, vast knowledge and endless amount of patience made this experience truly great. The other members of my committee, Rhoda Rosen and Joshua Decter, have been extremely helpful and supportive since the outset. Rhoda Rosens expertise on visual mapping was instrumental in helping me to think more critically about the disparity between maps and lived experience. I would particularly like to thank Dean Ruth Weisberg for all of her guidance throughout the last two years. Dorit Cypiss patience and generosity truly made this experience all the better. I would like to thank all of the MPAS faculty and my fellow students for their support from beginning to end. My research would not have been possible without the generous support of the Kathleen Neely-Macomber Family. I am also greatly indebted to Carol Spinner for her deep investment and support throughout my education. A big thank you goes to my interviewees in Israel who shared their experiences as artists, curators and cultural practitioners. Their devotion to the Israeli art scene speaks to the importance of the arts in Israel. To Jonathan Zimmerman, whose support and love kept me motivated throughout this process. Finally, I am extremely grateful to my family for all of the unconditional support, love and laughs you provide me with.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS Epigraph Acknowledgments List of Figures Abstract Preface Introduction Chapter 1: Space, Place and Territory Chapter 2: Contested Space: The Beach Chapter 3: Critical Perspectives: The Sea Conclusion Bibliography Appendix A: Timeline Appendix B: Figures ii iii v vii viii 1 17 25 39 51 57 61 63

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LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Photograph from Hike on Israel Trail Figure 2: Photograph of Tel Aviv Beach Figure 3: Soldiers on Tel Aviv Beach Figure 4: Still from Barbed Hula Figure 5: Still from Barbed Hula Figure 6: Still from Lifeguards Figure 7: Still from Walk to the Sea Figure 8: Still from Walk to the Sea Figure 9: Still from Walk to the Sea Figure 10: Still from Walk to the Sea Figure 11: Photograph of Dead Sea Figure 12: Photography of Dead Sea From Above Figure 13: Still from Submersions Figure 14: Still from Submersions Figure 15: Still from Submersions Figure 16: Still from A Declaration v 63 63 64 64 65 65 66 66 67 67 68 68 69 69 70 70

Figure 17: Still from A Declaration Figure 18: Still from A Declaration Figure 19: Still from DeadSee Figure 20: Still from DeadSee Figure 21: Still from DeadSee

71 71 72 72 73

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ABSTRACT Starting in the mid-1980s and progressing into the first decade of the 2000s, Israeli artists have utilized moments of relative quietness to critically examine their personal relation to the hegemonic Israeli narrative. Artists such as Yael Bartana, Smadar Dreyfus, Lezli Rubin Kunda, Sigalit Landau and Dana Levy reimagine marginalized spaces in order to question Israeli history, politics and culture. Their media-based work reflects, projects and constructs a modern Israeli identity. These works conceptualize the development of a new narrative that encourages hybridity, individual experience and openness. This thesis focuses on works that are staged in complex Israeli public spaces, specifically the shore and the sea. By locating their work in contested spaces, these artists interpret the relationship between Israeli identity formation, gender politics, spatial theory and political geography. These artists are not only creating internationally recognized works of art, but are also promoting agency within Israel through cultural production.

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PREFACE On a hot summer day in 2009, I found myself hiking part of the Israel Trail with members of my Israeli family (Figure 1). The panoramic view in front of me included gravel roads, a lush, out of place grove sponsored by the Jewish National Fund and hilltop Arab homes. This particular hike was void of any particular historical significance, yet rich in symbolism. For a short period of time, I was amongst the nature of Israel. My cousins, who are hiking the whole 600-mile trail, view the completion of the trail as a form of patriotism. Although the Israel National Trail was designed to provide Israelis with a peaceful retreat, it actually represents a territorial claim over the land of Israel. The Trail serves to strengthen the legitimacy of the Jewish peoples claim to the land of Israel. The symbolic nature of the hike helped me to register how Israel utilizes territorial claims as the basis for national identity. Understanding this phenomenon has caused me to realize how space has specific social, political and economic value in Israel. Here, on this trail, I felt the remnants of the Israeli-Arab conflict strongest. Being a Jewish-American has biased me to a particular understanding of Israel. Although I consider myself Jewish both in religion and ideology, my personal understanding of Israel always changes after spending time in Israel and meeting people who have come to terms with varied aspects of their Israeli identity. This thesis has allowed me to dissect and reconnect the frame that binds me to Jewish history and to Israel. My strong belief in a two-state solution is in stark contrast to my Zionist upbringing. My Israeli mother raised me to identify with viii

Jewish culture over American. When, during my teenage years my views became more liberal, I was marked as nave and idealistic. I was often assured that when I got older, I would become staunchly pro-Israel. By beginning this thesis with a self-reflexive narrative, I hope to show how my personal identity positions me in relation to my research. This thesis was sparked by the one question I have always found so difficult to comprehend: How is it that Israelis and Palestinians construct diametrically opposed narratives about the same events? For example, I had never heard of the creation of Israel referred to as alNakba prior to my trip 2009.1 The history of Israel I was taught excluded the Arab narrative in order to promote a unified vision of a Jewish Israel. Similarly, the Israeli art I was exposed to as a child was almost always Jewish in theme. Both the written history and the visual arts have been used to maintain these confines. The evolution of Israeli art can be thought of as a cultural barometer of identity politics. Israels challenge is to find a balance between the unified Jewish history of Israel and a contemporary Israeli history that encompasses multiple narratives. Israeli artists have been some of the most successful at striking this balance. Many artists use their practice as a means to present alternatives to the intractable nature of a national Zionist Israeli identity. This thesis explores how artists represent contemporary Israelinessa version of identity that is informed by contemporary cultural, political and social contexts. The artworks discussed in this thesis represent

Palestinians refer to the establishment of the state of Israel is referred to as alNakba. It translates to the catastrophe.

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the ongoing friction between the traditional Zionist narrative and the contemporary lived Israeli experience. I will focus, in particular, on women artists who have created video works that document and reimagine the beach and the sea as a vibrant public space. This narrow lens allows for a questioning of the grand narrative of Israel. Public space is a contested question in Israel as many spaces are structured to appear accessible and fluid, but are often utilized by only one segment of the society. Although it is natural to imagine the beach and the sea as public, the sense of freedom it provides is limited and highly problematic.

INTRODUCTION The land of Israel is intrinsically connected to the Zionist-Israeli national narrative. Land, identity and nationality are unified as one. This connection has its roots in ancient Hebrew as the word for man ( ,adam) and land ( ,adamah) share the same root. Thus the land, which is filled with Biblical symbolism and divided by modern political struggles, is the cornerstone of Israeli identity formation. Simply stated, Israeli identity is based upon the relationship between man and the land. For over a century, Jewish-Israeli artists have been fascinated with the landscape. Artistic representations of the land portray a uniquely Jewish landscape, one characterized by strength, vigor and happiness. While artists traditionally employ the man-land relationship as a way to create a sense of belonging, it is becoming increasingly common for contemporary artists to utilize this framework in order to demonstrate disparities in both the Zionist narrative of Israel and modern Israeli identity formation. One way that Israel has sought to develop its own national identity is through the creation of a strong origin narrative and a homogenous Jewish national culture. Both the origin narrative and the culture were developed to reinforce the popular myths disseminated by early pioneers to Palestine. In order to separate itself from other narratives, the origin narrative appeared as if it was looming out of an immemorial past so that the proceeding systems could be ignored.2 The Israeli origin narrative begins with an immemorial past of Palestine. There is never any mention of the Arab claims to the land in Israels origin narrative. This serves to

Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism (London: Verso Press, 1991), 12.

legitimize the Jewish claim to the land. The struggle to control the representation of the past is an integral part of the Israeli struggle.3 Jewish national culture was not based on text, but rather on creating a mood of cohesion, enthusiasm and patriotism.4 This culture exalted the interconnectedness between all Jews and their homeland in Palestine. The role of the artist in Israel has traditionally been to represent, mold and propagate the need for a homeland. Territorializing the land of Palestine became the basis of the Jewish existence, and Israelis became unified mainly by their identity as Jews. Since the creation of the State of Israel in 1948, the government has utilized the arts as a tool for asserting the authority and sovereignty of the State. When elected as Israels first Prime Minister, David Ben Gurion, promoted his version of statism (Mamlachtiyut), which combined a democratic system of government with a totalistic system of values and symbols.5 Ben Gurion hoped to phase out biblical Judaic traditions by implementing a new system of beliefs that would reinforce the modern collective identity of the nation. Artists were encouraged to disseminate these symbols to the public. They produced works that reinforced ethnocentric

Ariella Azoulay, With Open Doors: Museums and Historical Narratives in Israel's Public Space, in Museum Culture: Histories, Discourses, Spectacles, ed. Daniel J. Sherman and Irit Rogoff (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1994), 89. 4 Michael Berkowitz, Zionist Culture and Western European Jewry before the First World War (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993), 2. 5 Eliezer Don-Yehiya, Political Religion in a New State: Ben Gurions Mamlachtiyut in Israel: The First Decade of Independence, eds. Noah Lucas et al (Albany: SUNY Press, 1995), 171.
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particularity and cultural hegemony. Artists provided recognizable images of leaders and recast traditional Jewish images in a national context.6 The Zionist aspiration to create a new Jew contrary to the old Jew of the Diaspora led to the overemphasizing of masculinity. While the old Jew was introverted, submissive and yielding, the new Jew is extroverted, assertive and dominant. The sabra, the iconic image of an Israeli warrior who is morally and physically superior to his enemies, best exemplifies the new Jew. 7 The concept of the new Jew is utilized by the government to garner support for offensive operations and military campaigns. The sabra, named for a particularly hard shelled desert cactus, also embodies gender relationsone must be offensive on the battlefield to protect the homefront. There is very little reference linguistically in Israeli popular culture to the soft and sweet inside part of the fruit, which is deemed as feminine. The women artists in this thesis challenge the canon of Israeli masculinity as the essential and key value of Israeliness. 8 Public discourse strengthened the nations connection with masculine values, and reflected the new core values of Zionism. A set of cultural and artistic practices developed that expressed the uniqueness and specificity of Israeli culture without truly reflecting the far more nuanced reality of the modern Israeli lifestyle. A bifurcation developed between ideology and lived experience. Born out of this mindset, the notion of the public sphere developed as a tool to advance the Israeli nation as a Jewish nation. The public symbols of the State are
6 7

Berkowitz, 119. Shimona Sharoni, Gender and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: The Politics of Womens Resistance (Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1994), 33. 8 Oz Almog, The Sabra: The Creation of the New Jew (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000), 17.

Jewishparticularly the flag of Israel which includes the Star of David. Just as we understand American holidays to be designated as Christian, so too are Israeli holidays Jewish, thus excluding diverse populations. Israel struggles with balancing universal human values such as openness, coexistence, plurality, and exclusionary ones that isolate Israel in terms of its Jewish heritage. In order to protect its sovereignty as a Jewish homeland, Israel must continue to exclude others from its dominant culture.9 This has led to a narrowing of public discourse and a widening between the ideology and reality. In the past two decades, Israel has witnessed a breakdown of the hegemonic Zionist narrative and a collective national identity. Israel has transformed itself into a multicultural society and has begun to acknowledge the diverse backgrounds of its inhabitants. 10 The 2000s have been a time of turmoil and distress in Israel as the country has faced the demise of the Oslo Peace Accord, the second Palestinian uprising (Intifada El-Akza), and the Second Lebanon War. Massive waves of terrorist attacks during the beginning of the decade forced the Israeli government to make structural and ideological shifts. The government faced both internal and external strains as infighting between different Israeli sects broke out. This infighting is a
9

In the 2008 Census by the Central Bureau of Statistics, 75.6% of Israelis are Jews, 20% are Arabs, and other denominations make up the remaining 4.4%. However, by 2030, Arabs will compromise 25% of Israels population. < www.cbs.gov.il/>
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Israel has always been an incredible diverse country, yet this diversity was ignored for decades. After the creation of the State in 1948, Israel witnessed an influx of immigrants from Iran, Iraq, Morocco, Russia, Poland, Germany, Czech Republic. However, the Western-European and American Jews (Ashkenazi) remained the most powerful and promoted the concept of all Jews identifying as one regardless of background.

result of divergent views on dealing with religion, education, economics and politics. Meanwhile, the prospect of a long-term solution between Israel and Palestine appears ever so slim. Israelis have grown increasingly polarized between those who support the two-state solution at any cost and those who do not. In response to these dire national events, many Israelis have retreated back to the ever-present atmosphere of paranoia and seclusion, typical for a society under siege. 11 The constant overlapping of one crisis with another reinforces the need for a strong Jewish state as well as extends the psyche of the battlefield into the public sphere. Starting with the Second Intifada in September 2000, Israelis have been harshly awakened from the American dream of their country as a globalized success story and brought down to earth with a thump to face the inevitability realities of the ongoing primordial conflict.12 In order to awaken and engage the Israeli public, many artists have separated themselves from the traditional Zionist-Israeli narrative. They have even left Israel for long periods of time in order to reflect freely upon their homeland. This rupture has allowed artists to imagine a contemporary Israeli identity that speaks to social and political change. By reflecting upon the diversity of Israels population, these artists are situating themselves within an active public discourse. I have specifically chosen to focus on artists who are using their work to reclaim their personal identity from the hegemonic collective. Each artist chosen has a distinct personal relationship to Middle East culture and geography. Although their work is locally significant, it

11

Tamar Liebes, American Dreams, Hebrew Subtitles: Globalization from the Receiving End (Hampton, NJ: Hampton Press, 2003), 12. 12 Liebes, 189.

strives to speak to the global. The decision to focus on video art stems from the mediums ability to quickly respond to ones surroundingcapturing, documenting and interpreting current events as they happen. Israeli artists working in contemporary formats have an affinity to traditional documentary procedures such as video and photography.13 This is partially due to the fact that Israeli culture, similar to the rest of Western society, is overwhelmed by media. For example, Israeli television reinforces collective social values and documents national myths in order to serve political interests. Everyone in Israel is constantly listening to the news or watching television. As a society under siege, Israelis feel the need to be connected at all time. Television broadcasting reaches a wide audience and disseminates the prevailing Israeli discourse. Much public programming reinforces the traditional Zionist narrative. By using the same medium in their practice, artists are able to respond to the images put forth by the State. The medium also allows for artists to offer a competing narrative to the one disseminated by the State.

A Brief History of Modern Israel In order to illustrate how contemporary Israeli artists are criticizing the grand Zionist narrative of Israel, it is important to understand the traditional Zionist history of Israel. For those readers who are not familiar with the historical events in Palestine/ Israel, please see the chronology found in Appendix A. While the factual
13

Major museums in Israel and abroad have recently devoted entire exhibitions to Israeli video art and/or photography. Such group exhibitions are Real Time: Art in Israel 1998-2009 at the Israel Museum; Territorial Bodies, Museum Beelden aan Zee; Inside-Out, Contemporary Artists from Israel, Museum Marco; Dreaming Art/Dreaming Reality, Tel Aviv Museum of Art; Dateline Israel: New Photography and Video Art, The Jewish Museum.

basis of each event on the timeline is rarely questioned, every community interprets the events differently. Thus, the Israeli and Palestinian interpretation of the factual history presents two wildly different narratives. The contemporary Jewish-Israeli narrative begins in Eastern Europe with the creation of Zionism. While Zionism has come to mean much more than its original doctrine fashioned, it broadly represents a drive for statehood. Reflecting upon the nations history, Israeli author Amos Oz observed, Zionism is a not a first name, but a surname, a family name, and this family is divided.14 Zionism, the ideology that the founding of the State of Israel is based upon, serves to legitimize Israels existence as well as produce a distinct Israeli identity. Zionism is based on the notion that all Jews are members of a unified people, that they have a right to self-determination, and that they need a homeland to escape persecution. The Zionist doctrine is best understood in terms of its emergence as it was shaped by the cultural, social and intellectual climate of the European Enlightenment. Zionism exerted its widest appeal in Poland and Russia. The Jews of Eastern Europe shared common traditions, religion, language and customs. European antiSemitism and the persecution of the Jews spurred the need for a Jewish homeland. Specifically, Zionism developed as a reaction to the Eastern European Pogroms in 1881 and 1882, and the treason trial of Captain Alfred Dreyfus in France in 1894.15

14 15

Amos Oz, In the Land of Israel (Orlando: Harcourt Books, 1993), 128. Walter Laqueur, A History of Zionism (New York: Schocken Books, 1972), 58.

Such incidents resulted in increasing restrictions and laws against the Jews in Eastern and Western Europe. In 1897, Theodor Herzl, the father of Zionism, wrote in his diary that at the First Zionist Congress in Basle, Switzerland, he founded the Jewish State.16 Through Zionism, Herzl hoped to establish a Jewish homeland that fused together modernity and tradition. Herzl was aware of how important folklore, myths, legends and heroes were in forging out new nations. He was convinced that the masses were best reached through images. It was crucial to think in images because people were moved by imponderables such as music and pictures.17 Art and aesthetics became a vehicle for the acculturation of Jewish national ideals.18 In the early 20th century, many Jews moved to the United States to escape persecution. A large portion of Eastern European Jews also moved to Palestine. By the beginning of World War I, approximately 85,000 Jews lived in Palestine.19 During this time, both Jews and Arabs faced increasing hardship under the control of the Ottoman Empire. When the British took control of Palestine in 1917, their leaders promised both the Jewish and Arab leadership that they would control the land at the

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Theodor Herzl, The Diaries of Theodor Herzl, ed. Marvin Lowenthal (New York: Peter Smith Publisher Inc., 1978), 165. 17 Herzl, 166. 18 Berkowitz, 120. 19 Laqueur, 74.

conclusion of the War.20 Although the British leaders retracted their promises once they realized the value of the land, the Jewish leadership in Palestine had already created a fully operative civil administration. The Jews in Palestine continued to lobby for their own nation using diplomatic, economic and military means. The fight for a Jewish homeland essentially became a liberationist struggle against a colonial authority. In July 1922, the League of Nations approved the British Mandate Of Palestine, which provided the British with complete control over legislation, foreign relations and domestic security. The Mandate also included a significant clause that supported the Jews, whereas recognition has thereby been given to the historical connection of the Jewish people with Palestine and to the ground for reconstitution their national homeland in that country.21 The support of the Jews resulted in increasing tension with the Arabs. Civil unrest between Jews and Arabs escalated, often becoming violent. The end of World War II brought the founding of the United Nations. While other countries in the Middle East gained independence, Palestine remained under the British control. To help ensure the safety of the Jewish people and to make amends for the atrocities of the Holocaust, the United Nations voted for the creation of a
20

I consciously use the word Arab to discuss the Arabic-speaking people with origins in Palestine prior to the creation of Israel. The first use of Palestinian as an endonym to describe the Arabic population of Palestine began in 1918. However, the majority of Arabs in Palestine did not identify themselves as Palestinians until after 1948. The term signifies a place of origin as well as support for a Palestinian nation. Many Arab-Israelis (an Israeli term used to describe those Arabs with Israeli citizenship) still define themselves as Palestinians. 21 United Nations General Assembly, The Mandate for Palestine, San Remo: UN, 1922. 9

Jewish homeland in Palestine. The United Nations 1947 Resolution declared separate Arab and Jewish nations in Palestine, along with an international zone around Jerusalem.22 While the Jews embraced the Resolution, the Arab leadership rejected it. As soon as the British left Palestine, the Arab nations attacked in order to try and drive the Jews into the sea. On May 14, 1948, the state of Israel declared itself a free nation. Israels Deceleration of Independence documented the creation of a Jewish homeland where the Jewish people could freely forge a spiritual, religious and political identity. Israel and Judaism was supposed to exist side by side as a religion and as a nation, native Israeli and non-native, and Zionism in all its varietiesimages and ethos were all constructed around the figure of the chalutz (pioneer), the sabra (native born Israeli) and the fighter.23 The new Israeli was expected to emerge from the diversified ethnic mlange. However, the melting pot policy never succeeded and the result has been a nation that possesses three major identities based upon religion as well as origin: the Eastern European/Ashkenazi, the Middle Eastern/Sephardic and the Western European-North American. Despite these differences, Israeli society continues to emphasize a collective identity rather than particularistic regional solidarity. The election of the first right-wing government in 1977 caused a break down of a unified political history. The change of power led to a fertile questioning of the unified Zionist history. The opening of the State Archives in 1978 allowed historians
22

United Nations General Assembly, The Mandate for Palestine, San Remo: UN, 1922. 23 Baruch Kimmerling, War of Cultures, Haaretz Newspaper, January 7, 1996.

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to reexamine the motivations for the founding of Israel and to question whether their founding leaders behavior was as ethical as previously claimed.24 Israeli scholars began to encourage an ideology that was critical of Zionism. For the first time, the homogenous Zionist Israeli narrative was critically examined. This movement was not primarily motivated by economic considerations but by the desire to bring about a national and social renaissancea transformed and modern society.25 Post-Zionism was first termed by Israeli social scientist Uri Ram and was used to describe a body of academic work that critically examined the historical foundation and day to day functioning of the modern Israeli state.26 Although post-Zionism originally positioned itself as a post-modern discourse, it has since become an integral part of Israeli society. The discourse encompasses a wide range of occurrences in Israelfrom a centralized state-controlled economy to an increasingly privatized free market system, a national Socialist working class to middle class consumerism, and from collectivism to individualism.27 The post-Zionist mantle covers the Zionist-Left, the anti-Zionist and the Deconstructionist.28 The Zionist-Left accepts the Zionist discourse in relation to the founding of the State, but objects to the way the State has acted since acquiring the

24

Moshe Moaz and Ilan Pappe, History From Within: Politics and Ideas in Middle East (New York: Tauris, 1997), 29. 25 Shmuel Eisenstadt, Israeli Society (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1970), 5. 26 Uri Ram first wrote about Post-Zionism in The Changing Agenda of Israeli Sociology: Theory, Ideology and Identity (New York: State University of New York Press, 1995). 27 Uri Ram, The Globalization of Israel: McWorld in Tel Aviv, Jihad in Jerusalem (Tel Aviv: Routledge, 2008), 225. 28 Adriana Kemp, Israelis in Conflict Hegemonies, Identities and Challenges (Portland: Sussex Academic Press, 2004), 310. 11

Gaza Strip and West Bank in 1967. The anti-Zionist movement believes that the State of Israel was flawed since its conception. They reject the current Israeli government and want to establish a single bi-national state of Jews and Arabs. The Deconstructionists situate Zionism within a historical and cultural context and critically examine the sociopolitical motivations behind the movement. The postZionist movement brings a critical eye to Israels history as well as tries to understand the complex social forces in Israel. As evident by the disparate Zionist discourses in Israel, Israeli identity is in flux. It remains to be seen whether the plethora of competing identities that exist within Israel can be reconciled. Although Israel is still vulnerable to the hostility of its neighbors, Israels collective identity no longer needs to reinforce national unity over individual experience. The relative quietness in Israel currently allows for a break from the society under siege mentality. Individuals are able vocalize contrasting viewpoints. This has allowed contemporary Israeli artists the freedom they need to critically examine their past.

A Brief History of Israeli Art Although the State of Israel was not created until 1948, a discussion on Israeli art begins almost fifty years before the formation of the State. In 1903, Russian-born sculptor Boris Schatz approached Theodor Herzl about creating an art school in Jerusalem that could provide supporting visual work to the Zionist movement. Bezalel School of Arts and Crafts was established in Jerusalem in 1906. The Schools 12

mission was to connect the Jewish people to the land and reinforce Zionism. Bezalel played a magnanimous role in providing a visual dimension to Zionism to European Jewery.29 The School developed a style best known for fusing together Eastern and Western techniques, Hebrew script, biblical stories and Zionist themes. The physical landscape of Palestine was a dominant theme in the work created at Bezalel. In the late 1920s, Bezalel witnessed a decline in its prestige and the School temporally closed from 1929-1935. While Bezalel was closed, Tel Aviv became the center for cultural activities and a new style developed that was influenced by such Western European styles as Nave art, Fauvism and Cubism. Tel Aviv artists opposed the academic realism taught at Bezalel and rebelled against those artists who connected their work solely to religion and Jewish customs.30 The Tel Aviv artists reflected the new Jew movement. These artists painted the Israeli landscape with bright colors, flattened surfaces and simple compositions. Much of their work featured idealized images of Arabs, who were portrayed working side by side with the Jews in the fields. The Tel Aviv artists reflected energy, secularism and vitality in their work while the Jerusalem artists continued to focus on Jewish tradition and the Diaspora. Clashes between the Arabs and the Jews in 1929 had a profound effect on both communities. Many artists began to paint in darker shades, and focus on interior

29 30

Berkowitz, 115. Gideon Ofrat, One Hundred Years of Art in Israel (New York: Basic Books, 1998), 35. 13

scenes instead of landscapes. The Arab disappeared from the canvas. Some artists began to work solely in abstract styles as this allowed them to separate their work from Jewish themes without appearing anti-Zionist. The late 1930s and 1940s saw the development of the Canaanite movement, an alliance of writers, poets and artists who sought to connect their work to the ancient Middle East, specifically ancient Canaanite culture. The Canaanite artists hoped to connect the new Jew to his origins. During the height of this movement, the State of Israel was created. After 1948, Israeli artists were overwhelmed by the various stories in their lives, as their work was reactive to the Holocaust, the creation of a homeland and to the impending military threat of the Arab Nations. Many artists turned to SocialRealism in order to engage with such topics. Other artists incorporated traditional Jewish narratives into contemporary scenes. The New Horizons School formed in 1948, which aimed to free Israeli painting from its local character and bring it into the sphere of contemporary European art. They developed a style knows as lyrical abstractionism which legitimized abstract art in Israel. The antagonism between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem artists become more entrenched during this decade. The next two decades saw the bifurcation of the Israeli art worldthose who believed that art should separate itself from the socio-political realities of Israel and those who thought that art should always incorporate Jewish themes and reinforce the Israeli narrative. A number of artists found themselves straddling the line and 14

incorporating Jewish iconography into more abstract works. The high modernist practices of the 1960s and early 1970s were quickly surpassed by a postmodern discourse. Postmodern Israeli art developed within the framework of the 1969-1970 War of Attrition and the 1973 Yom Kippur War.31 After these wars, a younger generation of artists emerged that were not afraid to challenge mainstream Israeli consciousness. Israeli Art Historian Gideon Ofrat outlines the aesthetic of the postmodern movement: the work addressed the duality of life in Israel and the tension created by the opposition of othersArab-Jew, occupied-unoccupied and even political-left, political right.32 The change of power from Labor to Likud transformed the art world. Political art flourished under the decade of the Likud party rule. More funding was given to the arts; from 1977 until 1993, 80 new museums were built in Israel.33 This time period also marked the beginning of new art movements including earthwork, performance, installation and video art. Language or text-based conceptual art proved an apt tool for tackling social and political issues; land and body became central themes to investigate. The Israel Museums exhibition Borders from March 1980 was one of the first shows to focus solely on the impact of boundaries in Israeli art. The exhibition included documentation of a group of artists who met during the summer of 1972 at This movement should also be situated within the broader artistic context of the early seventies. Exhibitions such as Information at the New York Modern Museum of Art and 1972s Documenta in Kassel greatly influenced Israeli artists. 32 Ofrat, 312. 33 These 80 museums account for over 60% of the museums in Israel today. 15
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the border between the Israeli Kibbutz Metze and the Arab village of Misser. Their project illuminated the social and political impact of geographical boundaries. A sense of confinement and isolation ran through the entire exhibition. This exhibition set the stage for artists to deal with the politics of space within their practice. The generation of artist born in the late 1960s and 1970s was remarkably different from the previous generations. Unlike their forebears who experienced the establishment of the State of Israel, this generation was born into a time of terror. They came of age in an intense period that included the 1982 Lebanon war, the 1987 Intifada and the 1992 Gulf War. This generation was also more heavily influenced by Western culture. In the late 1970s, regular television broadcasting began to include Western programming. The global communication revolution changed the media landscape. A system of economic, cultural and political interdependence developed between Israel and the West. Government money poured into the construction of a modern Israel, and the nation embraced a Western landscape of shopping malls, highrise buildings and superhighways. By the 1990s, Israel witnessed a time of prosperity and increased tourism. The majority of the 1990s were peaceful, allowing artists new opportunities to study and live abroad. The Israeli art scene became more pluralistic and globalized, as Israeli artists began to garner international attention. The participation of Israeli artists in international biennials, festivals and fairs allowed their work to travel further than ever before. Even when abroad, Israeli artists continue to address issues of identity, war, memory and genderall themes reinforced by the realities of being Israeli. In the 16

early 2000s, Israel art came to the forefront of the international art world. Artists such as Barry Friedlander, Guy Ben-Ner, Omer Fast, Keren Cytter, Yael Bartana and Sigalit Landau exhibited in major international art museums. The international following of Israeli artists has dramatically increased. However, Israeli artists continue to struggle with how their art is classified and whether or not to incorporate Israeli and Jewish themes. While not all Israeli art is political, it is increasingly difficult to separate Israeli art from politics. Thus, tension has developed between the local and global interpretations of Israeli art.

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CHAPTER 1: Place, Space & Territory In popular discourse, space, place and territory are difficult terms to define. Space and place are often regarded as synonymous, and territory is believed to be identical to land. Although these terms have a rich history in social and political science, each discipline defines and understands them differently. In the 1970s and 1980s, a vast amount of literature on spatial theory emerged. Israeli academia became especially preoccupied with these theories, as they resonated particularly well within an Israeli context. French philosopher Michel Foucault wrote, a whole history of spaceswhich would be at the same time a history of powersremains to be written.34 Many Israeli academics are focused on exploring the history of space as a tool to better understand Israeli history. Israeli theorists are predicated within a framework that seeks to reconcile the present with past antagonisms. Thus, these social-geographical concepts have considerable more implication in Israel, where they are presently linked to identity and nationhood. While this thesis focuses on how artists incorporate notions of space, place and territory within their work, it is necessary to have a basic understanding of how theorists, architects and politicians regulate these terms. Israeli architecture and planning provides Israelis with a daily context within which to experience these spatial theories. The majority of theorists connect space with opportunity and place with recognized reality (Soja, Lefebvre, Harvey). Space is formed by human actions and
34

Michel Foucault, Dits et ecrits 1954-1988, eds. Daniel Defert and Francois Ewald (Paris: Gallimard, 1994), Volume III, 192. 18

interactions. Put into simplest terms, space is a social construction that is used to define either the real (physical material) or the imagined (abstract). Although the beach is a natural part of the environment, it is negotiated and transformed through social and spatial practices. Place is the physical representation of space and is rooted in a physical location. A place can be defined as a space filled with people, objects and representations. Theorists David Harvey notes that what goes on in a place cannot be understood outside of the space relations that support that place any more than the space relations can be understood independently of what goes on in particular places.35 Thus, if space is nothing but the relationships between objects, then place is defined as the built or natural space. Space is a social construct that creates a sense of place. The enacting of social processes on the beach constitutes the landscape as a social space. According to French philosopher Henri Lefebvre, nation-states are spatially organized to control social relations. Lefebvre links together state, space and territory. Restricting spatiality is an inevitable part of how a state exerts power. Lefebvres spatial triad constitutes three ways in which space is used, produced and reproduced: spatial practice (perceived), representations of space (conceived) and representational space (lived). Perceived space is the material expression of social relations in space, while conceived space relates to the way in which space is represented. Conceived space is linked to the signs and codes that allow us to read
35

David Harvey, From space to place and back again: Reflections on the Condition of Postmodernity, in Mapping the Futures: Local Cultures, Global Change, ed. John Bird (London: Routledge, 1993), 15. 19

space. The lived space brings the perceived and the conceived space together. Lived space is the space of inhabitants. It is alive: it speaks. It has an affective kernal or centre: ego, bed, bedroom, dwelling house; or: square, church, graveyard.36 The perceived-conceived-lived triad reminds us that space is actively produced by society. The beach does not easily fit into one of these three categories as beachgoers actively move between these spatialities. There are aspects of perceived, conceived and lived space present within the beach environment According to Lefebvre, The beach is the only place of enjoyment that the human species has discovered in nature.37 The beach is purposefully separated from the spatial organization of the urban landscape. Existing between land and sea, the beach functions as a natural border and an in-between space. While the beach appears as an empty space, boundaries and markers strictly regulate it. The beach is a highly choreographed space where certain events are acted out again and again. The interplay between hegemonic and marginalized practices on the beach creates both a sense of freedom and fear. In the following chapter, the choreography of the beach will be further explored. Territory is both a quantifiable object and a romantic subject. Territory represents both material elements like land, functional elements like power, and symbolic elements like identity. Territory is three things: a piece of land, seen as a sacred heritage; a seat of power, and a functional space. It encompasses the dimension of identity, of author and of administrative bureaucratic of economic

36 37

Henri Lefebvre, The Production of Space (Oxford: Wiley Blackwell, 1994), 42. Lefebvre, 384.

20

efficiency.38 In Israel, territory represents both an object to be possibly exchanged as well as a defining aspect of ones identity. A particular region of land is demarcated as a territory when it is inextricably linked to state sovereignty and national identity. An entire body of literature explores space, place, territory and power relations within the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Published in 1983, Baruch Kimmerlings book Zionism and Territory was the first book devoted to this field. Kimmerling identified patterns of control in ethno-national contested territories. He deduces three elements necessary for nations: presence, ownership and sovereignty.39 By strictly controlling its territories, Israel reinforces its identity as a sovereign nation. Town planning and architecture in Israel represents a new kind of warfare, one that radically alters the Israeli landscape.40 Israels architecture is based upon carefully planned mapping that delineates inclusion and exclusion. Borders define Israel, and these boundaries are reinforced physically through architecture as well as socially within society. In order to enforce their sovereignty, the Israeli government

38

Pierre Hassner, Obstinate and Obsolete: No Territorial Transnational Forces Versus the European Territorial State, in Geopolitics in the Post-Wall Europe: Security, Territory and Identity, ed. Pavel Baev, Victoria Einagel, Ola Tunander (London: Sage, 1997), 57. 39 Baruch Kimmerling, Zionism and Territory: The Socio-Territorial Dimension of Zionist Politics (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1983), 20. 40 In 2002, Rafi Segal and Eyal Weizman won an architectural competition sponsored by the Israel Association of United Architects. Their proposal discussed the role of Israeli architecture in furthering the Middle East Conflict. When the IAUA reviewed the proposal, the exhibition was cancelled under the pretense of lack of funding. 5,000 copies of the printed catalogue were destroyed. As a result of this censorship, Segal and Weizman collaborated on A Civilian Occupation: the Political of Israeli Architecture. 21

has created a landscape that reflects ever present and never-ending temporariness.41 This permanent temporariness is key to the conflict as it allows for the normalization of disruption. The crafting of space and territory remains at the core of the IsraeliPalestinian conflict. According to Eyal Weizman, Israel has purposefully created flexible territories which may incorporate processes by which spaces are constantly transformed, morphed, and claimed by action".42 He further describes these territories: Flexible territories describe a mobile, transformable complex of feedback-based relations between habitat and inhabitants. Because flexible boundaries undergo constant and continuous transformation in response to external influence, space can be understood as the embodiment of all forces that are applied on it. Such flexible territories do not imply a benign environment, of course. Highly liquid political space can be even more dangerous than static and rigid space. This is ever more true of frontier regions, where everything is temporary and shifting. Although in frontier geographies, an asymmetrical power balance means that the colonizer may pour across and arrange the environment to suit its aims and impose unilateral actions, in many contemporary frontiers, the seemingly stronger side, with its volatile "conqueror" status, could well be the losing one. Palestinian agency is manifested in its success in holding steadfast to the ground, ... and thus playing a major part in the shaping of the spaces of the conflict.43 Built spaces and flexible territories play a key role in sustaining socio-economic relations in Israel. The shaping of such spaces reinforces the collective Israeli identity as well as naturalizes physical disruptions within society.

41

Eyal Weizman, Hollow Land: Israels Architecture of Occupation (London: Verso Press, 2005), 103. 42 Weizman, 228. 43 Weizman, 229. 22

A more detailed discussion of the concept of thirdspace follows below. A theoretical discussion of this term helps to decipher the intimate relationship between the built environment and human existence in Israel. By highlighting the different purposes and histories of Israeli sites, artists are reconsidering the relationship between Israeli identity and the land. Thirdspace Thirdspace has been identified as an in-between space, a space of openness, a risky space on edge. If firstspace represents the real, the concrete materiality of spatial forms, and secondspace is the imagined representations of spatiality, then thirdspace is that which is indefinable.44 The thirdspace is filled with contradictions, ambiguities, and new possibilities. Such a space allows individuals to explore how to negotiate contradictions in their lives. Political geographer Edward Soja calls for the reconceptualizing of human interaction around space, stating, The spatial dimension of our lives has never been of greater practical and political relevance than it is today. Whether we are attempting to deal with the increasing intervention of electronic media in our daily routines; seeking ways to act politically to deal with the growing problems of poverty, racism, sexual discrimination, and environmental degradation; or trying to understand the multiplying geopolitical conflicts around the globe, we are becoming increasingly aware that we are, and always have been, intrinsically spatial beings, active participants in the social construction of our embracing spatialities.45 Homi Bhabha and Edward Soja present different theories on the thirdspace. According to Bhabha, thirdspace is an element that challenges the hegemonic

44

Edward Soja, ThirdSpace: Journeys to Los Angeles and Other Real-and-Imagined Places (London: Wiley-Blackwell, 1996), 6. 45 Soja, 49. 23

narrative as well as the perception of space.46 Thirdspace is not necessarily a position in itself, but is something which allows for other positions to emerge. Thus, it is representative of a space beyond political, social and cultural control. The beach, as a liminal or in-between space, represents a space on the edge of land and sea. The beach may induce a sense of thirdspace as it is not a fixed space but open to change. Thirdspace challenges culture as a homogenizing force, and instead appropriates culture as a tool for hybridization. Hybridity is best understood as a way to overcome binary construction. Thirdspace is not a term that resolves the tension between two cultures, but emerges from a space where elements encounter and transform each other.47 It is an interstitial space that allows fixed identities to open and entertain differences without an assumed or imposed hierarchy.48 The beach is one place that allows individuals to reflect upon the illusion of social harmony, and the fragility of such social conditions. Thirdspace is also connected to feminist theory. French feminist Julia Kristeva suggests that feminists should occupy the thirdspace for it is neither patriarchal nor matriarchal.49 Kristevas thirdspace is essentially deconstructive and functions in between the three generations of feminism. The thirdspace emerges from a gendered process of social and political intervention within contemporary discourse. It allows for the deconstruction of binary oppositions in order to assert equality.
46 47

Homi Bhabha, The Location of Culture (London: Routledge, 1994), 113-114. Bhabha, 1-2. 48 Bhabha, 4. 49 Julia Kristeva, Womens Time, in The Kristeva Reader, ed. Toril Moi (Oxford: Blackwell, 1986), 214.

24

This constant stream of cultural production results in new hybrid identities that are neither one thing nor the other.50 Such identities allow for multiple voices and viewpoints, without furthering a hegemonic narrative. Negotiations of contradictory and agnostic instances allow for the displacement of histories and the creating of a new structure of authority. By functioning as a vehicle of empowerment, individuals are able to construct new visions. Applicable to Israel is Bhabhas use of the thirdspace in relation to colonial power and resistance. Hybridity renders the colonial authority unable to perfectly replicate itself and thus the distance between colonizer and colonized shrinks.51 The thirdspace is supposed to displace the binary of self and other, inside and outside. However, hybridization is not necessarily positive. Particularly in Israel, the acknowledgment between self and other could promote social and political mobilization, but could also lead to exclusion and fear. The artists discussed in this thesis are negotiating the Israeli narratives that regulate their lives. They are not, however, navely celebrating hybridity. In order to encourage multivalent thinking, these artists are creating works that straddle real and imaginary spaces. Their practice sheds new light on the discourses on homeland, otherness, identity, exile and displacement. These narratives emerge from the dominant Israeli voice, yet also inspire new cultural practices. By reconsidering the role of the individual within a public space, these artists are creating a knowable and unknowable, real and imagined lifework of experiences, emotions, events, and

50 51

Kristeva, 33. Bhabha, 175.

25

political choices that is existentially shaped by the generative and problematic interplay between centers and peripheries.52

52

Soja, 31.

26

CHAPTER 2: Contested Space: The Beach The beach in Israel represents a way of life as well as a state of mind. A thriving public space, the beach also embodies a territory of freedom where the countrys strict rules do not apply. The geographical location of the beach on the margin of established Israeli cities provides citizens with a temporary exit from the urban social structure. The beach is established as its own unique zone and connotes the belonging of the land to nature rather than to the built city. Thus, the beachs success as a thriving public space stems from its ability to provide refuge from the city. The beach is widely accessible, as well as socially constructed to allow for discourse and friction. As a democratic commons, the beach fulfills civic and municipal functions through the creation of an inclusive, convivial and diverse space (Figure 2). When tensions exist between beach-goers, they are representative of the conflicting identities that ensure the progression of a democratic society. If diversity is what confers a democratic character to public space, than the beach may be the most democratic space in Israel. Although Israel is a divided country with a multiplicity of structural problems, diverse communities share the beach with relatively little overt conflict.53 The beach can be defined as a liminal spacea space of transition between one place and another. It is a border crossing, a place where the different worlds

53

While the beach can be categorized as a peaceful site, there have been violent incidents such as beating, assaults and murders. I do not wish to overly emphasize the peaceful nature of the beach, but rather to discuss it as a peaceful location free from major conflict. 27

of the inhabitants touch each other.54 The beach is not dominated by one function it simultaneously allows and stimulates a multitude of activities and interactions. The beach is a space of potential and becoming. For example, many Israelis visit the beach before going to work or on their return home. For children, the beach is a playground filled with games, ice cream and constant distractions. Teenagers, families and couples frequently take evening walks on the beach, and the boardwalk is a site for intermingling and courting. The public exercise equipment found on the Tel Aviv beaches promotes cooperation and partnership. Formal and informal interaction contributes to developing and maintaining a public domain experience (Figure 3). This experience is based on playfulness and interaction. The beach has helped transform the image of Tel Aviv from a city of violence to a city of leisure and worldly pursuits. The beach represents Tel Avivs success is normalizing Israel and reflects the convergence of modern Israeli identities. The beach reveals both local and cosmopolitan interests. For example, Shabbat, a day that religious Jews spend in synagogue, is the most popular day at the beach. The beach augments Israels secular character and has become the nations alternative to synagogue. The modern Israeli views the beach as a space belonging to the public, regardless of ones wealth, status, religion or race. While the majority of interactions on the beach provide for a positive public experience, there remains the idea of the beach, just as much as the land of Israel, as a contested site. Inherent in Israel is the struggle for belonging and access, which

54

Maarten Hajer and Arnold Reijndorp, In Search of the New Public Domain (Rotterdam: NAI Publishers, 2001), 128.

28

affects both Israelis and Palestinians. Although there are no laws governing access to the beach, the Israeli military has set up checkpoints outside of many of Israels beaches in order to monitor who enters the beach. Since the government has the responsibility of protecting its citizens, the checkpoints exist for security reasons. However, many Palestinians view the checkpoints as a way to keep them off of the beaches. The northern Dead Sea beaches are geographically in the West Bank, however, Israel continues to control the shoreline. The Association of Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) recently petitioned the Israeli Supreme Court on their policy of using checkpoints to bar Palestinians from reaching the nicer public beaches. However, Arab militants have used the shoreline as a way to float weapons into the West Bank, and have also activated explosive floating bombs. The Israeli government has had to close miles of beaches and deploy robotic bomb squads in order to keep the beaches safe. The beach is not a neutral space but is socially constructed to represent the complex history of Israel and its inhabitants. While Israeli cities signify a form of social control, the beach represents a space that is actually lived in. The beach, which has a purpose far beyond consumption, allows individuals to mold a space to reflect upon their own personalities and needs. The beach is also a representation of spatial multi-inhabitation. It functions as a public space only though the inhabitation of bodies, social relations and psychical dynamics.55 The beach is a zone that counters the nations singular dominant rule. It is suspended between various identitiesa

55

Irit Rogoff, Terra Infirma: Geographys Visual Culture (Tel Aviv: Routledge Press, 2000), 23. 29

site of evacuation in which the law of each identity does not apply, having been supplanted by a set of contingent rules.56 The beach is one of the few sites in Israel that allows for interaction between different groups, and thus is a rare place where the diversity of values and identities inter-mix. The beach is the setting for many Israeli artworks because it is a site charged with social and political meanings. The beach also provides a framework for tracing Israels relationship to its environment. A range of narratives concerning gender, leisure, modernity, the environment and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are present at the beach. The works of art described in this chapter provide an example of how artists utilize the rich history of the beach in order to transform the site into an even more complex space. Since graduating from Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in 1994, Sigalit Landau has garnered international attention for being one of Israels most innovative and provocative artists. Landau utilizes a broad range of media to explore the Israeli landscape. Many of her works take place on the shore or within the sea. This setting allows Landau the freedom to explore the social and political aspects of her homeland without dealing didactically with overtly political subjects. In Barbed Hula (2000), Sigalit Landau stands naked on a Tel Aviv beach hula-hooping with a piece of barber wire (Figure 4). The barbed wire makes a continual revolution around Landaus torso; each barb grazes at her flesh and her torso becomes bruised. The restrained, gyrating motion of her hips keeps her body in constant contact with the wire. Her torso becomes a projection surface reflecting the
56

Rogoff, 120.

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imprint of the hoop. The camera slowly zooms in and out to show the gouges on her body (Figure 5). The one-minute and fifty-three second color video is shown on a loop so that the action becomes endless and monotonous. Her head and lower legs are cropped out of the frame, forcing the viewer to focus solely on the movement. The work tests Landaus endurance and physical threshold. The endless loop references both the cyclical and centrifugal forces. The motion may also serve as a metaphor for the Sisyphean struggle of human existence. The continuous gyrating motion mesmerizes the viewer as he is forced to watch this painful action with no reprise. It is becomes unbearable to watch Barbed Hula as the viewer imagines Landaus self-inflicted pain increasing. On close examination, the viewer notices the barbs are turned outwards so as not to afflict physical wounds to Landau. It becomes more dangerous for her to stop hula-hooping than it is for her to continue performing.57 Hula-hooping is actually protecting Landau, because the barbs are facing outwards. However, the fact that the barbs are in plain sight causes the viewer to experience the pain. It becomes very difficult to separate Landaus gashes from the barbed wire even though the wire is not the cause of the bruises. Barbed Hula was developed as a non-public act. 58 It was preformed on a public beach in south Tel Aviv. The work is conceived as a performance for the

57

Sigalit Landau, Artist Talk: Global Feminism, ( Artist Talk at the Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn: March 23-25, 2007) < http://www.brooklynmuseum.org /opencollection/objects/5131/Barbed_Hula>. 58 Landau, Artist Talk.

31

camera, and Landau does not envision it as a performance for an audience. In order to procure a relatively empty beach, Landau shot the film at five a.m., just as dawn was breaking. While the beach in Israel represents leisure and normalcy, Landau situated this particular act on the beach because of its emblematic role in the modernization of Israel. The beach symbolizes one aspect of the new Jew as it is the beach where he finds solace, not the synagogue. In this work, Landau is representative of the new Israeli. However, this new identity is constantly encircled by outside forces (symbolized by the barbed hula hoop). The outside forcessuch as memory, ritual and politicscut into this new identity, making it physically unsafe to step outside of its boundaries. Barbed Hula is symbolic of various narratives including the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Jesus crown of thorns, the Holocaust and feminism. One obvious reference is to the childhood memory of hula-hoops and its relation to sexuality. Although hula-hoops are believed to have originated in ancient Egypt, they did not become an international craze until the late 1950s.59 In Japan and Indonesia, as well as within a multitude of other communities, hula-hooping was banned for being too seductive as it was not appropriate to shake ones hips in public. The barbed wire is also representative of borders and the loss of freedom. This analysis is twofoldconnected to both Israel and the Holocaust. Many Holocaust images show victims herded together behind ominous-looking barbed wire fences. Barbed wire is a common symbol in the depiction of Holocaust art. Landau,

59

Antonia Fraser, A History of Toys (London: Spring Book, 1972).

32

like most Israelis, lost family in the Holocaust.60 In a public talk at the Brooklyn Museum of Art, Landau referenced the Holocaust as a stimulant for Barbed Hula. Additionally, barbed wire cuts across Israel, and there is such an abundance of it that it completely blends into the landscape. Barbed wire allows for territorial appropriation under the guise of protection. The wire also symbolizes repression as it forcefully separates one territory from another, often dividing communities in half. By shooting this work on the beach, Landau contrasts the natural border of the sea with the artificial barbed-wire borders that demarcate Israel. The act of hula-hooping references the politics of power, gender and sexuality. Landau is imprisoned by multiple sources: the hoop, her sexuality, the camera and the looping of the video that allows for no relief. Her nude body is stripped of excess and the frame emphasizes the female form. The body is exploited. Landaus movement is reminiscent of a belly dance, yet in this performance she escapes pain by continuing the dance. As the artist writes: The hula is also a game, a dance, and its also protecting me, because when I stopped doing the hula hoop, thats when I got wounded. It has to do with the need to keep going, because when I stop, I have to jump out of the hoop so that the barbs dont touch me.61 The work also positions itself in relation to the body art movement practiced most notably by Marina Abramovic/Ulay, Chris Burden and Gina Pane. By using her body as the primary material for her work, Landau presents the materiality of the human
60

Landaus Viennese grandmother lost family in the holocaust but she was able to flee to London. Rahel Musleh, Making Circles, Hadassah Magazine, June/July 2008. 61 Lesli Camhi, Centrifugal Force: Unraveling the Art of Sigalit Landau, Tablet Magazine: A New Read on Jewish Life. (June 2008). http://www.tabletmag.com/artsand-culture/739/centrifugal-force/ (accessed November 12, 2009). 33

body as both subject and object. Art Historian Kathy ODell connects masochistic performance art of the 1960s and 1970s to the war-induced instability experienced by the artists.62 Masochistic performance models continue to resurface as a tool for negotiation during times of crisis. Thus, the advent of masochist practices in Israeli art is fitting. Instead of providing a numbing experience, the masochistic performances teach the viewer how to actively respond to uncomfortable situations; Perhaps we need to experience these responses in order to desire a form of negotiation that can turn senselessness, alienation, imbalance and numbness into something constructive.63 The metonymy of the body also relates to binary of the law and the home.64 To Landau, Barbed Hula is about the vagina and wounds in my flesh.65 She talks freely about trying to reconcile contrasting identities, particularly as an Israeli and as a woman.66 In Barbed Hula, the body is devoid of any distinctive features or markings of identity. The body represents the inner face of the human being.67 Landau presents herself as a singular identity. Thus, the act of hula-hooping naked on the beach is both public and private. Although it is performed in a public space, the nudity and intimacy of the piece constructs a more private narrative. The work

62

Cathy ODell, Contact with the Skin: Masochism Performance Art and the 1970s (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1998), 75. 63 ODell, 83. 64 ODell, 12. 65 Sigalit Landau. Interview by Paulina Pobocha. Museo X. http://www.museomagazine. com/issue-10/sigalit-landau (accessed November 19, 2009). 66 Landau, Artist Talk. 67 Ruth Ronen, The Body Decomposed, Moving as One in Sigalit Landau, eds. Gabriele Horn and Ruth Ronen (Ostfildern, Germany: Hatje Cantz, 2008), 231.

34

represents the friction between public and private, real and symbolic, collective and singular. The viewer must ask: is Barbed Hula an image of self-mutilation or of ecstasy?68 Barbed Hula also situates itself within religious practices particularly the sacrificial rituals that date back to the origin of religion. The work evokes a primeval ritual in which pain is associated with pleasure. Barbed Hula explores ritual, particularly how rituals function as performances. Landau is fascinated by how rituals live on in collective memory and history. As a secular Jew, Landau does not participate in many of the collective rituals of her country.69 However, she recognizes the potency of such acts and how easy it is to translate these recognizable acts into something unidentifiable. She is both reinventing ritual and radicalizing it. Smadar Dreyfus, a contemporary of Landau, also utilizes the Israeli shoreline to project and negotiate her Israeli identity. Unlike Landau, Dreyfus moved to London in 1990 after graduating from Bezalel Academy of Art and Design. Although she lives now in London, her Israeli upbringing serves as the impetus for much of her work. Lifeguards is a two-screen large scale audiovisual installation displayed in a pitch black exhibition space.70 The culmination of over three years of research, Lifeguards debuted at the 2005 Istanbul Biennale. The two screens are displayed on opposite sides of the room and alternately play short related pieces. On one side is

68 69

Ronen, 241. Sigalit Landau, Interview by Paulina Pobocha. 70 I was unable to view this work in its original installation. Communication with the artist and documentation provided me with information on the layout of Lifeguards. 35

silent footage of a large group of people swimming off the coast of Tel Aviv in the Mediterranean Sea. The swimmers are predominately women and children. They are tightly packed within the frame and drift into one another (Figure 6). The water scene is an archetypal image of leisure. No sound is heard from this scene. Without warning, the calming image is interrupted by the second screenan audio track of the lifeguards harsh commands and the sound of the people in the Sea. The sound recording continues to alternate with the silent image. While the video portrays a scene of pleasure, the audio sounds dangerous. It is the interplay between image and sound that makes Lifeguards extremely powerful to view. Smadar Dreyfus is interested in exploring the intersection of the aural and the visual. She is preoccupied with the way that culture is embedded within speech and how language informs identity.71 By separating the aural and the visual, Lifeguards illustrates how a singular voice cannot only dictate interactions, but change how the exchange is perceived. The video of the swimmers is tranquil when separated from the sound. The audio track is thunderous and ruthless. The lifeguards tone is militant although their purpose is protective. What is the role of an authoritative voice in a public space such as the beach? Is the lifeguard a moderator, a guardian or an oppressor? The lifeguards voices direct the scene. Their voices focus the viewers attention to particular aspects of beach culture. Their calls vary in subject from looking for Judith, a missing child, to warning about jellyfish. Although synchronized English subtitles flash onto the black screen, it becomes increasingly
71

Smadar Dreyfus. Press Release. London: Miro Victoria Gallery, 2006.

36

difficult to read them as the lifeguards commands are barked at a quickening pace. The viewer can only take in so much of the audio track as the speed of the commands obstructs the ability to comprehend them. While the video effortlessly captures the movement of the Sea, the audio track transforms the beach from a tranquil environment to a place of fear. The viewer, who is completely immersed in the video because of its size, becomes disoriented by the separation of image and sound. One is forced to physically move back and forth between the two screens. The separation of the aural and visual emphasizes the difference between the two senses. The viewer participates in Dreyfus choreography as they move back and forth across the room. The controlled switching between aural and visual, spoken and written, sound and silence intensifies the viewing experience. The threshold of normalcy is redefined in Lifeguards.72 The separation of the image and sound creates the feeling that the swimmers remain unaware of lifeguards commands, seemingly unwilling to recognize the impending danger that the lifeguards warn against. However, it is the installation of the work that causes this separation. It is impossible to know whether the swimmers were at all responding or interacting with the lifeguards due to the separation of the visual and aural in the installation. Dreyfus took the footage for Lifeguards in 2002, an extremely tense time in Israel because of the Second Intifada. She would escape to the beach, but felt the

72

Helen Legg, Smadar Dreyfus, Istanbul Biennale 2005. http://www.iksv.org /bienal/bienal9/ (accessed December 1, 2009).

37

conflict just as strongly there due to the lifeguards militaristic tone. She recalls, Reality felt rough to me, like sandpaper. So in Lifeguards the voice is speaking at you, there is no answer back.73 By highlighting the cycle between security and insecurity, Lifeguards complicates the idea of the beach as a public space that functions outside the realm of conflict. Many Israeli artists are preoccupied with the social and physical attributes of the beach, particularly as a site to capture the complexity of Israeli public life. As an outside observer, it is difficult to fully comprehend the negotiation of public space in Israel. However, Canadian-Israeli artist Lezli Rubin Kunda combines her personal narrative with the Israeli landscape in order to present an environment constantly in negotiation.74 Kundas practice is based upon exploring her personal relationship to the environment. She performs similar actions in different locations, always utilizing local materials and landscapes. Kunda has become well known for her walks. Walking is a recognized practice within contemporary art, but its roots trace back to the derive and the French Situationists. The act of walking can be incredibly political, signifying engagement and/or resistance. Kunda considers her walks live art as the purpose of each walk is the video documentation, which serves as the

73

Smadar Dreyfus. Conversation Between Curator and Artist: Interview by Tessa Praun, in Smadar Dreyfus Exhibition Catalogue, (Stockholm: Magasin 3 Stockholm Konsthall Press, 2009). 74 Lezli Rubin Kunda was born in Toronto and moved to Israel permanently in her early thirties. Landau attended a religious Jewish day school in Canada yet always felt alienated from the organized Jewish community. Kunda identifies as an Israeli although she recognizes that a multitude of narratives inform her identity. 38

primary artifact.75 Each walk takes on a different meaning depending on the context of the site. Walk to the Sea exemplifies Kundas ability to take an ordinary activity and heighten its meaning. The project was conceived as part Day of Simultaneous Actions for the FIX02 Catalyst Arts Performance Festival in Belfast, Ireland. Artists from all over the world performed at the same time and the performances were projected at the festival in Ireland. Walk to the Sea takes place on a hot night in September, a time set by the FIX02 Catalyst Arts Performance Festival. The three-minute video begins at Rabin Plaza at City Hall in Tel Aviv. This is a historically meaningful site in Israel as well as personally connected to Kunda (she was there when Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated). She drags behind her a string of sabras (Figure 7). As you may recall from the Introduction, a sabra is extremely symbolic in Israeli culture. The fruit is hard on the outside but extremely sweet on the inside. Sabras can survive extremely harsh conditions; thus both Palestinians and Israelis identify with it as a symbol of their strength Kunda walks a popular boulevard towards the Mediterranean Sea. The video effortlessly captures the vibrancy of Tel Aviv nightlife and the movement of people throughout the city. Yet no one acknowledges Kunda as she passes (Figure 8). During the performance, Kunda remembers feeling invisible as if she was outside of the spectators horizon.76 The walk continues along the boulevard towards the Sea. Once she reaches the beach, the feeling of loneliness becomes overwhelming, as she

75 76

Lezli Rubin Kunda. 2010. Interview by Author. Lezli Rubin Kunda. 2010. Interview by Author.

39

is the only one there (Figure 9). The walk ends with Kunda immersed in the Mediterranean Sea (Figure 10). Her submersion purifies her and releases her of her sins. In Walk to the Sea, Kunda is mapping the space between Tel Aviv, the beach and the sea. Walk to Sea is a work of perpetual traveling. Although extremely simplistic in conception, the work examines the complex realities of public space in Israel. By picking a particularly symbolic place to start the walk (Rabin Plaza) and ending in the Mediterranean Sea, Kunda transverses traditional boundaries. Her walk is destabilizingit references historical aspects of Israel as well as alien elements. The route, which many Israelis take to reach the beach, becomes unfamiliar. No one belongsnot Kunda or anyone who passes by her. To the unwitting observer, the act is unrecognizable as a performance. The lack of interaction creates the feeling of misunderstanding and abandonment. Walk to Sea documents multiple symbols and sites in order to present the complexities of space in Israel. As evident in this work, public space does not always function to its capacity. Israelis tend to ignore actions that are outside of their comfort zone. Kunda is encouraging those around her to rediscover their connection to the land and to themselves. Landau, Dreyfus and Kunda all utilize the beach as a setting through which to explore the problematic representation of land in Israel. Their work is a critique of the spatial practices utilized by those in power. By using such a recognizable location (the beach) and layering symbolic objects (barbed wire and sabras) Landau, Dreyfus

40

and Kunda are deconstructing the dominant discourse and unraveling the process through which discourse is produced. The beach constitutes a unique site where it is possible to witness the struggle over identity formation. Nationality, ethnicity, class, gender and religion all influence ones identity. Although the beach functions as a public space, identity markings become even more apparent there. While contention and struggle exist within all three works, each piece also presents the possibility for negotiation and hybridity within Israeli society.

CHAPTER 3: Critical Perspectives: The Sea To many Israelis, the bodies of water in Israel represent a great abyss filled with infinite possibility. A number of Israeli artists seek to capture these waterways for their expansive vistas, quiet powers and sublime nature. However, these waterways represent much more than the historically captured romantic image. In Israel, water is symbolic of active contemplation and clear political ideology. Israel is materially and emotionally linked to its waterways. For example, the Mediterranean Sea is viewed as a main source for survival as it provides a means of 41

escape as well as a gateway to the rest of the world. Throughout the Arab-Israeli conflict, Arab leaders have pledged to drive the Jews into the sea in order to eradicate the Jewish nation. Although water is traditionally symbolic of purity and ritual cleansing, water in Israel is purely political. A connection between water and life is found in all of the worlds major religions. Major biblical stories such as Creation, Noahs Ark, and the parting of the Red Sea portray water as a powerful instrument of God. In all of these stories, the expansive nature of the sea is perceived as both serene and terrifying. The shifting immensity of the sea creates an unnerving relation between man and God. While most Israelis do not contemplate the role of water their everyday life, they are well aware of its role in Israels survival. Almost every war fought by Israel has had its roots in water politics nearly as much as it did in territorial expansion. In a country restricted by land (its land borders are sealed by Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Egypt), the Mediterranean Sea has both a physical and psychological value. Although Israel is physically reliant on all of its water sources, it is particularly dependant on the Mediterranean as it is a strategically necessity to reach the outside world. Each waterway within Israel also serves a psychological value as it creates a visually open horizon line for an otherwise small country. Thus, the daily tranquility of the waterways is mirrored by their immensely powerful role in Israels survival (Figure 11). In order to understand the political value of water, a discussion of Israels water resources is necessary. Israel is located within the Jordan Valley catchments basin. With little rainfall, most of Israel is dependant on the Jordan River for water. 42

The Zionist pioneers were well aware of the water problems in Palestine and worked to establish hydraulically efficient borders.77 Water availability has always dictated population size and the location of Israeli cities. Thus, the largest cities in Israel were built on the coastline of the Mediterranean Sea. The one hundred and fifty-five mile Jordan River provides Israel with its main surface stream. The upper Jordan River basin originates in three headwater streams: the Hasbani, which originates in Syria and the Dan and the Banias from the Golan Heights in Israel. All three of these tributaries converge in Lake Tiberius and flow into Jordan. The Jordan River drains into the Dead Sea. As the water flows south, it becomes increasingly saline. Since the Dead Sea has no outlet, it is the saltiest body of water in the world (Figure 12). Surface water from the Jordan River accounts for only thirty percent of the water in Israel. The rest of water comes from the Mountain, Eastern and Coastal aquifers. The Mountain aquifer, which provides Israel with almost a quarter of its water, is located within the West Bank. The Eastern aquifers drainage basin is also located in the West Bank while the Costal aquifers basin is in Gaza. Both Israel and Palestine cannot exist without access to these aquifers. The location of the aquifers in contested land makes any type of territorial compromise difficult. In the 1950s, Israel and Jordan signed a de facto agreement allowing for shared usage of the Jordan River. However in 1964, Jordan and Syria attempted to

77

Laqueur, 122.

43

divert the Jordan River and deprive Israel of its water.78 When Israel defeated Syria in the 1967 Six-Day War, they took control of not only the Golan Heights but also the Dan and Banias tributaries. Water affairs remain a matter of dispute between Israel, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and the Palestinian territories. Water remains at the root of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. If Israel was to withdraw from the West Bank and/or the Golan Heights, it would be at the mercy of its neighbors to provide water. Implementation of proposed peace initiatives would mean transferring the control of over seventy percent of Israels water supply to the Palestinians.79 The country would be unable to prevent the cutting off or contamination of its water supplies. During the past decade, Israel has embarked on a program to desalinate seawater in order to provide more drinking water. If this program proves successful, it will make it easier for Israel to negotiate a peace deal that relinquishes the Golan Heights and/or the West Bank. Emerging artist Dana Levy represents a generation of Israeli artist who deal with issues of identity largely in light of the on-going violence. However, there is an overwhelming sense of hope and trust in humanity present in Levys work. Born in Tel Aviv in 1973, Levy attended school at Cambrewell College of Art in London and Jordanstone College of Art in Scotland. She returned to Tel Aviv in 1998 and recently decided to live for part of each year in New York. Influenced by her

78

Itamar Rabinovich and Jehuda Reinharz, Israel in the Middle East: Documents and Readings on Society, Politics and Foreign Relations, Pre-1948 to the Present (Waltham: Brandeis Press, 2007), 209. 79 Martin Sherman, The Politics of Water in the Middle East: An Israeli Perspective on the Hydro-Political Aspects of Conflict (New York: St. Martins Press, 1999), 51. 44

decision to live partially abroad, Levys work explores the temporal nature of ones homeland. Submersions (2004), a twelve minute color video, takes place in the Mediterranean Sea outside of Tel Aviv. For this work, Levy asked a wide range of people to step into the Sea at night and to purify themselves (Figure 13). Some are naked, while others are fully dressed. A pregnant woman fully submerges herself in order to emerge anew (Figure 14). The act of submersion is found in many religious rituals. Ritual immersion dates back to biblical times and is an important aspect of the Jewish religion. One is immersed in water in order to restore to a condition of purity. The total immersion represents losing ones independent existence and elevating oneself to become a vessel for holiness. Maimonides writes in the Mishneh Torah that this immersion requires the intent of the heart to purify oneself from wrongful thoughts and to bring ones soul to the waters of pure reason.80 This idea is highlighted in the Scripture, And I will sprinkle clean water upon you and you shall be clean.81 In Christianity, baptism is the sacrament of regeneration by the worlds water; it is a sign of religious purification and consecration, and symbolizes the beginning of a new spiritual life. There is also a similar ritual washing in Islam called Ghusul. A rich tradition of documenting such immersion scenes exists within art history. The concept of submersion in order to purify ones self is also connected to the biblical story of Noah and the flood. In Genesis, God destroyed all of mankind,
80

Kenneth Seeskin, The Cambridge Companion to Maimonides (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005), 279. 81 Ezekiel 36:25

45

with the exception of Noah and his family. The flood allowed only the righteous to survive and for humanity to start anew. It is taught in Judaism that the flood was not just a punishment, but also a way for God to purify the whole world. The flood cleansed the world in the same way that immersing in water purifies ones self. Levy was aware of the religious and biblical connotation of submersions. The artist writes: As the political situation in my country seems like it has reached a dead end, I thought about the biblical story of the flood, where the only way out of the chaotic reality was to wash it away so that a new peaceful era could begin. I asked people to submerge into the sea while thinking of their personal spiritual cleansing. An act of transformation, erasing personal histories, detoxing, preparing the grounds for a new, better reality to take place. Each entering the sea, performing their own private cleansing ritual.82 Submersions remains hopeful that Israelis can purify themselves from past actions and elevate their actions to bring the world to a higher level. By freeing oneself from all extraneous elements during the submersion, there becomes hope for a peaceful future. By showing each participant submerged in the water and then walking back to the shore, Levy makes sure that the viewer is aware that she is not depicting another flood where no one survives (Figure 15). Instead of representing a divine punishment, the submersion is about enlightenment and freedom. Each submersion brings the participant back to the beginningback to the stage of life where it is possible to move forward because they are now free from the past.
82

Dana Levy, Artist Statement for Submersions. 2004. http://www.danalevy.net/ (accessed October 17, 2009).

46

Many artists find it difficult to move past Israels tumultuous history in order to put forth an optimistic vision of the future. Yael Bartana was born in Afula, a small town in close proximity to the West Bank. Bartana graduated from Bezalel Academy of Arts in Design in 1996 and earned an MFA in 1999 from the School of Visual Arts in New York. Living abroad provided Bartana the distance she needed to critically reflect upon her homeland. She currently divides her time between Israel and Amsterdam. A Declaration (2006) is a seven-minute color and sound one-channel video projection. It was shot in southern Tel Aviv on the invisible, but patrolled, border that separates Tel Aviv from Yaffo. The work begins with an Israeli flag filling the entire screen with the sound of waves behind it. Then comes the whirling sound of helicopters.83 Suddenly, a young man appears dressed all in white. He is rowing a boat in the Mediterranean Sea. In his boat is an olive tree (Figure 16). The unidentified man reaches Andromedas Rock and uproots the Israeli flag (Figure 17). He then plants the olive tree and rows back to shore (Figure 18). The mans actions are a bold intervention into Israels borders and his gesture represents not only a peace offering but also the capacity for renewal. Bartana does not identify the protagonist in the film but he is reminiscent of the early Israeli pioneers. Captured in 1930s Zionist films, these pioneers are strong, dressed in loose white clothing and appear ready to toil the land. Zionist pioneers
83

Helicopters were extremely common during the creation of this work in 2006 because of the Second Lebanon War It is impossible to know whether Bartana planned the helicopter noises or if they appeared while she was filming and decided to keep it in the film. Yilmaz Dziewior, Yael Bartana (New York: Hatje Cantz Books, 2007), 93. 47

saw settling the land as an expression of being a free people. We have come to the Land to build and to be built, they sang, thus espousing a philosophy of selftransformation based on reclamation. The pioneer that Bartana creates in A Declaration is strongly opposed to the actions of the early Zionists. By removing the Israeli flag, he is de-nationalizing the land and opposing the boundaries of Israel. The pioneer plants an olive tree where the Flag of Israel one stood. The olive tree, symbolically resonant as a universal symbol of peace, is actually an object of conflict in Israel. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is frequently played out in the olive fields and the tree is an unfortunate casualty of war. Olive trees are a major commercial crop for Palestinians. The Israeli Defense Force (IDF) has uprooted olive trees to build settlements, expand roads and lay infrastructure. Palestinian attacks on Israelis from within olive groves have caused the IDF to set curfews as well as security closures, which has significantly affected the farmers ability to manage their crops. Both Israelis and Palestinians view the olive tree as a symbol of their nation. Israel is compared to the olive tree in the bible. In Yermeyahu (Jeremiah) 11:16, "Yahweh has named you [Israel], Green Olive Tree, Fair, of Goodly Fruit. Because of its potential to live over one thousand years and still bear fruit, the olive tree symbolizes longevity and immortality. It propagates by putting out shoots to ensure its continual survival, even if its main trunk becomes hollow. The rootedness and durability of the tree allows Palestinians to attribute the olive tree to their own

48

struggle.84 The olive tree requires a certain degree of settledness and stability in order to prosper. Hence its association with both Israelis and Palestinians who view their people as withstanding years of persecution and hardship before being able to put down roots in their homeland. Bartana carefully thought through the location in which to perform this complex act. Andromedas Rock symbolically represents the natural border between Tel Aviv and Yaffo. This is a mental border, not a physical one.85 According to Greek mythology, the rock is named after the daughter of King Cepheus and Queen Cassiopeia. Andromeda was to be scarified by her parents to a sea monster as punishment for their vanity. Pegasus saved Andromeda and took her as his wife. The rock alludes to an individual sacrificial act in order to save the collective.86 Is Bartana recommending that we forgo nationalism in hopes of coexistence? Is she hoping that individual beliefs can be overcome for the good of the whole? While A Declaration appears as a public actan action done onto Israelthe work is actually controlled and completely symbolic. When Bartana created A Declaration she had to promise the coast guard that she would replant the Israeli flag and uproot the olive tree after she completed filming.87 The work positions itself in

84 85

Gannit Ankori, Palestinian Art (London:Reaktion Books, 2006), 158. There is no border between Tel Aviv and Yaffo. Jews and Arabs live in both cities although Yaffo is predominately Arab and Tel Aviv is Jewish. 86 Dziewior, 93. 87 Stacey Palevsky, Palevsky, Stacey. Video Artist Asks Questions, Captures Complexities of Israeli Life, Jweekly.com. January 29 2009. http://www.jweekly.com/article/full/36928/video-artist-asks-questions-capturescomplexities-of-israeli-life/ (accessed November 3, 2009). 49

relation to territory and accentuates the polarity between those who understand Israels borders as natural and those who view them as produced. Although Bartana is best known for capturing basic life activities, this moment is highly dramatic and staged. However, the viewer is not made aware of this staging. He is implicated as a witness and as an active participant in this action. The viewer must determine his personal response to this political action. The work can be interpreted as advocating for the coexistence of all people beyond nation states. Bartana is looking past boundaries to envision humankind as a whole. Sigalit Landau also presents a more peaceful, nuanced look at Israel. In DeadSee, a 2004 video work, a nude Landau floats in the Dead Sea between a spiral of watermelons (Figure 19). The Dead Sea is the lowest spot on the face of the eartha lifeless body of water that solidifies anything that it comes into contact with. DeadSee was shot in mid-August 2004 in the area of Sdom, south of Masada. The work debuted as part of The Endless Solution at the Helena Rubinstein Pavilion in the Tel Aviv Museum of Art.88 For DeadSee, Landau attached five hundred watermelons on seven hundred feet of string in order to make a circular raft 18 feet in diameter. Some of the watermelons were split open to reveal their core while the majority was left in tact (Figure 20). The buoyant water allows Landau to float peacefully in between the rows, her hand outstretched towards the exposed watermelon cores (Figure 21). The silent color video is nineteen minutes and thirty seconds. DeadSee is rooted in the land art movement of the 1970s. The major distinction between DeadSee and the majority of American earthworks is that
88

The exhibition ran from January to May 2005.

50

DeadSee was temporally created for the sole purpose of video documentation. The spiral formation of the watermelons immediately references Robert Smithsons Spiral Jetty.89 Like Smithson, Landau is fascinated by the particulars of the landscape and site-specific projects. The motif of the spiral represents creation and destruction. Smithsons spiral revolves counter-clockwise (in the direction of destruction) while Landaus spiral revolves clockwise (representing creation). In DeadSee, Landau is also referencing Israeli conceptual art, particularly Pinchas Cohen-Gans The Dead Sea Project. For this work, Cohen-Gan placed a fish colony in the Dead Sea using plastic pipes filled with fresh water. As the water turned brackish, the fish died. Cohen-Gan compared the fish to the Jew who was immigrating to Israel from various countries. The work illustrated the difficulties of surviving within an alien environment.90 Cohen-Gans work is similar to Landaus as both deal with how the discourse of otherness is embedded in Israel. Leading Israeli Art Historian, Gideon Ofrat writes that sugar and salt comprise two poles of the tongue in Landaus work: the sweet zest for life, love, sexuality, childhood and happiness; and the elemental destruction and decomposition.91 The spiral produces a womb like image, which is unified by birth and death. Landau describes the work as: the invasive string enters and leaves the fruit like a shared umbilical cord. I lay in a small succulent ulcer, floating at the edge of the raft,
89

Spiral Jetty was created in 1970 and is a vast spiral made of earth and rocks in the Great Salt Lake, Utah. 90 Yoram Hazony, The Jewish State: The Struggle for Israels Soul (New York: Basic Books, 2001), 37. 91 Ofrat, Gideon. Salt and Sugar, in Sigalit Landau, eds. Gabriele Horn and Ruth Ronen (Ostfildern, Germany: Hatje Cantz, 2008), 100. 51

which is being pulled apart by an impossible hand. It is an interaction between primordial site and fleshy, dismantled territory, between history, gravity and a matrix of obtuse rhizomes; a chain of autonomous uteri in a nomadic sequence. 92 The sweetness of the watermelon and the salt of the water create an image of apocalypse and redemption.93 In 2001, researchers at the Ramat Hanegev Regional Council succeeded in developing the first saltwater-grown watermelon. The melon, called almaliach, is seedless, and is sweeter, redder, and has a thinner rind than other watermelons.94 The saltwater causes the melon to respond by producing more sugar. The use of saltwater to produce a sweeter watermelon contrasts Landaus previous use of salt water to crystallize objects and perform speed archaeology.95 In many of her other works, particularly The Nation, Landau submerged objects in the Dead Sea to petrify them. The petrifaction disguised the objects to an almost unrecognizable point. In DeadSee, Landau focuses on the Dead Sea as a site of sugar, instead of one of salt. Landaus connection to the Dead Sea extends to her childhood where she recalls endless family vacations to the area. As a child, she learned about the Dead Sea and surrounding area in terms of the story of Sodom and Gomorra, Massada, the

92

Sigalit Landau, Sigalit Landau: the endless solution (Tel Aviv: Tel Aviv Museum of Art, 2005), 36. 93 Ofrat, Salt and Sugar, 104. 94 Making of DeadSee in Sigalit Landau, eds. Gabriele Horn and Ruth Ronen (Ostfildern, Germany: Hatje Cantz, 2008), 278. 95 Lia Gangitano, The Sun Remained, in Sigalit Landau, eds. Gabriele Horn and Ruth Ronen (Ostfildern, Germany: Hatje Cantz, 2008), 147. 52

Essene, the early salt industry, the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls and Beit HaArava.96 These stories and histories hover over the narrative that Landau creates. Bartana, Levy and Landau all raise questions about contemporary geopolitics. All three works are characterized by their use of water, yet the water represents more of a discourse than a place. The sea acts as site of turmoil as well as hope. Bartana, Levy and Landau all create experimental situations in which the performative action is dependent on the nature of the sea. The sea is also typically gendered as feminine as it is described as having stereotypical female characteristics such as passion, fickleness and coyness. The sea retains an aspect of unpredictablyit moves from tempestuous to tranquil in a matter of seconds. This also relates to Israel; the past struggles are far from over and continue to haunt Israeli society.

96

Musleah, 2.

53

CONCLUSION Though they seem to invoke an origin in a historical past with which they continue to correspond, actually identities are about questions of using the resources of history, language and culture in the process of becoming, rather than being: not who we are or where we came from, so much as what we might become, how we have been represented and how that bears on how we might represent ourselves. Identities are therefore constituted within, not outside representation.97 The beach and the sea provide a fruitful entry point for analyzing social construction and cultural production in Israel. The works discussed in this thesis reimagine the connection between the people and the land of Israel. In order to demystify the landscape, all five artists step outside of the traditional grand narrative of Israel in order to present a more realistic view of Israeliness. By emphasizing the intersection of multiple identities, these artists are developing a more nuanced connection between identity, gender, power, and land. Their perspectives destabilize the traditional narrative and place alternative voices back into the public realm. These meta-narratives develop as a way to explore the artists personal connection to the land of Israel. Through their practice, these artists critically question the interconnectedness of identity, territory, narrative, and memory. Their work gives voice to the social, political, and cultural realities of Israeli life. Particularly in Walk to the Sea, Lezli Rubin Kunda is weighed down by the chain of sabras she carries, a symbol of the hegemonic narrative of Israel. It is not until Kunda is immersed in the Mediterranean

97

Stuart Hall, Question of Cultural Identity, eds. Paul Du Gays and Stuart Hall (London: Sage Publications, 1996), 4.

54

Sea that she is able to rid herself of the chain, thus releasing herself from being worn down by the traditional facets of the Israeli narrative. In order to present the complexities inherent in identity construction, these artists explore how identities shift within specific contexts. For example, in A Declaration, Yael Bartana asks the viewer to question how his personal identity informs the reading of the piece. A completely different narrative is built depending on whether the viewer imagines the pioneer to be Israeli or Palestinian. Although the actor is redeeming the land, his action has different political implications depending on his ethnicity. It is up to the viewer to determine how to read this work. The viewer becomes implicated in constructing the actors identity. The viewers reading of A Declaration points out his own biases and the difficulties of setting such biases aside. Barbed Hula and DeadSee beautifully capture the complexity of Israels landscape. In both works, Sigalit Landau is enveloped by an object, either barbed wire or watermelons. Each object relates back to Israels symbolic history, yet the objects also represent the realities of everyday life in Israel. For example, watermelons have been seen as a de facto national symbol, as the fruit represents the growing of roots and belonging to the land. The watermelons also represent a gendered narrative as it is endowed with feminine qualities. The rounded shape of the fruit has been compared to a uterine or ovary. Directly opposed to the feminine qualities is the notion of violently cutting into the watermelon to reach the flesh. This action is particularly relevant in Israel as the colors of the watermelon, when the inside is exposed, are those of the Palestinian flag. Thus, Landaus decision to use 55

watermelons in DeadSee is first perceived as lighthearted, but is actually very complex. The beauty of Landaus work is that the simplistic compositions are actually extremely layered. In Lifeguards, Smadar Dreyfus playfully displays the link between language and territory. Particularly in Israel, language is frictional, as public texts should be translated into a multitude of languagesHebrew, Arabic and English. However, it is rare to find texts in all three languages. By using language as a lens to study the politics of everyday life, Dreyfus reminds the viewer to question both linguistic and visual symbols. There are a few broad connections between all of the artists in this thesis. First, all of the artists identify as secular. While the artists are still connected to Jewish culture, religion and ritual, their secularism allows them to step outside of their Jewish heritage and critically examine it. However, aspects of the work remain steeped in Judaic biblical stories and rituals. For example, Submersions by Dana Levy is a modern take on Jewish ritual immersion. The reading of Submersions as an act of cleansing and redemption emerges from understanding the work in relation to Judaic and Christian tradition. There is an inherent need to show the outside world the realities of living in Israel. This reality is difficult for an outsider to understand because of the complexities of daily life. In order to reflect upon these realities, each artist has spent significant time outside of Israel. This self-imposed exile allows them to step outside of Israel in order to reflect back upon it. In Powers of Diaspora, Daniel and Jonathan

56

Boyarin discuss the Jewish Diaspora as a repeated experience of redisaporization.98 When artists chose to leave Israel, they experience this self-retracting trail of dispersal that has united the Jewish people for centuries. Once removed from Israel, an artist becomes able to maintain different identifications and is recognized as being both Israeli and something else (this something else is informed by their temporary home). When one returns Israel, she may experience the same homecoming that her forefathers experienced. For many Israeli artists, Israel becomes a place of exile and homecoming, departure and return. One question that this thesis asks is what is the role of women in the public sphere? Obviously, a discussion of gender changes dramatically within different religious and social contexts in Israel. Although Israel was established as an equalitarian society, there still exists a need for women to identify with their socially accepted roles. Women artists present a unique lens through which to examine the Israeli environment. Although their male counterparts are dealing with similar subjects, the female lens creates to a dramatically different narrative. Many aspects of the built environment in Israel incorporate a masculine mystique. The founders of Israel were mostly men, and in Orthodox Judaism, men continue to occupy the dominant position. Although all women are required to do two years of army service (compared to men who do three), the home is still considered to be the womans space. Physical and cultural barriers exclude women

98

Daniel and Jonathan Boyarin, Powers of Diaspora (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2002), 11.

57

for entering certain areas. Space is perceived as gendered, and women are traditionally perceived as having little to do with the public domain. The beach is one public space that functions as an egalitarian space for both men and women.99 The beach requires special attention between it is also a transitional place between land and sea, society and nature, urban and natural. It is a space of freedom where the division between work and home is blurred. While traditionally it is a male gaze that dominates, the artists discussed in this thesis are asserting female dominance instead of occupying a traditional passive position. This thesis does not assert that these artists are creating feminist art, but rather that their practice informs feminist theories. Their work questions what it means to be a woman in a changing Israeli environment; and how Israeli identity is defined, both broadly as a collective identity and narrowly in terms of personal understanding. All five artists choose to approach space through video documentation. One has to wonder how this technology captures and alters the experience of time. All of the works in this thesis are time-based media artmeaning that the content and form of the work change over time. The works are centered on present time, which allows the artist to manipulate and construct the narrative. Time-based media is also a response to the moving image in modern visual culture. It responds to the media saturation in the globalized world. Video is a global medium, allowing for works to be easily exhibited throughout the world. It is also an affordable medium,

99

Although there are Orthodox beaches where only men are allowed, the majority of beaches in Israel do not separate men and women. 58

thus allowing for experimentation at low costs. Each work was conceived to end up in a museum or a gallery instead of existing in the public sphere. There is a considerable distinction between creating work for a site versus a screen. Another reason why time-based media is so extensive in Israel is that the realities of living in Israel are so dramatic and surreal that one only needs to capture what is in front of her to create art. Because the landscape is constantly changing in Israel, and aspects of it are overexposed through the media, there is a growing need to document and reflect upon what is actually occurring. This had lead to an abundance of time-based media art as it allows artists to respond quickly to their surroundings. Five out of six of the works discussed in this thesis are non-public, public acts. This means that the work is completed in the public realm, but not designed for the public. They are not public performances per se nor do they necessitate participation. By situating the work in a public space, the artists are ensuring that the majority of viewers will recognize and relate to the siting of the work. The work is relatable to the viewers own life, yet the viewer is purposefully removed from the piece in order to create the separation necessary for reflection. Time and memory are intricately linked to the development of video art in order to create a new way of visualizing time. The works discussed in this thesis allow for the manipulation of the experience of time; the works are not just about who the we are or where we came from, but exposes the viewer to what we might become in the future.100 Each artist is deconstructing the social structures that

100

Stuart Hall, Question of Cultural Identity, eds. Paul Du Gays and Stuart Hall (London: Sage Publications, 1996), 4.

59

mediate the shoreline, while also other giving voice to a hybridized narrative. By balancing the weight of Israeli history with the current realities of life in Israel, each artist is able to look towards the future as well as reflect upon the past.

60

BIBLIOGRAPHY Almog, Oz. The Sabra: The Creation of the New Jew. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000. Anderson, Benedict. Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. London: Verso, 1983. Ankori, Gannit. Palestinian Art. London: Reaktion Books, 2006. Azoulay, Ariella. Death's Showcase: The Power of Image in Contemporary Democracy. Translated by Ruvik Danieli. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press, 2001. Azoulay, Ariella. With Open Doors: Museums and Historical Narratives in Israel's Public Space. In Museum Culture: Histories, Discourses, Spectacles, edited by Daniel J. Sherman and Irit Rogoff, 85-112. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1994. Berkowitz, Michael. Zionist Culture and Western European Jewry before the First World War. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993. Bhabha, Homi. The Location of Culture. London: Routledge, 1994. Boyarin, Daniel and Boyarin Jonathan. Powers of Diaspora. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2002. Camhi. Lesli . Centrifugal Force: Unraveling the Art of Sigalit Landau. Tablet Magazine: A New Read on Jewish Life. (June 2008). http://www.tabletmag.com/artsand-culture/739/centrifugal-force/ (accessed November 12, 2009). Dreyfus, Smadar. Conversation Between Curator and Artist: Interview by Tessa Praun. In Smadar Dreyfus Exhibition Catalogue. Stockholm: Magasin 3 Stockholm Konsthall Press, 2009. Published in conjunction with the exhibition Smadar Dreyfus shows at Magasin 3 Stockholm Konsthall. Dziewior, Yilmaz. Yael Bartana. New York: Hatje Cantz Books, 2007. Eisenstadt, Shumel. Israeli Society. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1970. Fraser, Anotnia. A History of Toys. London: Spring Book, 1972. Foucault, Michel. Dits et ecrits 1954-1988. Edited by Daniel Defert and Francois 61

Ewald. Paris: Gallimard, 1994. Gangitano, Lia The Sun Remained, In Sigalit Landau. Edited by Gabriele Horn and Ruth Ronen. 137-149. Ostfildern, Germany: Hatje Cantz, 2008. Habermas. Jorgen. The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere: An Inquiry into a Category of Bourgeois Society. Boston: MIT Press, 1991. Hall, Stuart and Gays, Paul Du (eds). Question of Cultural Identity. London: Sage Publications, 1996. Hajer, Maarten and Reijndorp, Arnold. In Search of the New Public Domain. Rotterdam: NAI Publishers, 2001. Harvey, David. From space to place and back again: Reflections on the Condition of Postmodernity, in Mapping the Futures: Local Cultures, Global Change. Edited by John Bird. London: Routledge, 1993. Hassner, Pierre. Obstinate and Obsolete: No Territorial Transnational Forces Versus the European Territorial State, in Geopolitics in the Post-Wall Europe: Security, Territory and Identity. Edited by Pavel Baev, Victoria Einagel and Ola Tunander. London: Sage, 1997. Hazony, Yoram. The Jewish State: The Struggle for Israels Soul. New York: Basic Books, 2001. Herzl, Theodor. The Diaries of Theodor Herzl. Edited by Marvin Lowenthal. New York: Peter Smith Publisher. Inc, 1978. Kemp, Adriana et al, eds. Israelis in Conflict: Hegemonies, Identities and Challenges. Portland: Sussex Academic Press, 2004. Kimmerling, Baruch. Zionism and Territory: The Socio-Territorial Dimension of Zionist Politics. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1983. Kimmerling, Baruch. War of Cultures, Haaretz Newspaper, January 7, 1996. Kimmerling, Baruch and Migdal, Joel S. Palestinians: The Making of a People. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1994. Kristeva, Julia. Womens Time in The Kristeva Reader. Edited by Toril Moi. Oxford: Blackwell, 1986. Kunda, Lesli Rubin. 2010. Interview by Author. 62

Landau, Sigalit. Artist Talk: Global Feminism. at the Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn: March 23-25, 2007. < http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/ opencollection/objects/5131/Barbed_Hula> (accessed November 12, 2009). Landau, Sigalit. Interview by Paulina Pobocha. Museo X. http://www.museomagazine. com/issue-10/sigalit-landau (accessed November 19, 2009). Landau, Sigalit. Sigalit Landau: the endless solution. Tel Aviv: Tel Aviv Museum of Art, 2005. Published in conjunction with the exhibition Sigalit Landau: the endless solution at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art. Laqueur, Walter. A History of Zionism. New York: Schocken Books, 1972. Lefebvre, Henri. The Production of Space. Translated by Donald Nicholson-Smith. Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishers, 2004. Legg, Helen. Smadar Dreyfus. Istanbul Biennale 2005. http://www.iksv.org /bienal/bienal9/ (accessed December 1, 2009). Levy, Dana. Artist Statement for Submersions. 2004. http://www.danalevy.net/ (accessed October 17, 2009). Liebes,Tamar. American Dreams, Hebrew Subtitles: Globalization from the Receiving End. Hampton, NJ: Hampton Press, 2003. Moaz. Moshe and Pappe, Ilan. History From Within: Politics and Ideas in Middle East. New York: Tauris, 1997. Musleh, Rahel. Making Circles. Hadassah Magazine, June/July 2008. ODell, Cathy. Contact with the Skin: Masochism Performance Art and the 1970s. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1998. Ofrat, Gideon. One Hundred Years of Art in Israel. New York: Basic Books, 1998. Ofrat, Gideon. Salt and Sugar, In Sigalit Landau, edited by Gabriele Horn and Ruth Ronen, 99-115. Ostfildern, Germany: Hatje Cantz, 2008. Oz, Amos. In the Land of Israel. Orlando: Harcourt Books, 1993. Palevsky, Stacey. Video Artist Asks Questions, Captures Complexities of Israeli Life, Jweekly.com. January 29 2009. 63

http://www.jweekly.com/article/full/36928/video-artist-asks-questions-capturescomplexities-of-israeli-life/ (accessed November 3, 2009). Rabinowitz, Dan. Overlooking Nazareth: The Ethnography of Exclusion in the Galilee. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997. Rabinovich, Itamar and Reinharz, Jehuda eds. Israel in the Middle East: Documents and Readings on Society, Politics and Foreign Relations, Pre-1948 to the Present. Waltham: Brandeis Press, 2007. Ram, Uri. The Changing Agenda of Israeli Sociology: Theory, Ideology and Identity. New York State University of New York Press, 1995. Ram, Uri. The Globalization of Israel: McWorld in Tel Aviv, Jihad in Jerusalem. Tel Aviv: Routledge, 2008. Rogoff, Irit. Terra Infirma: Geographys Visual Culture. Tel Aviv: Routledge Press, 2000. Ronen, Ruth. The Body Decomposed, Moving as One. In Sigalit Landau, edited by Gabriele Horn and Ruth Ronen, 223-245. Ostfildern, Germany: Hatje Cantz, 2008. Seeskin, Kenneth. The Cambridge Companion to Maimonides. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005. Segal, Rafi, Tartakover, David and Weizman, Eyal (eds.) A Civilian Occupation: The Politics of Israeli Architecture. London: Verso Press, 2003. Sharoni, Shimona. Gender and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: The Politics of Womens Resistance. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1994. Sherman, Martin. The Politics of Water in the Middle East: An Israeli Perspective on the Hydro-Political Aspects of Conflict. New York: St. Martins Press, 1999. Smadar Dreyfus. Press Release. London: Miro Victoria Gallery, 2006. Smith, Neil and Lowe, Setha. The Politics of Public Space, ed., Neil Smith and Setha Low. Routledge Press, 2006. Soja, Edward. ThirdSpace: Journeys to Los Angeles and Other Real-and-Imagined Places. London: Wiley-Blackwell, 1996. United Nations General Assembly. The Mandate for Palestine. San Remo: UN, 1922. 64

Weizman, Eyal. Hollow Land: Israels Architecture of Occupation. London: Verso Press, 2005.

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APPENDIX A: Timeline of Israeli History 1882-1903 1897 1899-1902 1904-1914 1909 Aviv 1914 1917 1917 First Aliya: First wave of immigration to Palestine, mainly from Russia. First Zionist Congress convened by Theodor Herzl in Basel, Switzerland Arab-Jewish tension erupts following Jewish land purchases in Tiberius Second Aliya, mainly from Russia and Poland Founding of first kibbutz, Degania, and first modern Jewish city, Tel

World War I 400 years of Ottoman rule of Palestine ended by British Conquest British Foreign Minister Balfour pledges support for establishment of a Jewish national home in Palestine (Balfour Declaration) 1918- 1948 British Rule of Palestine 1919-23 Third Aliya. Founding of Histadrut (Jewish labor federation) and Haganah (Jewish defense organization) 1924 Technion, first Institute of Technology, founded in Haifa 1924-32 Fourth Aliya, mainly from Poland 1929 Countrywide riots against Jews including the massacre of Hebrons Jews by Arab militants 1933-39 Fifth Aliya mainly from Germany 1936-9 Anti-Jewish riots by Arab militants 1937 Peel Commission publishes its report recommending Palestine become a Jewish state and the creation of an Arab state in the Transjordan. Both parties reject the proposal 1939 Jewish immigration limited by British White Paper, 100,00 immigrants maximum 1939-1945 World War II. Unauthorized by the British, the Jewish leadership in Palestine sends ships filled with Jews to Palestine 1947 UN General Assembly adopts Resolution 181, recommending the establishment of an Arab and a Jewish state in Palestine. The Zionists accept the plan but the Arabs reject it 1948 Declaration of the State of Israel on May 14 May 15, Israel invaded by Egypt, Syria and Transjordan. War of Independence from May 15, 1948-January 7, 1949 1948 Armistice agreements signed with Egypt, Transjordan, Syria and Lebanon. Israel gains more territory than had originally been allotted. 1948-1952 Mass immigration from Europe 1959 Fatah is created by Yassir Arafat 1964 Palestinian Liberation Organization founded 1967 The Six-Day War: Israel wins war and conquers Sinai, Gaza, West Bank 66

1973 1977 rule 1978 1981 1982 1983 1987 1991 1992 the 1993 1994 1995 1997 2000 2001 2002 2004 Hamas

and Golan Heights. Jerusalem reunited Yom Kippur War: War begins with surprised Egyptian-Syrian attack on Israel. Israel wins war. The right-wing part Likud comes to power, ending 30 years of Labor Camp David Accords and framework for Palestinian self- government. Israel and Egypt sign Peace Treaty Israel withdraws from Sinai First Lebanon War: Israel invades Lebanon to fight PLO Israel and Lebanon sign peace agreement First Intifada. The Intifada breaks out in Gaza and spreads to West Bank Massive wave of Immigration from former Soviet Union New government headed by Yitzhak Rabin. Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements for Palestinians signed by Israel and PLO (Oslo Declaration of Principles). Israel and PLO agree to mutual recognition Implementation of Palestinian self-government in Gaza and Jericho. Israel and Jordan sign peace treaty Prime Minister YitzakRabin assassination at peace rally by a right-wing Israeli fanatic Terrorism against Israel escalates. Oslo Interim Agreement signed, Palestinian Authority established Hebron Protocol signed by Israel and the Palestinian Authority Arafat rejects President Clintons peace deal. Second Intifada begins Israel begins building a security fence Israel conducts operation Defensive Shield in the West Bank after Palestinian attacks on civilian targets Israel evacuates all Jewish communities from Gaza Palestinian infighting begins between the Palestinian Authority and International Court of Justice rules that the Israeli security barrier must

be 2005 2006 torn down Palestinian Authority President Yassir Arafat dies Israel disengagement of Gaza Strip Second Lebanon War

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APPENDIX B: Figures

Fig. 1. Daniella Gold, Photograph from Hike. Personal photograph by author. 1 July 2009.

Fig. 2. Daniella Gold, Photograph of Tel Aviv Beach Sunset. Personal photograph by author. 15 June 2009. 68

Fig.3. Daniella Gold, Photograph of Israeli Soldiers. Personal photograph by author. 12 June 2009.

69

Fig. 4. Sigalit Landau, Still from Barbed Hula.

Fig. 5. Sigalit Landau, Still from Barbed Hula.

Fig. 6. Smadar Dreyfus, Still from Lifeguards.

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Fig. 7. Lezli Rubin Kunda. Still from Walk to the Sea.

Fig. 8. Lezli Rubin Kunda. Still from Walk to the Sea.

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Fig. 9. Lezli Rubin Kunda. Still from Walk to the Sea.

Fig. 10. Lezli Rubin Kunda. Still from Walk to the Sea.

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Fig. 11. Daniella Gold, Dead Sea. Personal photograph by author.

Fig. 12. Daniella Gold, Dead Sea From Above. Personal photograph by author.

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Fig. 13. Dana Levy, Still from Submersions.

Fig. 14. Dana Levy, Still from Submersions.

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Fig. 15. Dana Levy, Still from Submersions.

Fig. 16. Yael Bartana, Still from A Declaration.

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Fig. 17. Yael Bartana, Still from A Declaration.

Fig. 18. Yael Bartana, Still from A Declaration.

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Fig. 19. Sigalit Landau, Still from DeadSee.

Fig. 20. Sigalit Landau, Still from DeadSee.

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Fig. 21. Sigalit Landau, Still from DeadSee.

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