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Editor's Note |
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This is the third issue of Programma magazine, and is the most loaded one we have presented to date.
It is an issue born of the angst felt in Israel by many who are active in the arts (artists, curators,
educators), an angst that is a direct result of the corner Israel has backed itself into during 43 years of
occupation. In this issue, we explore the artist’s role in times as extreme as these, through the actual
answers some artists have given.
Aviad Kleinberg, professor of history at Tel Aviv University, starts the debate with an assessment of boycott
as a form of resistance, an issue relevant now more than ever, as the question of an “inner boycott” – that of
Israeli theater artists boycotting performances in West Bank settlements – raises a storm in Israel.
The issue continues with a conversation between Larry Abramson and Hans Haacke, artists and colleagues,
one born in South Africa, the other in Germany – both of whom have dealt with the marriage of art and
politics throughout their professional lives; Michal Sapir brings the story of the resistance art movement in
South Africa, concentrating on white artists – those who could not continue to remain on the sidelines,
and others who felt their profound insignificance in the grand scheme of things. Israeli David Reeb’s
evolution from an onlooker to an involved activist, all the while never stopping being an artist, is described
in a profile by Simon Faulkner; Three artistic projects created in Jerusalem in the last year, dealing with
the complexity of the city, its citizens and its history, are presented by Yonatan Amir, who curated all three;
Artist and curator Eitan Buganim explores the art of Fahed Halabi, a celebrated Arab-Israeli artist, who
has to face, daily, being the “other” in a nationalistic society; Ben Ronen presents the intentional blurring
of personal and political as exemplified in the work of ActiveStills, an organization of photographers who
bring the harsh realities they witness into the streets where we all live; and James Trainor profiles painter
Steve Mumford, who went to Iraq and managed to convey the war and its victims unlike any news
reporter before him through hundreds of drawings.
Other articles in this issue touch upon the subject of resistance and activism, including Etan Bloom’s
account of the life, death and success of playwright Hanoch Levin; David Adika’s portfolio of members of
the Israeli Black Panther movement; Tula Amir’s depiction of the unique architecture of Israel’s memorial
centers; Lahav Halevy’s conversation with Eitan Ben-Moshe, an artist who maintains his free spirit; and
Avi Pitchon’s hallucinatory manifesto about Israel and Europe, originally commissioned by Yael Bartana
as a part of a speech-based performance, which is the first of three articles closing the magazine, all
dealing with the complexities of current performance art.
Apartheid, a term mentioned in the following pages and often raised these days in relation to Israel, is a
case of its own, and as some of our interviewees have pointed out, the actualities of South Africa cannot
be compared with those of Israel. South Africa and Israel are two different stories that, like all historicalpolitical
situations, need to be understood in their own terms. But some questions that have to do with
the way we deal with extreme situations of injustice are relevant here and there, and are asked in this
issue again and again. These questions are raised in Israel today, but apply to all societies dealing with the
trampling of human rights, with different “classes” of citizenship, with immigration and nationalism, with
fear and hatred as the means used by governments to keep their subjects under control. Two questions
seem to hover above it all: WHEN – when is the moment one has to start fearing for democracy’s safety?
And HOW – how can an individual react and affect reality? The signs are never clear, the answers are
never unequivocal. That, however, does not give us license to avoid the questions.
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The Programma Team |
Editor: Rachella Sandbank
Graphic Editor and co-editor: Lahav Halevy
Producer: Dalit Nemirovsky
Content adviser: Noam Segal
Copy Editor: Anat Rosenberg
Translator: Talya Halkin
Graphic Design: Shachar Cotani,
BigEyesAgency
Marketing and Advertising: Dafna Barnea
Printed in Israel by: A.R. Printing Ltd.
Publishers: Mati Broudo
and Dalit Nemirovsky |
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Contact us:
info@programma.co.il
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Prologues |
TYPE CAST
¬ Shachar Cotani
Zvi Narkis reinvented the Hebrew alphabet |
A Different Kind of Opera
¬ Eran Kedar
This year’s Epos International Film Festival will feature numerous films centered on music |
Navigating in a Sphere Where All Are Equal Before the Law
¬ Anat Ben-David and Maayan Amir
Early this past summer a group of artists, curators and scholars explored what happens once one enters ex-territorial waters |
What Lies Underneath
¬ Rachella Sandbank
A new Web site, It’s All Lies, tries to make its readers realize just that |
Is a Boycott Good for the Jews?
¬ Aviad Kleinberg
Does Israel deserve to be boycotted? What do the boycotters hope
to achieve? Are boycotts effective? The answers to these questions all lead to one clear conclusion |
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Features |
Striving to Dismantle Walls ¬ Larry Abramson and Hans Haacke
An e-mail conversation between artist Larry Abramson, born in South Africa
and living in Jerusalem, and his colleague Hans Haacke, born in Germany
and living in New York
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A Study in Black and White ¬
Michal Sapir
Almost 30 years after the beginning of apartheid in South Africa, white artists began to understand they are in the midst of a profound moral dilemma |
Find the Compass ion and Be Generous ¬
Michal Sapir
Thirty years after his campaign satirizing apartheid, Benz Kotzen is still interested in the influence of the visual on physical, social and moral environments |
David Reeb: The Politics of Here and There ¬
Simon Faulkner
Artist David Reeb’s work has always been involved with the reality of occupation, but more recently he has taken on a different position |
The Jerusalem Syndrome ¬
Yonatan Amir
Three site-specific art projects created in Jerusalem address various aspects of local reality and attempt to function as an inextricable part of it |
Who Said That Delirium Is a Lie ¬
Etan Bloom
Hanoch Levin is having a good year. In France he is the writer du jour, three new plays of his are being produced in Israel and a new book investigates him |
Who Said That Delirium Is a Lie ¬
Etan Bloom
Hanoch Levin is having a good year. In France he is the writer du jour, three new plays of his are being produced in Israel and a new book investigates him |
Outside in ¬
Eitan Buganim
Fahed Halabi, one of the most prominent Israeli artists, knows what it means to be a part of and apart from the Israeli art scene |
I Am a Camera ¬
Ben Ronen
Eight photographers joined forces and formed ActiveStills, an artists’ organization that uses simple means to reach as many people as possible |
The Medium and the Messenger ¬
James Trainor
Steve Mumford went to Iraq as an artist-reporter soon after the U.S. invasion. Through his Baghdad Journal, a picture of the war emerged rarely experienced elsewhere |
An Elementary Particle ¬
Lahav Halevy
In the backstreets of Tel Aviv, Eitan Ben-Moshe creates art that is somewhat archaic and somewhat futuristic, fiercely political but flooding the world with beauty |
The House of the Fallen and the Risen ¬
Tula Amir
Israeli memorial centers are designed to commemorate the country’s fallen soldiers, yet these emblems of national identity are rife with contradictions |
Escape from Another Planet ¬
Avi Pitchon
“The return to Europe must be formally and officially acknowledged and encouraged by Israel, Germany, Poland and the rest of Europe.” A manifesto |
The Manipulated Manipulator ¬
David Everitt Howe
In her Ideal Viewer project, Einat Amir hired professional actors to represent the artist figure, thus beginning a series of camouflages that obfuscates fiction and reality |
Home Is Where the Art Is ¬
Anat Rosenberg
“X-Homes,” defined by curator Christoph Gurk as “a multidisciplinary performance event” took people on tour through South African neighborhoods |
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Artists in residence |
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Shahar Yahalom
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Gal Weinstein /
Yoav Efrati /
Miri Davidovitz
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