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MEDIATING SAND AND SEA:

VIDEO LANDSCAPES BY ISRAELI WOMEN ARTISTS

by

Daniella Edith Gold

____________________________________________

A Thesis Presented to the

FACULTY OF THE USC ROSKI SCHOOL OF FINE ARTS

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIAIn Partial Fulfillment of theRequirements for the Degree

MASTER OF PUBLIC ART STUDIES

May 2010

Daniella GoldCopyright 2010


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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 ii

Acknowledgments iii

List of Figures v

Abstract vii

Preface viii

Introduction 1

Chapter 1: Space, Place and Territory 17

Chapter 2: Contested Space: The Beach 25

Chapter 3: Critical Perspectives: The Sea 39

Conclusion 51

Bibliography 57

Appendix A: Timeline 61

Appendix B: Figures 63


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LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1: Photograph from Hike on Israel Trail 63

Figure 2: Photograph of Tel Aviv Beach 63

Figure 3: Soldiers on Tel Aviv Beach 64

Figure 4: Still fromBarbed Hula 64

Figure 5: Still fromBarbed Hula 65

Figure 6: Still fromLifeguards 65

Figure 7: Still from Walk to the Sea 66




Figure 11: Photograph of Dead Sea 68

Figure 12: Photography of Dead Sea From Above 68

Figure 13: Still from Submersions 69



Figure 16: Still fromA Declaration 70


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Figure 19: Still fromDeadSee

72

Figure 20: Still fromDeadSee 72

Figure 21: Still fromDeadSee 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


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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 al-

Nakba 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

1 Palestinians refer to the establishment of the state of Israel is referred to as al-

Nakba. 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.


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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

2 Benedict Anderson,Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread

of Nationalism (London: Verso Press, 1991), 12.


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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

3 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 FirstWorldWar (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993), 2.5 Eliezer Don-Yehiya, Political Religion in a New State: Ben Gurions

Mamlachtiyut inIsrael: 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 Berkowitz, 119.7 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.


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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/>

10 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 ofimmigrants 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.


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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.


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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 inIsrael 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.


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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 anti-

Semitism 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 Amos Oz,In the Land of Israel(Orlando: Harcourt Books, 1993), 128.15 Walter Laqueur,A History of Zionism (New York: Schocken Books, 1972), 58.


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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

16 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.


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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 withorigins 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.


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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.


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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 post-

Zionist 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


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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 Berkowitz, 115.30 Gideon Ofrat, One Hundred Years of Art in Israel(New York: Basic Books, 1998),

35.


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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 Social-

Realism 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


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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 exhibitionBorders 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

31This movement should also be situated within the broader artistic context of the

early seventies. Exhibitions such as Information at the New York Modern Museumof 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.


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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, high-

rise 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 cont inue to address issues of identity,

war, memory and genderall themes reinforced by the realities of being Israeli. In the


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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.


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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, inMapping the Futures: Local Cultures, Global

Change, ed. John Bird (London: Routledge, 1993), 15.


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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 beach-

goers 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 Henri Lefebvre, The Production of Space (Oxford: Wiley Blackwell, 1994), 42.37 Lefebvre, 384.


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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 bookZionism 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 ForcesVersus 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 ofZionist 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 reviewedthe 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.


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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 Israeli-

Palestinian 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 offeedback-based relations between habitat and inhabitants. Becauseflexible 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. Highlyliquid 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, anasymmetrical 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.


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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 todeal with the increasing intervention of electronic media in our dailyroutines; 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 thatwe 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.


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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 Homi Bhabha, The Location of Culture (London: Routledge, 1994), 113-114.47 Bhabha, 1-2.48 Bhabha, 4.49 Julia Kristeva, Womens Time, in The Kristeva Reader, ed. Toril Moi (Oxford:

Blackwell, 1986), 214.


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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 Kristeva, 33.51 Bhabha, 175.


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political choices that is existentially shaped by the generative and problematic

interplay between centers and peripheries.52

52 Soja, 31.


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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.


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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.


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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.


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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.

InBarbed 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 watchBarbed

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.


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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).


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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, becausewhen 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/July2008.61 Lesli Camhi, Centrifugal Force: Unraveling the Art of Sigalit Landau, Tablet

Magazine: A New Read on Jewish Life. (June 2008). http://www.tabletmag.com/arts-

and-culture/739/centrifugal-force/ (accessed November 12, 2009).


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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 InBarbed 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.


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represents the friction between public and private, real and symbolic, collective and

singular. The viewer must ask: isBarbed 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 Ronen, 241.69Sigalit 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 ofLifeguards.


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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 makesLifeguards 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.


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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 inLifeguards.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 forLifeguards 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).


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conflict just as strongly there due to the lifeguards militaristic tone. She recalls,

Reality felt rough to me, like sandpaper. So inLifeguards 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.


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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 Festivalin 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

ofsabras (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 Lezli Rubin Kunda. 2010. Interview by Author.76 Lezli Rubin Kunda. 2010. Interview by Author.


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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


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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


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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.


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mediating sand and sea-thesis

Documents