On Blindness is a group exhibition curated by Dana Gilerman for Hilchot Shchenim #C with participating artists: Yael Bartana, Eitan Heller, Avi Mograbi, Ruti Sela and Ma’ayan Amir, Anan Tzuckerman, Chen Sheinberg and Kathi Dor Sheinberg, Doron Solomons, Ziv Koren, Itai Engel.
The project “On Blindness” deals with Jewish settlements as seen from the perspective of the artists and curator who live in the center of the country and learn about what’s happening ’there’ mostly through the filter of the media. The first and second ’Intifada’ have given birth to many political works. Most, if not all of them, are about the political situation: the Palestinian connection, the ’other,’ or the occupation and the occupiers. Few, if any, relate to settlers and settlements. This has remained a blind spot on the art scene.
The works were filmed in the West Bank and Gaza Strip by six artists who traveled to an unknown and largely threatening place. They encountered hostile reactions of frightened people who see Jews from outside, that is, from outside the settlements, as enemies. In each of the works it is possible to sense the apprehension arising from the artist’s encounter with the place. Each work is the result of a different way of coping. Some of the artists preferred to transform the photographed scene to a neutral frame so that it is difficult to grasp where they were filmed. Others decided to confront the apprehension, to try to arouse the locals, almost to the point of trading blows. In certain works one can feel the artist’s revulsion for the place, while others linger and try to examine the aesthetics.
It includes the following works:
Avi Mograbi, "Detail 4"
The movie (a scene from Mugrabi’s new film Vengeance for One of My Two Eyes), documents the inauguration of the Rabbi Meir Kahana Yeshiva in the Jewish settlement of Tapuach. In the film there is a procession of celebrants that ends with an enthusiastic rock performance.
Yael Bartana, "Wild Seeds (Havat Gilad Evacuation)"
The movie was filmed against the background of the village of Prat, and constitutes a kind of simulation of evacuation. It illustrates the way in which the third generation of Zionism, male and female 18 year olds, copes with political reality and especially with the subject of the Jewish settlements. The scene which has been filmed is based upon an existing game invented by youths in whose course the players simulate evacuation.
Doron Solomons, Itay Angel, Ziv Koren, "Gush Katif in Photos"
The work is exhibited thanks to the generosity of the News Unit of Channel 2
A report, looking ahead to the withdrawal, broadcast one year ago on the Channel 2 news. The report, prepared by reporter Itai Engel, photographer Ziv Koren, and edited by Doron Solomons, tries to convey the nostalgic feeling of turning the pages of a photo album by the unusual use of still photos, narration, and editing.
Chen Sheinberg, Kati Dor, "Neve Dkalim"
The movie, filmed in Nevei Dekelim in the Gaza Strip, makes room for a discussion about dogs and includes chance meetings with figures in the commercial center. The movie was filmed in the form of a news feature, but at the same time it undermines that objective. By blurring the boundaries between the important and the insignificant, and by the use of clichés and stereotypes familiar to us from the media, the film reveals the problematic, tendentious manner in which reality is mediated to the observer at home.
Eitan Heller, "Scenes from Part 2"
Heller films fragments of caravans against a background of limitless horizons. The photographic angles and the distance from the filmed object transform the caravans into small, harmless-looking match boxes against the background of the space around them. Observing the movie, one feels that even though these boxes contain inflammable material, they are there temporarily and will soon disappear.
Ruti Sela & Maayan Amir "Aley Zahav (Gold Leaves) after Aliza Begin"
The movie began as part of the movie Beyond Guilt that was filmed in a Tel Aviv hotel and documented a meeting between the directors and men who answered an acquaintance advertisement that was published on an internet website. One of the men, referred to as ER-77, from the Alei Zahav settlement, arrived armed with a revolver. For the present exhibition, the directors traveled to his home. The movie takes place in two places at the same time – Tel Aviv and the Jewish settlement.
Eitan Heller, "Scenes from Part 1"
Heller films fragments of caravans against a background of limitless horizons. The photographic angles and the distance from the filmed object transform the caravans into small, harmless-looking match boxes against the background of the space around them. Observing the movie, one feels that even though these boxes contain inflammable material, they are there temporarily and will soon disappear.
Anan Tzukerman, "Subtext Film"
The movie, filmed in a number of Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria, belongs to the genre of activist video, where the artist, by virtue of his/her own presence, is responsible for things happening. By means of a camera and a lot of nerve, Zuckerman confronts settlers in Judea and Samaria. He attempts to be their guest, to become a settler, and finally to confront them. The movie reveals the power relations in Israeli society, the personality of the conquering Israeli, and the paranoia that characterizes both sides – the Jewish settlers and the ‘foreign’ Jew who comes from the city.
The CDA's archives are operating with the support of the Ostrovsky Family Fund and Artis
