The work Sabbath 2008 (2008) documents the closing down of the ultra-orthodox neighborhoods in and around Jerusalem on the eve of the Sabbath. In most cases, public access to these neighborhoods is blocked by means of temporary barriers, which stay put for 24 hours – thus creating an artificial border between these areas and the rest of the city. The barriers are put in place by neighborhood residents, with the approval and support of the Jerusalem municipality and the police. Once the barriers are erected, no cars are allowed into Jerusalem’s ultraorthodox neighborhoods. The city is thus topologically transformed into two cities – with and without cars. Building on this ritual, Sabbath 2008, Jerusalem, is a photographic ritual that can only be performed at a designated time and in designated places. Although the value of these somewhat rickety barriers may appear above all symbolic, their presence is a source of friction and conflict; they delineate a clearcut boundary between the sacred and the everyday, they delineate a clearcut boundary between the sacred and the mundane.
Filming & Editing: Nira Pereg | Sound design : Nati Zeidenstadt | Post: Tal Korjak
Thanks to: Peter Wieble and Prof.Dr.Boris Groys from the ZKM | Museum für Neue Kunst support in the production of the work; Nadav harel, Alon Feuerstein, Tal Korjak, and David Volach
Catalogue no. 1137
File: Pereg, Nira
Catalogue no. 1301
File: Compilations
Catalogue no. 1628/9
File: Pereg, Nira
Catalogue no. 1655
File: Mobile Archive / Centro da Cultura Judiaca
Community Judaism Architecture Border(s) Israel Urban
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