Artist Daniel Landau started working in Jessy Cohen neighborhood in 2011. During several months he met residents from the neighborhood and talked to them about their life in the neighborhood and their immigration experiences. These interviews were documented and some of the footage became the materials of the show reside 1.1: Jessy Cohen.
Directed by Daniel Landau, ’reside’ is a unique project combining live performance and documentary film examining the relations between immigrant communities and the societies they immigrate to. The project explores immigration as an identity-defining action, in which the interaction between immigrant and native confronts the notion of self.
‘reside 1.1’ takes the audience to Jessy Cohen - an immigrant neighborhood in the town of Holon. The neighborhood’s geographical location on the outskirts of the urban grid serves as a metaphor to its resident’s reality - a melting pot of immigrants from Arab countries, former Soviet Union and recent immigrants from Ethiopia. Through a series of interviews with the neighborhood’s residents, the performance offers a unique insight into the social fabric of the communities living in Jessy Cohen, examining how the displacement experience affects the very core notions of language, body and sense of self.
The visual language of the show extends the convention of documentary film by using uniquely developed masks on which the interviews are projected. With three performers on stage, the presence of the ‘live body’ offers an intimate relationship with the documented characters articulating key questions dealing with social alienation and empathy.
The ’reside’ project is a community action model intending to travel to different Immigrant communities worldwide, residing, experiencing, documenting and voicing their stories.
Credits:
Concept by Daniel Landau & Jackie Shemesh | Directed by Daniel Landau | Choreography: Anat Danieli | Performed by: Haya Barshinsky, Yuval Fingerman, Tami Lebovits | Design: Jackie Shemesh | Costumes: Yaen Levi | Sound design: Daniel Meir | Production Manager: Shahar Marcus | Produced by OPLA Companya | With the support of the Digital Art Lab – Holon, Rabinovich Foundation
The CDA's archives are operating with the support of the Ostrovsky Family Fund and Artis
