In Occupation I, II (2003- 4), Ashery is wearing a rabbit mask whilst masturbating to a collection of pornographic images and images from military occupations, particularly in Palestine. The masturbation is mechanical and the rabbit never reaches a climax. But after reeling from stomach pains, what comes out from between the rabbit’s legs are four pieces of cloth creating the word WEST, which then tie the rabbit’s arms and legs. In between these episodes the rabbit plays with a life-size black panther toy. The Black Panther is used as a reference to the 1970s Israeli and American Black Panther movements’ resistance to western, white mainstream ideology and their fight for black, Palestinian, oriental Jews, and working class rights and visibility.
The rabbit’s intimate yet public acts embody the complex relationship between desire and stimulation. Media images of are met with both an obsessive repetitive and voyeuristic fascination, (like tapes from 9/11 that have been watched over and over again) whilst at the same time a numbness and indifference symptomatic of an over-saturated information culture.
ארכיוני המרכז הוקמו בתמיכת קרן אוסטרובסקי וארטיס
