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 Reflections on Israel in Manhattan
By Haim Handwerker at Haaretz.com
|  | NEW YORK - "For anyone who wants to understand what is happening in Israel, it is worthwhile to see the works of the photographers from there," says Susan Tumarkin Goodman, a curator at the Jewish Museum in New York. "Many of the video works have a depth that cannot be found in the media." Goodman is currently showing an exhibition of 40 photographs and video films of 23 Israeli and other artists and photographers who try to capture glimpses of life in Israel with their lenses.
Many of those whose works are exhibited are press photographers who have crossed the lines from reporting current events for their media employer to exhibiting in a museum. At the entrance to the exhibition is a large picture by the German artist Wolfgang Tillmans, who lives in London. It depicts Tel Aviv from above, on a print to which a yellowish tint was added, giving the effect of a hot and humid summer to a city that appears quite ugly.
Pavel Wolberg exhibits a striking photo of a soldier opposite a Palestinian woman, looking at him in a manner that is perhaps requesting mercy and perhaps trying to entice him. A work by Amit Goren that was exhibited at the Venice Biennale as well, shows life in Israel on six video screens. Motti Mizrachi's work includes 1,500 photographs and is called "Blinking." Goodman says: "This is a very loaded work. When one approaches it, one can make out a swastika, an effect of an explosion, tanks." |
Barry Frydlender combined 160 digital shots into one large picture of Lag Ba'omer festivities in the Galilee. Gillian Laub, an American artist, took pictures of Palestinians and Israelis standing side by side and looking remarkably like each other. Miki Kratsman has a picture of a Bedouin couple who live in poverty in Dehaishe, as well as video works he produced with Boaz Arad that document Palestinians coming home via the Erez checkpoint after a day's work. Director Wim Wenders took pictures of Jerusalem's Old City against the backdrop of a garbage heap.
The other exhibits include works by the artist Noel Jabbour, who photographed the separation fence in the Abu Dis area, from both the Israeli and the Palestinian sides. Michal Heiman depicts parts of bodies - but it is not clear whose. Guy Raz juxtaposes the shores of Tel Aviv and Gaza to each other. Other artists whose works also feature in the exhibition are Yael Bartana, Rina Castelnuovo, Ori Gersht, Leora Laor, Orit Raff, Yaron Leshem, Igael Shemtov, Sharon Ya'ari and Catherine Yass.
In addition to the attention it has drawn, the exhibition has also raised criticism. In an article in The New York Times, the critic Holland Kuter stated that the exhibit is not critical about what is happening in Israel and pointed out that only one Palestinian artist (Jabbour, an Israeli Arab from Nazareth who now lives in Berlin) is participating. At the same time, he quotes the curator who told him that attempts were made to invite Palestinian artists but that they refused to participate in the exhibition. Goodman says that the Palestinians refused for political reasons. "From their point of view, participating in the exhibition together with Israeli artists lends legitimacy to Israel and its positions," she said.
Goodman adds: "I did not have any kind of agenda. I expected criticism. It is hard to please everyone. There are some people who would like to have seen more open expressions of violence. Others would have liked to see a political agenda here. Instead, we opted for an artistic exhibition whose subject was Israel. The works contain political content, there are messages behind them, but there is no political agenda."
The museum itself is also subject to criticism. The 100-year-old Jewish Museum is located in a magnificent building on Fifth Avenue, not far from the Metropolitan Museum. It operates out of a historic building that was renovated a few years ago and attracts many visitors. Comprehensive exhibitions from Israel are presented there about once every 10 years. The last one, "After Rabin: New Art in Israel," marked the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the State of Israel.
Many members of the Israeli artistic community and the cultural establishment in Israel are dissatisfied with the fact that the exhibitions are not held on a more frequent basis. In response to these claims, Joan Rosenbaum, the museum's director, says that both ancient and modern day Israel are an important part of the permanent collection, as well as the changing exhibitions of the Jewish Museum.
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