Jewish Museum Exhibits 'Dateline Israel'

The Jewish Museum Berlin is taking advantage of the opportunity as well as the medium: The special exhibition "Dateline Israel: New Photography and Video Art," opening on Thursday, 13 December, offers a view of the day-to-day life of people living in an atmosphere of political tension and constant imperilment. Twenty-two artists from Israel, Europe and the U.S. present the life and culture of a nation in which politics permeates every aspect of creative endeavor.

In addition to well-known Israeli artists like Yael Bartana, Barry Frydlender and Pavel Wolberg, the exhibition includes works by renowned German artists like Wim Wenders and Wolfgang Tillmans, whose views of Israeli reality contribute a critical gaze from outside the country.

The exhibition was curated by the Jewish Museum New York and is now being shown in Europe for the first time. We cordially invite you to attend the press conference and the opening of this special exhibition.

The Special Exhibition "Dateline Israel: New Photography and Video Art"

In a few months the State of Israel will celebrate its sixtieth anniversary; it is one of the youngest nation-states in the world. From the outset the media bore witness to its process of birth: photographers and camera crews accompanied the waves of colonization, not only the founding of the state and the conflicts and wars that followed it, but also everyday life and the development of the country. The history of the emergence of this state played out, so to speak, in front of a global audience.

As no other medium, the lens of the camera reacted to daily events quickly and dynamically. In the hands of artists, both still and video photography keep an arm’s length from topicality, making them all the more powerful in their visualization of the profound, and in tracking down contradictions and paradoxes. The New York exhibition "Dateline: Israel. New Photography and Video Art," which the Jewish Museum Berlin is now showing under the German title "Betrifft: Israel. Aktuelle Fotografie und Videokunst," confronts the gaze of Israeli artists with views of this difficult and challenging society from the outside, each of which is characterized by its own specific idealizations and presuppositions.
The result is not a critical commentary of armed conflicts, but rather a panoramic view of the everyday life of people in an atmosphere of political tensions and constant imperilment. Twenty-two artists from Israel, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Germany and the U.S. present the life and culture of a nation in which political realities influence every aspect of creative endeavor. Photographers and video artists were among the first to react to events like the second Intifada, which resulted in permanent border violations on both sides. Their art imparts a strong impression of day-to-day strains in a society whose social foundation was erected on the model of a utopian state. The exhibition shows 56 photographs and five video works, describing an arc ranging from the depiction of epic landscapes of the Bible, through current social commentaries, all the way to snapshots and portraits. It is left to the visitor to discover whether the gaze of European artists differs from that of the Israelis.

The German photographer Wolfgang Tillmans portrays a postcard view of Tel Aviv drenched in golden light, transforming the Hebrew city into a Levantine metropolis. Wim Wenders shows a view of "Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives," a mystical place for all monotheistic religions, complete with carelessly discarded garbage visible in the valley. The internationally renowned British artist Mark Wallinger draws on architectural forms to show how the country is interwoven with its Muslim and Christian parts. How strongly violence penetrates day-to-day life is shown in a film by the British artist Catherine Yass, in which she drives with her camera along the wall between the Jewish settlement and the West Bank, leaving unclear whether the wall must be interpreted as a protective barrier or a threatening gesture.

But even harmless views of Mediterranean beaches are unable to hide the explosiveness of their subject. The Israeli artist Guy Raz takes pictures of very similar looking beach lifeguard stations - idyllic scenes until you notice the different flags: the Israeli one on the beach of Tel Aviv and the Palestinian on the beach of Gaza, which turn these booths for swimming attendants into protective watchtowers. -- www.juedisches-museum-berlin.de