Ilya Rabinovich

דוד בן-גוריון ומורשתו בראי האמנות בישראל

2010-03-27T01:24:00.001+01:00

פתיחה רשמית: 27 באפריל 2010
נעילת התערוכה 8 :ביוני 2010

התערוכה מוצגת בגלריה לאמנות ע"ש אברהם ברון,

בניין הספרייה המרכזית ע"ש זלמן ארן,
ובמרכז המבקרים ע"ש ג'ורג' שרוט,
המרכז האוניברסיטאי ע"ש סמואל ומירדה איירטון,
קריית האוניברסיטה ע"ש משפחת מרקוס, באר שבע

הגלריות פתוחות לקהל:

בימים א'-ה' 8:30 – 19:00
בימי ו' 8:30-12:30

לא פחות מ-60 אמנים שיציגו 100 עבודות, משתתפים בתערוכה.

התערוכה, נאצרה על ידי פרופ' חיים מאור
וסטודנטים/יות בקורס אוצרות שבהנחייתו.

האמנים המשתתפים:

פאריד אבו שקרה, יעקב אגם, אייל און, אבישי אייל,

נטע אלקיים, אריאל אסאו, אריק אליהו בוקובזה,

יואב בן דוד, אבנר בר חמא, וורנר בראון, מיכה בר עם,

נחום גוטמן, פאול גולדמן, גרי גולדשטיין, יאיר גרבוז,

משה גרשוני, יוסף ג'וזף דדון, להב הלוי, חאדר ואשח,

יעקב חפץ, דוד טרטקובר, דימה יוזפוביץ, יצחק ימין,

שלמה כהן, אבנר כץ, שמואל כץ, יובל כספי,

פנחס ליטבינובסקי, מושיק לין, אורי ליפשיץ, חיים מאור,

גיא מורד, מוטי מזרחי, עידו מיכאלי, רפי מימון,

יונתן ה. משעל, נועם נדב, שלמה סוריאנו, חנוך פיבן,

אורי פינק, חיים פינקלשטיין, דוד פרלוב, זויה צ'רקסקי,

מישל קישקה, דני קרוון, איליה רבינוביץ, אסנת רבינוביץ,

ראובן רובין, דוד רובינגר, בנו רותנברג, דן רייזנר,

קרן שפילשר, תמיר שר

בחירות אישיות: ד"ר חיים גרוסמן מאוספים פרטיים,

רות לובשבסקי מאוסף יד יערי, אורית ציון–אבקסיס

מאוסף לע"מ, בועז פרימרמן מאוסף טוביהו

פרופ' מאור: "התערוכה בוחנת את ההתייחסות של אמנים ישראלים שונים אל דמותו של בן -גוריון כאדם, כמנהיג וכמיתוס. לצד מנסחי הקול ההגמוני, הרשמי, הממלכתי, ניתנה במה גם לרב-קוליות חדשה ושונה - קולות ה'אחרים'. אל מול ספקטרום הייצוגים הנע בין "הזקן" הארכאי לבין בן-גוריון שלי"(My BG) ה"קוּלִי",, הצופים בתערוכה מוזמנים לבחון ולגלות מהו ומיהו בן-גוריון עבורם כיום", שכן העיסוק העכשווי בדמותו של האיש שעל שמו נקראת האוניברסיטה רלבנטי היום מתמיד".

מתוך עמדה א-היררכית, התערוכה מפגישה זה לצד זה מדיומים מגוונים מתחומי התרבות החזותית: רישום, ציור, פיסול, צילום, כרזות, קומיקס, קריקטורות, קולנוע, וידאו ומיצג. באמצעות המדיומים השונים דנים האמנים ובוחנים את דמותו הרבגונית של המנהיג בהיבטיה השונים, כולל השוליים והמוזרים ביותר. לצד תיאורים דוקומנטריים, אובייקטיביים ככל שניתן, של דוד בן-גוריון בשעותיו ההיסטוריות והגורליות או ברגעיו האינטימיים והאישיים, מוצגות עבודות אשר עוסקות בתיאורים מוקצנים, סובייקטיביים ואכספרסיביים, עבודות הנוקטות עמדה גלויה וישירה תוך ניתוץ המיתוס או בחינתו מחדש או תוך הצלבת הנרטיב ההיסטורי והסיפור האישי או המשפחתי של האמן.

במסגרת תערוכה זו מצטיירת דמות רבגונית וססגונית של בן-גוריון. בעוד שחלק מהעבודות מציגות אותו כדמות הירואית, גדולה מהחיים, עבודות אחרות חושפות צד פגיע ואנושי שלו. אמנים רבים משתמשים בדמותו של בן-גוריון על מנת להביע את עמדתם הביקורתית כלפי המציאות הישראלית העכשווית. למשל, "האיש העומד על הראש" המוצג בקריקטורות, פסיפס, ציור ופיסול מעלה שאלות לגבי הפער שבין ערכי הפשטות והצניעות של "פעם" לבין הנהנתנות ותרבות הצריכה של ימינו. עבודות עכשוויות בוחנות לרב באמצעות דמותו של בן-גוריון, את דרך הגשמת החלום הציוני ואת שברו. למרות הביקורת על בן-גוריון - המיתוס בראי ימינו אנו, עדיין דמותו, במסגרת תערוכה זו, מעוררת הערצה, ערגה וגעגועים למנהיגות אחרת ושונה ממה שיש היום.

Installation shots from the exhibition 'Drifting identity station'

2010-03-21T00:26:00.003+01:00

photographs are made by Stefan Rusu

Drifting Identity Station

2010-03-17T13:45:00.002+01:00

Drifting Identity Station
http://driftingidentitystation.com/

Opening: 16th of March, 18.00

Location: Centre International d’Accueil et d’Echanges des Récollets, Paris
Adress: 150-154 rue du Faubourg St Martin - 75010 Paris
Phone: +33 153 26 21 83/+33 618 86 58 48

Open daily from 10:00 am – 12:30 pm and 2:30 – 6:00 pm

Participating researchers:
John Davis/media artist, Veceslav Druta/visual artist, Octavian Esanu/artist, art historian, Valéry Grancher/artist, Tilmann Meyer-Faje/visual artist, Petru Negura/sociologist, Ilya Rabinovich/visual artist, Mark Verlan/visual artist.

Designed and curated by Stefan Rusu, Drifting Identity Station was developed over the course of residency at Centre des Récollets and was supported by the City of Paris and the French Foreign Affairs Office.

The Station is modeled after former Soviet polar stations, which were used the 1950s to explore the arctic environment in extreme cold. Drifting Identity Station operates in the harsh climate associated with neo-liberal winter, while researchers interested in the socio-political environment use various devices and methodologies to collect and monitor the identity data relevant in the given context. While exploring the frozen landscape, researchers analyze old trajectories for the formation of identity and attempt to determinate the intensity and temperature of the recent political debates, which have polarized the issue of the identity of the state and its inhabitants. Within the context of Moldova, the urgency behind this exploratory stance toward the discourse of identity has become all the more relevant after the protests following recent parliamentary elections on April 7, 2009. The subsequent new elections in July 2009 produced an important shift in the political spectrum from the extreme left to the neoliberal right. This has precipitated important changes in the political orientation of the country: it has initiated the process of an associate EU partnership, restarted negotiations for NATO membership, and has contradicting the policy of Moldovan “neutrality” which has historically been dictated by Russian geopolitical interests in the region.

In the video “Gomenidan is alive” by Mark Verlan we found the artist himself exiled in an individual research unit, which is, buried underground. Located in the woods next to his studio right in the middle of Chisinau, the unit is where he concentrated daily on analyzing the data received from outside world.

While meditating on the symbolic function of the museums in various contexts Ilya Rabinovich confronted a society that is constantly rewriting its history by gradually rejecting elements of its recent past. In this context he decided to investigate the representation of dichotomous structures: he visually juxtaposes idyllic paintings from the Ethnography Museum in Chisinau, which depict Moldovan landscapes as existing since the genesis of science and myth—a potential Garden of Eden— with images of the apocalypse, i.e. photographs and material proof of the Soviet catastrophe. He thus makes a clear statement about the timeline of modern and recent Moldovan history, about the dream and its disastrous realization.

Tilman Meyer-Faje explored a series of elements typical of the former Soviet structure in the Republic of Moldova. He chooses to remix images that have been made by someone else in an attempt to find a specifically Moldovan pattern.

Veaceslav Druta presents a film in which he questions French and Moldovan citizens in an attempt to survey their understanding of the notion of identity. A GPS device, a symbol of globalization and a navigational aid, appears throughout discussions. The GPS also “talks” in various languages, some of which are unknown to the navigators. As a result, the device creates disorientation and causes a loss of destination.

Octavian Esanu excavated “Strashilki” (“sadistic little poems,” or simply “little horror poems”) from the Soviet past. This is a children’s literary genre that emerged anonymously in the Soviet Union during the 1970s. For his artist book he translated, interpreted, and wrote original couplets following the poetic style of this literary form little known in the West. He also designed and illustrated the book, which aims to provide two perspectives on the socialist-capitalist polarity, which the author considers to have shaped his worldview.

Valéry Grancher through a picture of a meteo station and a video performance called "Where is our mind" is questioning the perception of our environment at our world limit though rationalism and subjectivism.
"Where is our mind?" is a sentence written on the paper by watercolor mixed with 30 000 years old glacier water. The message was attached to a meteo balloon which was sent to stratosphere of 35 000 meters altitude, where the balloon exploded and fail on to the ground. Through his video Valery Grancher is questioning the status of scientist approach 'Does Science deal with Icarus myth ?'

Using polarity as a departure point in his film “Mark You Make Believe My Dear, Yes” media artist John Davis resurrected Soviet propaganda films from the 1980s as a means of animating specters from recent history. Commenting on the nature of Moldovan identity, Davis states that shifting identities are nothing new in the wake of major political and social upheaval, yet Moldova is a particularly complex case study.

In his text Petru Negura analyze the position and role of writers under the Stalinist regime, who operated on the one hand as social engineers of a faked “Moldavian” identity, who preserved and defined its characteristics over the extended period of socialist modernization. On the other hand, these writers also developed a very professional tool, i.e. the Romanian language, which is perceived today as an achievement and an important mark of Romanian identity, an outcome that transcended the process itself.

The data gathered and presented by researchers within the framework of the Drifting Station represent an attempt to visualize the current state of different Moldavian identities, starting with the identity imposed by Soviet propaganda and social engineering campaigns between 1940-1992 in a territory widely known as the Republic of Moldova (formerly the 16th Republic of USSR). The ideologists of the Soviet Union embarked on a campaign to fundamentally alter the behavior and ideals of Soviet citizens, to replace old social frameworks of a previously existing culture with a Soviet model, and to create the New Man.
With the new course taken by history after dismantling of socialist system there was a lack of a clear identity parole, and the 1990s evinced a pervasive shift and drift in identity. In the last decade the former Soviet concept of Moldovan identity was resurrected by new political players ranging from the extreme left (CPRM - Communist Party or Republic of Moldova) to the extreme right (PPCD – Popular Christian Democrat Party) of political spectrum. Following external and internal political agendas, political and social leaders, i.e. “engineers,” used the issue of identity as a political weapon against the threat of “Romanization” but also against integration into the EU community—with the purpose of preserving the “neutrality” of Moldova. What we have today, a result of speculations and past political games, is a society trapped between the Russian military influence in the region and the EU expansion process, situated between Romanian nationalism and the nostalgia for a mixture of communist regime and socialist utopia, between the expansive development of the open market and the aggressiveness of neo-liberal establishment.

Drifting Identity Station was initiated to monitor and preserve the data related to the evolving state of identity in a given context, here the context of Moldova. Visual art projects and written contributions that are on display in the Station comment on the evolution of the social engineering project and “Moldavian” identity at its current state. At the same time the artists assume the posture of researchers that collect the samples from the field in order to preserve the residual traces that rearticulate the post-socialist condition in Moldovan society now 20 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the dissolution of Eastern Block.

Painting lesson

2010-03-10T14:41:00.002+01:00

Work by Ilya Rabinovich- 'A lesson in Moldovan identity and painted landscapes':

Paying some visits to The Ethnography Museum in Chisinau, left me with overwhelming impressions. Studying the pictorial landscapes seen almost in each and every hall made me wander upon the roles and symbolism that those masterpieces are designated to convey upon the visitor.

While meditating on the symbolical functioning of the museum a Tchernichovsky's expression 'Man is Nothing but the Shape of His Native Landscape' kept re emerging in my mind.

The representation of dichotomy structures, visually supported by idyllic paintings, depicting Moldovan landscapes as existing since the scientific and mythological Genesis- the possible Garden of Eden till the apocalypse, presented by photographs and material evidences from the Soviet catastrophe made a clear statement about the Moldovan timeline, upon the dream and it's disaster.

But this conceptual dichotomy suffers from some drawbacks, namely the inability to position Moldova in relation to other landscapes and nations. Searching for maps or other representations of Moldova's borders and territory reveals a disturbing situation, namely Moldova is always depicted as a torn out of the glob territory surrendered by metal frames designed and produced during Soviet period.

Thus the painted landscapes and the maps serve as a metaphor for the Moldova's to redefine their own new national identity. From one hand they reject their recent past and from another they fall into the gap ob being in an empty void.

A work that will be exhibited as 35 mm slides with a slide projector.
You can see the digital format of the work at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/ilyarabinovich/PaintingLesson#

Stage fondsenwerving Museutopia: een fotografisch onderzoeksproject naar musea van Moldavië.

2010-02-17T11:34:00.001+01:00

De Amsterdamse beeldend kunstenaar Ilya Rabinovich (http://www.rhiz.eu/person-33501-en.html) heeft alle grote musea in de Moldavische hoofdstad Chisinau uitgebreid gefotografeerd. Zijn werk is een creatieve verkenning van de post-Sovjet Moldavische nationale identiteit. De foto's, vergezeld van essays van deskundigen op dit gebied (Viktor Misiano, Stefan Rusu, Bogdan Ghiu en Huub van Baar), vormen de basis voor een tweetalige publicatie (Roemeense/Engels), die wordt uitgegeven bij Alauda Publications (www.alaudapublications.nl).

Taken:
Assistentie bij fondsenwerving:
- Onderzoek naar de beschikbare fondsen en ondersteunings mogelijkheden die passen bij de opzet van de publicatie.
- Het schrijven van subsidie-aanvragen.

Profiel van de stagiair:
- MA niveau
- Interesse in kunst- en culturele geschiedenis van Oost-Europa; vertrouwdheid met Moldavië is een pré.
- Vloeiend Nederlands spreken en schrijven
- Bereidheid samen te werken met de kunstenaar en uitgever.

Wat bieden wij:
- Optimale begeleiding en feedback.
- Intellectueel uitdagende stage.
- Ervaring met redactioneel werk en kennismaking met het uitgeefproces.
- Naamsvermelding in de publicatie en gratis exemplaar.

Duur:
- 15 weken, parttime werk, bij voorkeur vanaf begin maart 2010.

Aanvraagprocedure:
Stuur vóór 1 maart 2010 een motivatie en een korte cv in het Nederlands aan: info@alaudapublications.nl met als onderwerp: "Stage Museutopia".

Voor vragen kunt u via e-mail contact opnemen met uitgeverij Alauda Publications.

Research/ editorial internship Museutopia: an artistic project on the museums of Moldova

2010-02-17T11:32:00.000+01:00

Amsterdam-based visual artist Ilya Rabinovich (http://www.rhiz.eu/person-33501-en.html) has extensively photographed major museums in the Moldovan capital Chisinau. His photographic work is a creative exploration of post-Soviet Moldovan national identity. The photographs, accompanied by essays commissioned to experts in the field, form the basis for a bilingual publication (Rumanian/English), published by Alauda Publications (www.alaudapublications.com).

Tasks:
Assistance in fund raising:
- Research of available funds and support programs that suite the profile of the publication
- Writing grant applications and accompanying project brochures

Profile of intern:
- MA level
- Interest in art and cultural history of Eastern Europe; familiarity with Moldova would be of added advantage
- Fluent speaking and writing Dutch
- Willingness to work in cooperation with the artist and publisher

What we offer:
- Proper placement guidance and feedback
- Intellectually challenging research internship
- First-hand experience in editorial work and exposure to the publishing process
- Name mentioned in publication

Duration:
- 15 weeks’ part-time work preferably beginning March 2010.

Application procedure:
Send a motivation letter and a brief CV in Dutch to info@alaudapublications.nl with the subject reference: "Internship Muziotopia" before 1 March 2010
For questions and clarifications, you may contact Alauda Publications via email.

9th January 2010- invitation to the opening of REAR WINDOW followed by a party‏

2009-12-30T19:58:00.001+01:00

MB Art Agency has the pleasure to invite you to the special opening of the exhibition

REAR WINDOW

An installation realized by Ilya Rabinovich

Saturday 9th of January 2010, between 19.00- 23.00 hours

MB Art Agency’s Project Space, Willemsparkweg 191, 1071 HA Amsterdam.

The opening will be followed by a party.

Practical Information: the venue is situated at the crossroad of Willemsparkweg and Cornelis Schuijtstraat, Tram no. 2, (tram stop Cornelis Schuijtstraat).

Confirmation is kindly required to: info@mbagency.nl or by phone: 0614789395 or 020.7861626.

On the upper floor of MB Agency’s building and in total dark, Ilya Rabinovich invites for a collective participation to a surprising and playful experience.

While entering the dark space of the exhibition, visitors will receive a small penlight and will be initiated to search for the hidden elements of the installation, a collection of Rear Window peep pictures realized by the artist during the year 2008.
The project is both witty and ironic as it plays with our unintentional tendency of spying our neighbours, something that feeds on our own deep-seated desires to watch others, without fear of being watched, in order to live through their experiences whilst sharing none of their physical or emotional existence/state. In this meticulously constructed setup, the watching process is shared and therefore it becomes a space of interaction and reflection.
Furthermore our urge to peep is indulged and we may temporarily escape and forget who we are as we become more and more involved in searching for the other images hidden in the exhibition space.

Simulacrum Journal October 2009 Privé ; for your eyes only

2009-11-10T12:11:00.009+01:00

A glimpse beyond the interstice- separating the public and private domain

Donna Wolf

One often wonders, where the public domain stops and the private domain begins. Throughout history, the line of demarcation between public and private space has captured the fascination of artists.Today it continues to serve as an inspiration for contemporary artists, each of them approaching the subject through their own subjective lens. An intriguing example can be seen in the work of Ilya Rabinovich (Moldavia, U.S.S.R, 1965), who relocated to the Netherlands in 1998 to attend the Rijksakademie and now continues to live and work in Amsterdam. Taking his new home as subject matter, he explores the city and its buildings along with the habits and culture of its inhabitants. In this way he is able to explore and probe the notion of personal identity, revealing how it is embedded within the social structure.

Investigating the line between private and public space has been a reoccurring subject in the work of Rabinovich throughout his career. As a newcomer to Holland, he was interested in the daily lives and homes of his fellow immigrants in Amsterdam. The photographs in the Apartments of Friends project (2005)1 embody a sense of duality. They have a certain quality of generalness that transports them out of the specific context and into a more general one. By photographing immigrant’s (temporary) homes he moves their interiors from the private into the public domain. Yet these interiors never lack the personality imparted to them by their inhabitants.This might seem strange when you consider that his photographs are often devoid of people. What can the photograph tell you, when you cannot see the protagonists? Rather than portraying them in the physical sense, Rabinovich chooses to suggest their presence through their personal belongings, which populate and personalize the home. The home is a shelter from the outside. No matter how temporarily one may live in a given space, it is human nature to surround ourselves with things that make us feel at home. We incorporate a part of our past into the present through our personal belongings, our pictures and cherished artifacts. By photographing these interiors Rabinovich affords us the opportunity to peer behind closed doors into the private space of the occupants. He offers us a glimpse of how these emigrants transform the dwelling into a personal domain. Rabinovich’s skillfully composed photographs have been on view in numerous public exhibitions adding a new, public context to these works with a personal touch. The picture is the beginning of the story; how it is read, lies with the beholder. Ayako Yoshimura described this aspect succinctly; reviewing the exhibition Non Places held at 66 East in Amsterdam-Oost in 2006, she noted that “The absence of a protagonist in the setting is enhanced by the sheer beauty of composition and light, which leads us to a distant memory; be it personal or collective.”

Another aspect that was particularly intriguing to Rabinovich was the Amsterdam phenomenon of the open curtain. In his artist statement Rabinovich explains: “I developed a fascination for the ‘open curtains’ phenomena, where one can easily view the private interior of people’s homes from the street level. In social conversations this served to present the locals as an example for how open-minded the Dutch people living in Amsterdam are. A ‘we have nothing to hide’ attitude that proved to be restricted and limited in what I could actually observe when I tried to focus on it.” Does the mental and cultural distance as a foreigner allow him a greater moral freedom to capture and record Dutch culture? Perhaps this is one of the reasons that he was selected for participation in the exhibition Becoming Dutch, held from May through September 2008 at the Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven. Posing the question “What does ‘Being Dutch’ or ‘Becoming Dutch’ mean in the 21st century?” The exhibition explored the notions of identity, nationality, citizenship and social cohesion. More than thirty artists were invited to exhibit their work; all dealing with the context or notion of foreigners assimilating into the Dutch Culture.

The open curtain phenomenon differentiates the city of Amsterdam from other European cities, shedding new light on the relationship between private space and the public sphere. The voyeuristic aspect intrigued Rabinovich, triggering him to investigate it through his photographic lens. He combined his in-depth knowledge of technical capabilities of a specific camera lens with his eye for composition and light, to achieve the desired effect. It led him to make the series of photographs Rear Window, consisting of carefully considered compositions captured with a telephoto lens.

The Rear Window photographs have mostly been taken in the evening by photographing from inside one home through or across the backyard into the rear window of the opposite home. You could say that these images were captured by a photographer who, located in one private home, bypasses the interstitial public space to penetrate and observe the private domain of the opposite interior. At first, this approach may seem to encroach upon the subject’s privacy. This series of photographs includes images of partially visible people in their homes, cooking dinner, watching television or carrying out some other daily activity.They are engaged with themselves in the comfort of their homes, completely unaware of our observant role. Through the window we can see part of their interior and part of the person. Just enough details to give our mind something to work with, but leaving sufficient room for our fantasy to fill in the rest of the story. It might seem as if we have penetrated deep into their personal space. Yet Rabinovich is careful to disguise the identity of the person and the setting in the photograph. He zooms in on his subject eliminating exterior details, which could help identify the location. This generic impression and effect is strengthened by a raster technique, blurring our vision even further. This conceals the details while adding an additional layer, creating a distance between the viewer and the image. Somehow we are kept at bay. As if to say: you may have a glimpse into this private space, but don’t get too close, the realm you behold remains in the private domain.

Our vision is impeded as we enter into Rabinovich’s installation where photographs in various sizes are scattered throughout a darkened room and are directly affixed to the surface of the black walls and floor. We embark with a small penlight in hand in search of the images, and the exhibition begins to take form. Through the darkness, we have the impression that we are peering inside the homes of unsuspecting residents throughout the city of Amsterdam at night. This voyeuristic aspect is intensified by the excitement of discovering another image on the wall, capturing yet another glimpse inside the private homes. We revel in the hope of uncovering the one detail which will disclose the identity of the person and specific location where the image was taken.

This intriguing and engaging work of Rabinovich is not only defined by his skilled photography techniques. The images are further enhanced by the chosen method of production - a silk screen technique on paper - and its subsequent display in the installation setting, in which the viewer is invited to participate. We crawl into the role and assume the eyes of the photographer, continuing the quest he initiated; to reveal what goes on in the private domain of an unsuspecting actor. In viewing the photography installation Rear Window one is transported into the active role of a voyeur.

Biography: Donna Wolf is the director of Déiska BV

en CV de Verzameling and is a Masterstudent Art

History at the University of Amsterdam

1. These photographs were commissioned for the exhibition:

Interieurs van een nieuw huis, april 2006 in the former home

of Anne Frank on the Merwedeplein in Amsterdam.

See also www.ilyarabinovich.com

A book was also published in conjunction with the exhibition:

Rabinovich, Ilya. ‘Interieurs van een nieuw huis’ (in:) Nauta,

N. e.a. Het Andere huis van Anne Frank: geschiedenis en

toekomst van een schrijvershuis. [exh .cat.]. Amsterdam:

Anne Frank huis, 2006. Amsterdam: Thoth, 2006: p.72-107

2009-10-26T01:33:00.002+01:00

Arnhem
MMKA en andere locaties in Arnhem
12/09/09 - 25/10/09

Verschillende locaties in het centrum van Arnhem staan tot en met 25 oktober in het teken van het kunstfestival Made in Arnhem. Arnhem wil in deze editie haar internationale ambitie naar de rest van de wereld kenbaar maken en heeft daarom het thema ‘invites’ gekozen. De organisatie heeft kunstinitiatieven uitgenodigd, die op hun beurt kunstenaars uitnodigen, en ‘als gastvrij gebaar’ wordt uiteindelijk het publiek uitgenodigd. Deze ‘keten van uitnodigingen’ zou deze editie van het kunstfestival uniek moeten maken, maar verschilt wezenlijk weinig van de organisatie van elk willekeurig ander festival. Niets nieuws onder de zon dus. Toch is er een aardige draai aan het thema gegeven door Arnhemse kunstenaars te verzoeken een kunstenaar van buitenaf te inviteren. Hierdoor ontstaan er op verschillende plaatsen in de stad dialogen tussen kunstenaarsduo’s die elkaars werk op originele wijze aanvullen in thematiek, inhoud of beeld.

Helaas is internationale allure van Arnhem als kunststad niet altijd geholpen met invitatie-systeem. Veel van de interessante werken blijken afkomstig te zijn van niet-Arnhemse kunstenaars, wat het gevoel oproept dat de ‘buitenstaanders’ zijn toegevoegd om het gebrek aan Arnhems talent te compenseren.

MMKA

Karen Sargsyan, All Together, 2009

Toch waren er een aantal werken te ontdekken die een bezoek aan Arnhem zeker de moeite waard maken. Op de hoofdlocatie, het Museum voor Moderne Kunst blijkt de eerste kunstenaar waar ik tegenaan loop meteen ook mijn favoriet. De Armeense ex-Rijksakademie kunstenaar Karen Sargsyan - op dit moment ook te zien in Double Dutch in HVCCA in New York - maakte een poppentheater van papier met op de achtergrond folkloristische Armeense volksmuziek. Ondanks het kwetsbare materiaal zet Sargsyan een krachtig beeld neer waarin de bewegingloze figuren tot leven komen.

Ilya Rabinovich, Muziotopia, 2009

Sargsyan nodigde de van oorsprong Moldavische kunstenaar Ilya Rabinovich uit, ook een ex-Rijksakademiestudent. Hij presenteert in Muziotopia een indrukwekkend onderzoek naar de veranderingen in museale collectie-opstellingen na de val van het communistische systeem in Oost Europa en de onafhankelijkheid van Moldavië. Het samenspel tussen de werken van Sargsyan en Rabinovich levert een mooie dialoog op die een kijk geeft in processen in de kunst tijdens en na het sovjetregime.

Made in Arnhem Invites is t/m 25 oktober te zien op verschillende locaties in Arnhem.

Auteur

Jolien Verlaek

Muziotopia project installation view in museum voor moderne kunst arnhem

2009-09-11T16:41:00.002+02:00

Muziotopia project part of 'Subliminal dialoges' exhibtion

2009-08-26T21:33:00.004+02:00

in the frame work of Made In Arnhem Invites in the museum voor moderne kunst arnhem

Subliminal Dialogs

Curator: Inge Pollet
Participating artists: Adam Colton, Barbara Polderman, Charlotte Dumas, Ilya Rabinovich, Jan Mankes, Karen Sargsyan, Maria Roosen, Mark Kremer, Ronald Schimmel, Rosemin Hendriks

Opening 12 September from 19:00-22:00 till 15 November 2009. Museum voor Moderne Kunst Arnhem

www.mmkarnhem.nl
more information about the project at:
http://www.rhiz.eu/article-33502-en.html

Biennale DIE ERSTE MECKLENBURG-VORPOMMERN BIENNALE IN KLEIN-ZETELVITZ

2009-07-30T11:07:00.002+02:00

http://biennale.kleinzetelvitz.de/

Presse

"Auch in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern wird es demnächst eine Biennale geben. Das haben sich zumindest die Initiatoren Spunk Seipel und Edmund Piper vorgenommen, die bewusste in einer Region mit schwacher Infrastruktur für Kunst eine internationale Kunstausstellung veranstalten wollen: Kunst soll an einem Ort präsentiert werden, an dem die Spuren des ländlichen Strukturwandels und die Umbrüche nach der Wende besonders deutlich sind." [aus: Kunstforum International, 06/2009]

Informationen

Die Kunstbiennale Kleinzetelvitz wird im August und September 2009 zum ersten Mal stattfinden. Kuratoren für die erste Biennale sind Spunk Seipel und Edmund Piper. Es werden ca. 60 internationale Künstler ausgestellt. Die Liste der Künstler wird Anfang Juli 2009 bekanntgegeben.

Die Kunstbiennale Kleinzetelvitz wird bewusst in einer Region mit einer schwachen Infrastruktur für Kunst veranstaltet. Sie wird an einem Ort Kunst präsentiert, an dem die Spuren des ländlichen Strukturwandels und die Umbrüche nach der Wende besonders deutlich sind.

Eine Auseinandersetzung mit der Geschichte des Ortes wird zum Teil stattfinden, es wird aber auch Kunst gezeigt werden, die sich mit gesellschaftlichen Veränderungen der letzten Jahre auseinandersetzen wird. Einige Künstler werden Arbeiten speziell für die Kunstbiennale entwickeln.

Die Ausstellungsfläche wird ca. 4000 m² sowie einem grossen Aussenbereich für plastische Arbeiten und Interventionen bieten. Zudem soll der öffentliche Raum in Kleinzetelvitz genutzt werden.

Die Kunstbiennale Kleinzetelvitz richtet sich sowohl an Einheimische wie an Touristen, die sich mit internationaler Kunst an einem ungewöhnlichen Ort im ländlichen Raum auseinandersetzen wollen.

Das Programm der Biennale Kleinzetelvitz wird durch Führungen ergänzt werden.

RO-MD/Moldova in Two Scenarios Publication launch

2009-05-24T19:25:00.001+02:00

source http://www.azi.md/en/story/3176

One of the chapters is dedicated to the current cultural, social and political situation in two Moldova regions

azi.md, 22 May 2009, 7:32

Comments

Moldova: Change anyone really can believe in?, Rodger Potocki, 14 May 2009, 16:50
Resolution of European Parliament could determine further orientation of R. Moldova, Info-Prim Neo, 9 May 2009, 17:13
Moldova vote controversy highlights doubts over monitoring, Brian Whitmore, RFE/RL (USA), 25 April 2009, 15:19
"Moldova’s ‘wannabe democracy’ worth rescuing”, George DURA, Elena GNEDINA, 23 April 2009, 18:17
The communist are not communists? Well, see the reality below., Vlad Lupan, 23 April 2009, 15:55
Acts of vandalism: equation with unknowns on both sides, Info-Prim Neo, 16 April 2009, 17:07

Larger text

RO-MD/Moldova in Two Scenarios Publication launch will be launched today.

The project publication summarize the sense of interaction between artists and experts involved in the project, as well as the results of investigated and researched aspects that were in focus of contemporary art practice. The publication includes the artist projects and contributions resulted after interdisciplinary workshop, seminars and production sessions. One of the chapters is dedicated to the current cultural, social and political situation in two Moldova regions with texts and contributions by: Sorin Bocancea (political annalist), Flavius Solomon (historian), Igor Casu (historian), Petru Negura (sociologist), Matei Bejenaru (artist/curator) and Stefan Rusu (artist/curator). The other chapter is dedicated to the presentation of curatorial practices and artistic strategies exploring the contexts of some divided (split up) territories by: Catalin Gheorghe (curator, counter theorist), Laura Schleussner/Berlin, Lilia Dragneva (curator), Binna Choi (curator) and contributions by invited visual artists: Bik Van der Pol (Lisbethe Bik and Jos Van der Pol), Iratxe Jaio&Klaas van Gorkum, Tilmann Meyer-Faje, Ilya Rabinovich, Gulsun Karamstafa.
The publication also presents visual art projects and films realized by visual artists from Romania and Republic Moldova: Aurelia Mihai, Dan Acostioaei, Alexandru Grigoras, Lavinia German, Dimitru Oboroc, Violeta Ionita, Tatiana Fiodorova, Vadim Tiganas, Vladimir Us, Denis Bartenev, Maxim Cusmenco, Ghenadie Popescu, Veaceslav Druta, Igor Scerbina, Lucia Macari.
______________________________________________
The RO-MD/Moldova in Two Scenarios project aim was to investigate by juxtaposing the current cultural, social and political situation in two Moldova regions. The joint actions undertaken by the project teams from the KSAK - Centre for Contemporary Art in Chisinau and that from the Vector Association in Iasi are nothing else, but an attempt to create a rapprochement and to understand the nature of the relationship between Romanian and Moldovan societies at the present stage, to analyze the causes and effects of a shared historical and identitary trajectory in the context of divided regions and societies.
RO-MD/Moldova in Two Scenarios is a project organized by the Center for Contemporary Art, Chisinau in partnership with VECTOR Association, Iasi
The project was supported by the Romanian Cultural Institute through the CANTEMIR Program, Bucharest; PATTERNS Program /ERSTE Foundation, Vienna and MONDRIAAN Stichting, Amsterdam.
Period: 22 of May, 2009, 18.00
Location: Center for Contemporary Art-KSAK, Chisinau, Rep. Moldova
Address: str. Banulescu Bodoni 5, ap-2, Chisinau

Details about the project:
Centrul pentru Arta Contemporana, Chisinau -[KSA:K]
Address: str. Banulescu Bodoni 5, ap-2,
post code 2000, Chisinau, Republic of Moldova
tel/fax: +37322 237272

INVITATION_RO-MD/Moldova in Two Scenarios Publication launch

2009-05-21T23:27:00.001+02:00

press-release

*********************************************************

RO-MD/Moldova in Two Scenarios Publication launch

Period: 22 of May, 2009, 18.00

Location: Center for Contemporary Art-KSAK, Chisinau, Rep. Moldova

Address: str. Banulescu Bodoni 5, ap-2, Chisinau

The project publication summarizes the sense of interaction between artists and experts involved in the project, as well as the results of investigated and researched aspects that were in focus of contemporary art practice. The publication includes the artist projects and contributions resulted after interdisciplinary workshop, seminars and production sessions. One of the chapters is dedicated to the current cultural, social and political situation in two Moldova regions with texts and contributions by: Sorin Bocancea (political annalist), Flavius Solomon (historian), Igor Casu (historian), Petru Negura (sociologist), Matei Bejenaru (artist/curator) and Stefan Rusu (artist/curator). The other chapter is dedicated to the presentation of curatorial practices and artistic strategies exploring the contexts of some divided (split up) territories by: Catalin Gheorghe (curator, counter theorist), Laura Schleussner/Berlin, Lilia Dragneva (curator), Binna Choi (curator) and contributions by invited visual artists: Bik Van der Pol (Lisbethe Bik and Jos Van der Pol), Iratxe Jaio&Klaas van Gorkum, Tilmann Meyer-Faje, Ilya Rabinovich, Gulsun Karamstafa.

The publication also presents visual art projects and films realized by visual artists from Romania and Republic Moldova: Aurelia Mihai, Dan Acostioaei, Alexandru Grigoras, Lavinia German, Dimitru Oboroc, Violeta Ionita, Tatiana Fiodorova, Vadim Tiganas, Vladimir Us, Vladimir Us, Denis Bartenev, Maxim Cusmenco, Ghenadie Popescu, Veaceslav Druta, Igor Scerbina, Lucia Macari.

*************************************************************

The RO-MD/Moldova in Two Scenarios project aim was to investigate by juxtaposing the current cultural, social and political situation in two Moldova regions. The joint actions undertaken by the project teams from the KSAK - Centre for Contemporary Art in Chisinau and that from the Vector Association in Iasi are nothing else, but an attempt to create a rapprochement and to understand the nature of the relationship between Romanian and Moldovan societies at the present stage, to analyze the causes and effects of a shared historical and identitary trajectory in the context of divided regions and societies.

RO-MD/Moldova in Two Scenarios is a project organized by the Center for Contemporary Art, Chisinau in partnership with VECTOR Association, Iasi

The project was supported by the Romanian Cultural Institute through

the CANTEMIR Program, Bucharest; PATTERNS Program /ERSTE Foundation,

Vienna and MONDRIAAN Stichting, Amsterdam.

*Center for Contemporary Art-[KSA:K] is a non-profit, independent institution registered in the year 2000. The new strategy of the Center is the development of cultural forms and art practices, which would reflect the dynamic of the social, political and economic transformations of the society. Center supports the advocacy activities in promoting of cultural policies suitable for the defining and the consolidation of artist position and contemporary art practices in the society. (www.art.md)

* Vector> Association is a non-profit cultural association that provides the production of exhibition and educational programs, research and editing activities, analyzes of the relations between the art practices and visual culture in socio-political context. Vector> supports those practices related to social re-articulation, political consciousness and economical transformation that brings critical analyses that could offer reinterpretations of the attitudes and behavior from the perspective of cultural action. (www.periferic.org)

Stefan Rusu – visual artist/curator

RO-MD/Moldova in two scenarios project curator

Details about the project:

Centrul pentru Arta Contemporana, Chisinau -[KSA:K]
Address: str. Banulescu Bodoni 5, ap-2,

post code 2000, Chisinau, Republic of Moldova
tel/fax: +37322 237272

http://www.art.md

Tel Aviv 1996-1997

2009-05-20T11:04:00.006+02:00

work with jossy

2009-05-18T18:26:00.004+02:00

Stedelijk Museum Tentoonstellingen Gemeentelijke Kunstaankopen 2009 - Fotografie
my work with Jossy was not selected, and I thought it is worth to show anyway...

Official Launching of MB ART AGENCY Amsterdam with the international exhibition: ...Expectations

2009-05-07T17:58:00.001+02:00

MB Art Agency

has the pleasure to invite you to the opening of the international exhibition

Friday 15th May 2009

....EXPECTATIONS

Emily Bates, Calin Dan , Sagi Groner, Boukje Janssen, Inti Hernandez, Iosif Kiraly, Matthieu Laurette, Alexandra Leykauf, Sanja Medic , Ana Maria Micu, Sebastian Diaz Morales, Catalin Petrisor, Ilya Rabinovich , Victor Racatau, Kathrin Schlegel, Ulay, Vera Weisgerber, Carine Weve, Xing Danwen, Maria Zervou

Curator: Maria Rus Bojan

Opening: Friday 15th May 2009, 18-22 hours

The exhibition is open through 20 June 2009

Exhibition organized on the occasion of the official launching of MB Art Agency , a professional company that aims to present contemporary art in new curatorial formats.

Location: Barbara Strozzilaan 314-316, 1083 HN Amsterdam .

Open 16 May through 20 June 2009Thursday through Sunday from 12 to 18 h. Guided tours by special appointment.

Within walking distance from RAI Station /near Holiday Inn Hotel and Sotheby’s Amsterdam . Metro & train to RAI Station / tram no. 4/ RAI Parking just in front of the exhibition space.

With the kind support of: Dé is Ka & de Verzameling, Project Foundation, Galerie Martin van Zomeren, Galerie Hof & Huyser Amsterdam and C-Space Beijing

For more information please contact: info@mbagency.nl // www.mbagency.nl

“…. EXPECTATIONS” is a project born from the desire of 19 artists and a curator to investigate the dynamics of ambiguity in the present.

Taking into account that we perceive history through intervals and that expectation is our way of anticipating the future, this exhibition aims to underline how modernity has reshaped our perception on the present. According to the German philosopher Peter Sloterdijk, the present can be understood only as an intermediary time; a time that is situated after the moment when the most valuable predictions become true yet before the entire prognosis can be verified though reality.

It is precisely within this indefinite respite – that we call present - that the hope and illusion finds its playground, putting to work our desires and expectations.

Capitalism has succeeded because it has never been a utopia. Its products have become more and more "open”, actually transforming the process of offer and request into a relation of artistic communication: the receiver is the one that gives ”content” to the message, filling it in his own expectations.

Contracting the markets and shaking the very foundation of capitalism, the actual crisis unveils the internal void of our culture. And the fragile domino constructions have collapsed revealing the true dynamics of the global ambitions. Moreover, media’s failure to ensure the right critical climate within society underlines the general incapacity to resist against the „libidinal” capitalist temptations. Not only that critique itself has become a lifestyle, a kind of fashionable activity that is drafted and prepared for sale, but the ethical has been completely subsumed by a consumerist society.

".... Expectations" provides a framework for a set of artistic critiques that are in fact natural reactions and comments to the actual state of things. This exhibition explores the degree in which artists reflect the contradictions of our time in their work. This all takes place in a rather unusual space: an empty office building with its own unfulfilled expectations. Presently the glamorous space meant to host the most successful business initiatives, is now simply an empty place without character nor history.

By squatting this space, the curator assumes in fact the role of a modern invader, conquering new teritories for art and drawing the attention to art as the single force that is able to re-animate and fill these emptied spaces with sense.

Good Morning Chisinau 2008

2009-02-25T00:11:00.004+01:00

I have traveled to Chisinau Moldova three times in the second part of year 2008. I have stayed every time in another rented apartment . The combination of going back to my birth city staying in a rented apartment which were decorated in the style of the communist era was puzzeling in space and time for me. Above are some photographs from those places.

איליה רבינוביץ' - עבודות 1998-2008

2008-12-14T20:22:00.003+01:00

The lecture was canceled by Kalsiher...
15/12/2008
Ilya

ביום שני ה-22.12.08 בשעה 20:00
בגלריה ע'ש רחל וישראל פולק במתחם קלישר
במסגרת סדרת מפגשים עם אמנים, אוצרים ותיאוריטיקנים

תתקיים הרצאה של איליה רבינוביץ
עבודות 1998-2008

הדימויים הנייחים אך המסתוריים של איליה רבינוביץ העוסקים בנושאים של זהות אישית על רקע מבנים חברתיים. העבודות נוגעות במקומות אשר נראים כמשוללי זכרון, זמניים ומנותקים. האווירה המסויימת הזאת מעלה שני דגמים של הדרה ושממון: זהו עולמו של המהגר המיוצג כגלות כפולה, כחוויה הקשורה לפנים וחוץ. מצד אחד הקושי להתחבר לסביבה התרבותית ממנה הוא בא ומצד שני המשיכה למקומות מנוכרים.
מוקד העבודה של רבינוביץ נעוץ במקומות העומדים בפני שינויים קיצוניים. בשנת 2005, הוא צילם חלל פנים של 'מלון רוסיה' במוסקווה, זמן קצר לפני הריסתו. בפרוייקט זה הוא מצא את הקשרים לתרבות ממנה בא, ע'י חקירה חזותית של היחסים בין כח/סמכות לדרך בה הם מיוצגים בתרבות של ברה'מ בעבר, ורוסיה בהווה.
עבור פרויקט 'מוזיאוטופיה' (2008) חזר לעיר הולדתו קישינב לצלם את המוזיאונים הקיימים וכן את האתרים של המוזיאונים מאז עצמאות מולדוביה ב-1991. אחד הנושאים המרכזיים בעבודה זאת היא העלמותה של התרבות הסובייטית מהמרחב הציבורי.
מאז שנת 2007 רבינוביץ יוצר מצב בו הקהל נדרש להיות פעיל על מנת להיות מעורב בעבודה. הוא מגיע לתוצאה הזאת דרך הצבה של העבודה בחלל. לדוגמא, עבודתו 'החלון האחורי' (2007) שהוצגה במוזיאון ון-אבה באיינהובן, בה הוא הציב בחדר חשוף צילומים שנעשו באמסטרדם ונתן לצופים פנסים לעזור למצוא את התמונות

איליה רבינוביץ
נולד בשנת 1965 בקישינב, מולדביה והיגר בשנת 1973 לישראל. בשנים 1998-2000 השתתף בתוכנית הפוסט אקדמית ב-Rijks Akademie van Beeldende Kunsten באמסטרדם ומאז הוא מתגורר שם.

ההרצאה בשיתוף עם סמינר הקיבוצים – בית הספר לאמנויות ולטכנולוגיה

Never Looked Better - Contemporary Artists Respond to the Leni and Harbert Sonnenfeld Photo Collection-Triple 'Knesset' (Israeli parliament) 2008

2008-12-14T20:04:00.011+01:00

Installation views 'Triple Knesset' Beith Hatfuzot museum Tel-Aviv, photographed by Rom Eizenberg

כנסת משולשת, איליה רבינוביץ' 2008

מאז הקמתה של מדינת ישראל עברה כנסת ישראל בין שתי ערים: מבית האופרה בתל אביב, לבית פרומין ולמשכן הקבע בגבעת רם בירושלים. השינויים שנעשו במרחב הפיזי, הרס הזיכרון ההיסטורי והמורשת האדריכלית הם ייצוג לקוטביות בין תל אביב לירושלים, בין דת ולאום, בין הווה לעבר.

מגדל האופרה הממוקם בקרן הרחובות אלנבי והרברט סמואל, שומר בשמו ובחזיתו על הבניין שעל חורבותיו הוא עומד – בניין האופרה.

הבניין, שעוצב על ידי יוסף נויפלד בשנת 1925 הוקם בשנת 1945, ושימש בשלוש שנותיו הראשונות כקולנוע "קסם". בתקופת מלחמת העצמאות שכן בו מטה חיל הים. עם הקמת המדינה, מועצת המדינה השתכנה בו מ-15 בדצמבר 1948 עד דצמבר 1949. הכיכר נקראה משום כך "כיכר הכנסת" במקום השם המקורי "כיכר" או "רציף הרברט סמואל" . לאחר שעברה הכנסת לירושלים בשנת 1950 עבר הבניין לרשות עיריית תל אביב, וזמן מה נערכו במקום ישיבות מועצת העירייה. בשנת 1988 נחנך במקום מגדל האופרה. מתחת למגדל המגורים נמצא קניון, ובו חניון, אולם קולנוע, משרדים, חנויות ומסעדות.

בית פרומין שימש כמשכנה הזמני של הכנסת בין השנים 1950-1966. הבניין ממוקם במרכז ירושלים, ברחוב המלך ג'ורג' 24, ופעלו בו הכנסות הראשונה עד השישית.

עם עלייתה של הכנסת לירושלים, נבחר לשמש כמשכנה בית פרומין, מבנה משרדים בן שלוש קומות שבנייתו החלה ב-1947 ולא הושלמה. החל מה-13 במרץ 1950 התקיימו ישיבות הכנסת בבניין זה. אולם המליאה התמקם במרתף הבניין, שיועד במקור לשמש כסניף בנק.ב-30 באוגוסט 1966, בעת כהונת הכנסת השישית, עברה הכנסת למשכנה החדש. בית פרומין נמסר למשרד התיירות ששכן בו עד שנת 2004. הקרקע, שבמקור הייתה שייכת למינהל מקרקעי ישראל, נמכרה תמורת 10 מיליון ש"ח ליזם פרטי, שעל פי התכנית שהופקדה בוועדה המחוזית לתכנון ולבנייה - התעתד להרוס כליל את המבנה ולהקים תחתיו מבנה בן 16 קומות למגורים, למלונאות ולמסחר. באותה שנה הוגשה הצעת חוק, לפיה הבניין ישומר, חלקו הפנימי ישוחזר, ויוקם בו מוזיאון הכנסת. הצעת החוק עברה בקריאה ראשונה ב2005. כיום עדיין שוכנים בבנין בתי הדין הרבניים של מחוז ירושלים, ובית הדין הגדול לערעורים.

אבן הפינה למשכן הכנסת הנוכחי, הממוקם בגבעת רם בירושלים, הונחה בשנת 1958. הבניין תוכנן על ידי האדריכל יוסף קלרווין. בשנת 1966 נחנך הבניין המכיל את אולם המליאה, חדרי הועדות, לשכות חברי הכנסת והממשלה. השנה נחנך בצדו המזרחי של הבניין אגף חדש. השתרשותו של המשכן בגבעת רם בתודעה הקולקטיבית הישראלית כ"כנסת" ומחיקת האתרים ההיסטוריים מהנראטיב הלאומי ומהמרחב הציבורי הישראלי היא סימפטום למדיניות הנעדרת ראייה היסטורית. חברה עם מרחב ציבורי ומרחב זמן נעלמים היא מוגבלת, תזזיתית, קצרת מועד, ברת חלוף.

Never Looked Better - Contemporary Artists Respond to the Leni and Harbert Sonnenfeld Photo Collection-Triple 'Knesset' (Israeli parliament) 2008

2008-11-24T07:41:00.006+01:00

Shopping center Opera Tower Tel Aviv

View towards North , Opera Tower Tel Aviv

Opera Tower Tel Aviv

Facade, Opera Tower Tel Aviv

View towards North , Opera Tower Tel Aviv

Facade, Frumin House Ministry of Religions Jerusalem

Synagogue, Frumin House Ministry of Religions Jerusalem
Knesset 'Giveat Ram' Jerualsem

Lobby Knesset 'Giveat Ram' Jerusalem

Never Looked Better - Contemporary Artists Respond to the Leni and Harbert Sonnenfeld Photo Collection‏‏ at Beth Hatefusoth THE NAHUM GOLDMANN MUSEUM OF THE JEWISH DIASPORA Tel Aviv

Participating Artists:Yochai Avrahami,Ilya Rabinovich,Michael Blum,Yael Bartana,Yosi Atia and Itamar Rose
Curated by: Galit Eilat, Eyal Danon

Triple Knesset-statement

Since the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948, moved the Knesset between two cities: from it's first location in Opera House Tel -Aviv to Frumin's house and than to its permanent location in 'Givat Ram' Jerusalem. Since than the changes that have occurred in the public and mental spaces regarding the architectural styles are serving as evidences to the polarizations between religion and nation the past and the present. In the process of documenting those prior parliament locations, I discovered that the level of conservation of those two historical sites is limited to the informative level. The Opera tower is located in the corner of Yarkon and Herbert Samuel Street in Tel -Aviv, and it carries the name and conserves the façade of Opera House that was standing in that location before 1986. The building that was designed by Yosef Noifeld in 1925 was built in 1945 and it functioned in it first three years as 'Kessem' (magic) cinema house. During the period of the 1948 war it functioned as a military headquarters. The first Israeli parliament was using this building between December 1948 and December 1949. That was the reason that square next to it was renamed from 'Herbert Samuel' to 'Knesset' Square. After that the Knesset moved to Jerusalem in 1950, the Tel-Aviv municipality used the building and later in the 60's it was used as the old Opera House. In mid 80's the old building was demolished and in 1988 the new Opera Tower was inaugurated. It includes a luxury apartments ,shopping mall, cinema and parking lot. The Frumin house is located in King George Street in the centre of Jerusalem. It was built for a bank purposes but the construction works stopped in 1947 and from the year 1950 till 1966 it hosted the Israeli parliament. The assembly hall was in the cellar where originally the bank's safes where supposed to be located. In 1966 the Israeli Parliament relocated to it's permanent location in 'Giveat Ram' and The Frumin House was given to the Ministry of Tourism. Since the year 2005 it used by the Ministry of Religions and the Rabbinical Courts are situated in that building. The corner stone for the establishment of the current parliament location in 'Giveat Ram' Jerusalem was laid in 1958.The building was developed by the architect Yosef Klarewine. The building was inaugurated in 1966 and it contains an assembly hall, commission's halls, chambers for the government and the members of the Knesset. A new wing was built an inaugurated this year, it is connected to the older part and most of the Knesset activities are taken place in the new part. The enrooting of the current location as 'The Knesset location' and the disappearance of the two prior locations from the Israeli national narrative is a symptom for a society that is lacking of a historical perspective or a society with a transient state.

Custom Search

Muziotopia (Chişinău / Iasi) 2008.

2008-11-24T07:39:00.001+01:00

Muziotopia (Chişinău / Iasi) 2008.

The project, which I was working on during the summer 2008, resulted in an investigation and documentation, regarding the forms of archiving and representing recent history in the public sphere.

My research consisted of photographing the on display collections and juxtaposing them with found footage from archives of those museums. Furthermore I searched for written information, which could shed light on the changes that those institutes were going through after 1989.
In the scope of my research I photographed in the following museums: The National Museum of Ethnography and Natural History, the National museum of history and Archeology, The National Museum of Fine Arts, The Pedagogical Museum, The Military Museum, The Union of the Writers museum, The Union of the public transport workers museum.
I photographed as well in the former buildings where some other museums connected directly to the former regime were located. Obviously those institutes ceased to exist after Moldavian independence in 1991.

As a result of my research, a clear and disturbing reflection evolved: I traced the process of omitting recent history that is present in those public institutes. Each institute tried to re-create its own concept and strategy of re-presenting the continuity and existence of the Moldavian state. Artifacts related to ancient history of the state where re-contextualized, while the artifacts and other archaeological exhibits dealing with recent history of XXI-XX century where removed and replaced with the other artifacts which support the new national discourse.
Reflecting on the idea of the museum as a cultural machine that produces the content for the group identity, a thought-provoking question emerged: how does national identity can be formed if the different presented narratives do not correspond one with each other?

To get a glimpse over the situation in Moldova at the Romanian side, I traveled to Iasi to photograph institutes alike. The three main museums for History, Art and Science - The Palace of Culture in Iasi were closed for renovations and I managed to photograph five houses of writers, the Museum of natural History and The Kogelnecanau House. Analyzing the situation in Iasi, led me to similar conclusions regarding the role of their museums in re-presenting and re-creating the national discourse.

Through this process, I wish to initiate question marks regarding the political truths that were shifting the Moldavia region in the last decades. A question is being raised to the extent of the national trauma that might be causing the Moldavian society to erase and reject any objective reference to the cultural and social atmosphere of the Soviet era. The role and responsibilities of cultural heritage institutions like the museums seems ambiguous in the light of the denial ideology they present to the public. Finally, a more general discussion is opened regarding the intersection of politics, history, culture and social participation in a period of rapid changes.

EXHIBITION
RO-MD/Moldova in Two Scenarios

21 of October - 10 of November 2008 (10.00-17.00)
Locations: The National Museum of Ethnography and Natural History (str. Kogalniceanu 82)
The Museum of Romanian Language M.Kogalniceanu (str. 31 August - 98).

Opening: 21 of October, 16.00, The National Museum of Ethnography and Natural History
Press conference: 21 of October,14.00, The National Museum of Ethnography and Natural History

The exhibition presents visual art projects as a result of interaction
between artist and experts (sociologists, historians, political
annalists) involved in this interdisciplinary project. The
participants investigated by juxtaposing the current cultural, social
and political situation in two Moldova regions (Moldova region from
Romania and the Republic of Moldova). The main project installation is
located in the National Museum of Ethnography and Natural History,
while the other projects are exhibited in The Museum of Romanian
Language M.Kogalniceanu. Along with the visual art projects will be
presented the video documentation of the colloquium from Iasi and the
audio files with the experts contributions. The participants analysed
and commented upon the former and current conditions of two patterns:
post-socialist and post-soviet of two societies, decades after the
collapse of eastern block and dismantling of Soviet Union. In the same
time the artists and experts looked closely in to the future scenarios
of the society's in question.

Participants:

The artists:

Dan Acostioaei/ Iasi

Denis Bartenev/ Chisinau
Bik van der Pol (Liesbeth Bik and Jos van der Pol)/Amsterdam
Maxim Cuzmenco/ Chisinau
Veaceslav Druta/ Chisinau
Tatiana Fiodorova/ Chisinau
Lavinia German/ Iasi
Alex Grigoras/ Iasi

Violeta Ionita/ Iasi

Gulsun Karamustafa/Istambul
Iratxe Jaio and Klaas van Gorkum/Amsterdam
Lucia Macari/Amsterdam-Chisinau
Tilmann Meyer-Faje/Amsterdam
Aurelia Mihai/ Bucharest-Hamburg
Dumitru Oboroc/ Iasi
Ghenadie Popescu/ Chisinau

Ilya Rabinovich/Amsterdam
Igor Scerbina/ Chisinau
Vadim Tiganas/ Chisinau
Vladimir Us/ Chisinau

The experts:

Igor Casu, Chisinau (historian)
Sorin Bocancea, Iasi (political analist)
Petru Negura, Chisinau (culturologists and sociologist)
Flavius Solomon, Iasi (historian)
Mihai Ursu, Chisinau (muzeum curator)

Curator: Stefan Rusu

Partners: The National Museum of Ethnography and Natural History, The Museum of Romanian Language M.Kogalniceanu,

National Museum of History and Archeology, Art College A.Plamadeala.

Media partners: magazine "Stare de Urgenta", magazine Contrafort

RO-MD/Moldova in Two Scenarios is a project organized by Contemporary
Art Center, Chisinau in partnership with VECTOR Association, Iasi that
consist in a series of interdisciplinary workshops, production of 3
documentary films ( 1 film produced by VECTOR Association and 2 others
by KSAK Center ), colloquium and seminars that took place in Iasi and
Chisinau, a project publication and final exhibition produced by KSAK
Center in Chisinau. The RO-MD/Moldova in Two Scenarios project
components - the films by Veaceslav Druta and Aurelia Mihai, also a
video documentation of the colloquium from Iasi were presented in the
frame of 8 Periferic Biennale (Art as Gift, 3-18 of October).

The project is supported by the Romanian Cultural Institute through
the CANTEMIR Program, Bucharest; PATTERNS Program /ERSTE Foundation,
Vienna and MONDRIAAN Stichting, Amsterdam.

*Center for Contemporary Art-[KSA:K] is a non-profit, independent
institution registered in the year 2000. The new strategy of the
Center is the development of cultural forms and art practices, which
would reflect the dynamic of the social, political and economic
transformations of the society. Center supports the advocacy
activities in promoting of cultural policies suitable for the defining
and the consolidation of artist position and contemporary art
practices in the society. (www.art.md)

* Vector> Association is a non-profit cultural association that
provides the production of exhibition and educational programs,
research and editing activities, analyzes of the relations between the
art practices and visual culture in socio-political context. Vector>
supports those practices related to social re-articulation, political
consciousness and economical transformation that brings critical
analyses that could offer reinterpretations of the attitudes and
behavior from the perspective of cultural action. (www.periferic.org)

Stefan Rusu – visual artist/curator
RO-MD/Moldova in two scenarios project curator

Details about the project:
Centrul pentru Artă Contemporană, Chişinău [KSA:K]
str. Independenţei 1,
tel. + 373 22 772507
tel./fax + 373 22 573395
http://www.art.md

This project was made possible with the support of THE NETHERLANDS FOUNDATION FOR VISUAL ARTS,DESIGN AND ARCHITECTURE

Custom Search

Rear Window installation, Be(com)ing Dutch Van Abbe Museum Eindhoven 2008

2008-11-24T07:34:00.000+01:00

images used for the installation

Installation view
exhibition

Be[com]ing Dutch

The Exhibition

24/05/2008 - 14/09/2008

Location: Van Abbemuseum
Curators: Annie Fletcher,Charles Esche
The exhibition Be(com)ing Dutch is part of a large scale project that has been in progress for two years. During that time, the museum has focused on what have become sensitive issues for the Netherlands, such as identity, nationality, citizenship and social cohesion. In those two years artists, intellectuals, politicians and the people of Eindhoven were invited to find possible answers to awkward questions. What does ‘Being Dutch' or ‘Becoming Dutch’ mean in the 21st Century? Who are ‘the Dutch’ anyway and how do we want to be seen by ourselves and others? The outcome of this whole process is being shown in an exhibition of artists’ works in the museum and throughout the city of Eindhoven.

Be(com)ing Dutch is unusual in the Netherlands because it takes on an outright political and social subject and translates it into artistic terms. Since 2006, when the Van Abbemuseum was awarded a prize that made it possible to turn our existing ideas into reality, the discussion in the Netherlands about who we are, where we come from, where we are heading and about our norms and values in a globalising world has become even more topical and urgent. The long term planning allowed the museum to talk with people at length and to organise major public discussions such as the Eindhoven Caucus. Now it is the turn of artists, many of whom have participated in all the stages of Be(com)ing Dutch, to show you what they have found. Twenty one of the thirty seven artists have conceived new works for the exhibition, guided by three broad directional themes: ‘Imaginary Past’, ‘ Imaginary Present’ and ‘Imaginary Future’. Look for more information about the complete Be(com)ing Dutch project at www.becomingdutch.com.

Charles Esche & Annie Fletcher

Be(com)ing Dutch activities & Art beyond the walls

The Question Paintings March
Saturday 24 May from 15:15 h.

Arabic course
25 May, 7, 21 and 28 June, 6 and 13 September

Johan van der Keuken - Amsterdam Global Village, 1996
28 and 29 June, 26 and 27 July, 30 and 31 August and 13 and 14 September at 12:00 hours

Phil Collins – Free fotolab (Eindhoven)
24 May until 28 July 2008

Libia Castro & Ólafur Ólafsson - Avant-garde Citizens
24 May until 14 September 2008

Erwin van Doorn - A Stop for the Crowd/ Halte voor de Menigte
24 May until 14 September 2008

The State of Translocality - Series in the State of Translocality
5 until 11 July 2008

Petra Bauer & Annette Krauss - Read the masks. Tradition is not given
30 August 2008

Ronen Eidelman - Means of survival
From 12 September 2008

Bik Van der Pol - Close Encounters
14 September 2008

With the artists:

Petra Bauer
Abdellatif Benfaidoul
Michael Blum
Libia Castro & Ólafur Ólafsson
Phil Collins
Carla Cruz
Gerrit Dekker
Erwin van Doorn
Ronen Eidelman
Ed van der Elsken
Hadassah Emmerich
Alexandra Ferreira
Daan van Golden
Rana Hamadeh
Nicoline van Harskamp
Alicia Herrero
Hans van Houwelingen
Johan van der Keuken Annette Krauss
Agung Kurniawan
Surasi Kusolwong
Toos Nijssen
Ahmet Öğüt
Wendelien van Oldenborgh
Bik Van der Pol
Ilya Rabinovich
Mario Rizzi
Mounira Al Solh
Fiona Tan
Alite Thijsen
Lidwien van de Ven
Tintin Wulia
Bettina Wind
Stephen Willats

The Mondriaan Foundation awarded its 2006 Development Prize for Cultural Diversity to the Van Abbemuseum for the Be(com)ing Dutch project. Within this project’s framework, the museum has organized a diversity of gatherings over the last two years resulting in The Be(com)ing Dutch exhibition.

A comprehensive catalogue will be published in spring 2009.

My contribution for the exhibtion:

'Rear Window ' - installation
Background :

Since my immigration to Amsterdam in 1998, I was always curious about the locals’ daily lives, which have been the subject for many conversations with international artists participants in the program of the Rijksakademie Van Beeldende Kunsten

I developed a fascination for the 'open curtains' phenomena, where one can easily view the private interior of people’s homes from the street level. In social conversations this served to present the locals as an example for how open minded the Dutch people living in Amsterdam are. A 'we have nothing to hide' attitude that proved to be restricted and limited in what I could actually observe when I tried to focus on it. At times, I could get a glance on small 'idyllic' scenes, mostly ones that I would associate with a music box scene: sweet, perfectly orchestrated and mechanical.

It was hard for me to accept that my looking into apartments and viewing private rooms was part of the norm. This relationship of the private space and the public sphere is one of the phenomena that distinguish Amsterdam from other European cities.

More recently I started 'peeping' with a telephoto-lens into some of these rooms and taking photographs of the scenes I find. On these occasions I do not stand in the street but rather ask acquaintances for a permission to use their windows in order to look into their neighbor's apartments. The results are ‘Rear Window Photographs’, the title of which references Alfred Hitchcock’s film. I am currently taking photographs for this project, and in April 2008 I will print them in Grafisch Atelier Daglicht (http://www.grafisch-atelier- daglicht.nl ) as silkscreen images on news print paper.
The Installation
For the exhibition 'Becoming Dutch', I made the following installation:
Upon entering the space, visitors received a small light with which they initiated a search and discovery of the installation. A large number of Rear Window Photographs in various sizes were spread around the space, waiting to be spotted, realized, and contemplated by the drifting visitor.

Coming across more and more images unwrapped the initial uneasiness caused by the dark, turning the search into a playful experience in which visitors became active participants. The photographs were printed using a silk-screen technique, a particular aesthetic that created a layer of unresolved tension throughout the viewing experience. An image that seemed sharp enough from a distance
became obscure on a closer look. In the accumulative process of encountering
new photographs and realizing their collective nature as 'rear window peeping
photographs', the participant was faced with an essential theme of the installation: the reflexive notion of voyeurism and its relation to the other.
Our capacity to look and to see ourselves through the eyes of others is at the core of our psychological formation. Social sanctions against "staring" or being "nosy" reflect deeply rooted cultural taboos which forbid looking too closely. An exception is made when, within the safety of a darkened auditorium and in the company of others, our urge to peep may be indulged and we may temporarily escape and forget who we are as we become involved in searching images in the space.

Places 1993-2006

2008-11-23T17:33:00.005+01:00

Places 1993-2006

Contemporary photography has taken postmodernist alienation and disenchantment as its subjects – whether through the built environment or through the human subject. But no critique of today’s postindustralist capitalism or the disenchantment with our former utopias quite prepares one for the utterly desolate world presented by the photographs in this book.
There are three, loosely grouped chapters: non-places, places of memory, and chairs. The photographs have been taken over a span of thirteen years, from 1993 to 2006. The chapters together constitute a journey that takes us to Moldavia, Israel, Germany, the Netherlands, Russia and Mexico. The book is the receptacle of the artist’s life, of a lifetime spent in emigration, yet all its places look alike, and all are devoid of people.
There is no one word in any European language to describe the state of being that is exile. Exile not merely understood as a fact of biography, but exile as a permanent inner condition. It is not just a state of longing or of homesickness, but rather of being forever unhomed, of never quite belonging wherever you may have settled down. It is a state that cannot be cured or altered, for it springs from a deep uprootedness of the soul. Losing your home means not just the loss of a place and the subsequent relocation in a foreign country. It means losing one’s cultural and social identity, one’s status within a community, the value and context of memory. Even if you are physically able to return, home is the one place you can never go back to; home is the permanent presence of absence.
Ilya Rabinovich’s photographs comprise a double figure of both exile and estrangement. The first, the outer figure, shows us the collective utopia of a better life turned into the impersonal hell of the globally uniform. Those apartment blocks, corridors, interiors, parking lots, cinemas, hotels, schools, and waiting rooms, testify of a culturally estranged world that is by now terribly familiar to us all. These places could be everywhere – and, in fact, they are. Sometimes we know from a palm tree that we are not in some Northern country, from a patch of snow that this is not the South. But even whatever there is of nature in these images seems oddly displaced. The occasional personalized touch to a building or an interior -- a tree wedged in a corner, a vase of flowers -- seems like an uneasy prop, all the better to reveal the hopelessness of ever calling places like these ‘home’. Many photographs leave one with a suffocating feeling of confinement. Those buildings and spaces testify to the lifestyle of a global middle class, or those striving to emulate it, and its standards of luxury, higher education, the exclusive neighbourhood, the better car. What emerges, page after page, is anonymity and cultural impoverishment. Places bereft of memory, corrupted by the pretentious fake and, above all, obsessed with a certain propriety, a normative behaviour excluding all else.
Most terrifying of all, however, is that there are no people in any of those places. Nothing alive is stirring there, not even a bird. When looking at these images, you are abandoned to loneliness, as if everyone has gone away, turned their back on you. It makes you yearn for human warmth, for the crowd to occupy the seats of the cinema once again, for a boy with a football to come skipping around the curb of a road, even for the visual swoosh of a passing car. But there is something in each and every one of these images that bars access to the life one knows must be going on in these places, access even to the places themselves. This exclusion, this desolation, is the second, inner figure of exile in these images, the one that sets them apart from any other type of postmodern photography: the exile that speaks of the life of the emigré.
A very carefully chosen technique brings about these effects of barring, of estrangement, of never quite owning the world you see. Sometimes there is an ever so slight shift in centrality, making you feel that something is wrong, dislocated; often the viewpoint is very low, like a child’s perspective of a classroom or a home. Sometimes the horizon is halfway up the image, creating a sense of floating, of the entire space being upside-down. Or of access barred by a stretch of empty space so wide it defies crossing. Sometimes there is a technical disruption of the perfection of the image, a form of wilful optical destruction enhancing the senselessness of the place.
Most postmodern photography can allow itself to be dispassionate, objective and critical because the intrinsic point of departure of its critique is a feeling of ownership, of belonging, of being part of the culture it portrays.
In Rabinovich’s case, the photographs do not represent or target postmodern alienation and displacement as a kind of moral photographic subject, even though today’s alienated human condition unmistakably emerges from those desolate photographed environments. It is as if the photographs themselves are desperately looking for a place to inhabit, a world to belong to, but find none.

Marianne Brouwer, October 2006

Hotel Rossiya project, Moscow 2005.

2008-11-23T17:25:00.015+01:00

A modernist complex of buildings, which was built in the middle of the sixties in Brezniev's time. It was the biggest in Europe with 2700 rooms, and was in use by party members coming outside of Moscow and also for important foreign guests. It's location next to the Kremlin on The Moscow River, visualized from one hand the ever-lasting apparatus ruling the Russian empire - The Kremlin and from the hand the bright new future that the rule of the Communist party was representing. In year 2005 I traveled to Moscow to photograph some of the interiors at 'Hotel Rossiya', and in January 2006 it was closed and demolished. While photographing I realized that this institute was actually representing the now days situation in Russia. Part of the buildings was not renovated and was for use of local tourists. Another part was rented out as offices for foreign companies. Another part was renovated and for foreign tourists. The cellar had tunnels going in the direction of the Kremlin. Hotel Rossiya represented for me possibility of investigating the connection between my backgrounds, growing up in communist republic and the way that power and authority were presented. It functioned as a forgotten time capsule, which I could briefly access.

This project was made possible with the support of THE NETHERLANDS FOUNDATION FOR VISUAL ARTS,DESIGN AND ARCHITECTURE