New York Times art critic, Roberta Smith, observed: “Small though it is, Israel has been providing more than its share of artistic talent to the global art circuit, especially where video and performance art are concerned.“ (NYT, 08/12/2010, page A12)
I am looking forward to meeting the SIIS fellows for two sessions this summer, one at Brandeis University and one in Israel, at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art.
At Brandeis University
June 30, 2017 – 8:30-10:30 am
Contemporary Video art from Israeli and Palestinian artists
During the session on campus – we will view, analyze and interpret visual culture from Israel – with emphasis on contemporary video art. Given our limited time together, rather than trace a chronological narrative (which can be easily found in books, articles and even online resources), we will concentrate on major thematic foci, iconographical sources, and the diverse regional, political, and art historical contexts within which Israeli visual culture is being produced today.
At the Tel-Aviv Museum of Art
July 12, 2017 – 1:30-3:30 pm
Our second meeting at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art will examine the story of Israeli art, narrated by the Museum’s curators.
Select Bibliography
You are not required to read anything in preparation for this session. Suggested background readings, listed below.
Background reading:
- • Hutchinson, John and Anthony D. Smith, eds., Nationalism, Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1994
- • Rabinovich, Itamar and Jehuda Reinharz, eds., Israel in the Middle East: Documents and Readings on Society, Politics, And Foreign Relations, Pre-1948 to the Present, Waltham: Brandeis University Press, 2008.
- • Said, Edward, Orientalism, New York, 1978.
Israeli Art History:
- • New York, The Jewish Museum, In the Shadow of Conflict: Israeli Art 1980-1989, May 10-August 6, 1989 (exh. cat.)
- • Kampf, Avram, Jewish Experience in the Art of the Twentieth Century, South Hadley, MA: Bergin and Garvey, 1984, pp. 144-175.
- • Ofrat, Gideon, One Hundred Years of Israel Art, Boulder: Westview, 1998, pp. 21-33.
- • Zalmona, Ygal, Artists of Israel, 1920-1980, the Jewish Museum, New York, 1981 (exh. cat.) with essays by Moshe Barasch and Ygal Zalmona
Film and Music:
- • Loshitzky, Yosefa, Identity Politics on the Israeli Screen, Austin, University of Texas Press, 2002.
- • Regev, Motti and Edwin Seroussi, Popular Music and National Culture in Israel, Berkeley, University of California Press, 2004.
- • Shohat, Ella, Israeli Cinema: East/West and the Politics of Representation, Austin, University of Texas Press, 1989.
Arab artists from Israel:
- • Ankori, Gannit, Palestinian Art, London, 2006, chapter 8.
Hebrew and Israeli literature:
- • Dan Miron: From Continuity to Contiguity: Toward a New Jewish Literary Thinking (2010)
- • Hannan Hever: Producing the Modern Hebrew Canon: Nation Building and Minority Discourse (2001)
- • Yael Feldman: Glory and Agony: Isaac’s Sacrifice and National Narrative (2010)
Documentaries:
- • Pillar of Fire: A Television History of Israel’s Rebirth (IBA) Creator and Scriptwriter: Yigal Lossin, 1986
- • Tkuma: The First Fifty Years 1948-1998 (IBA) Editor and Producer: Steve Edwards, 1998
- • The Gatekeepers, Director: Dror Moreh, 2012.