Ronen.Dvarim — Deuteronomy – projects, pictures and words

Project made for The Prozna Project 2009. Prozna Street is the only street in Warsaw which survived the destruction of the ghetto.

In Jewish tradition upon first moving in to a new house, it is customary to leave a certain space on the wall free of decoration and furnishing as a remembrance of the destruction of the Temple (zecher lachurban). In many Jewish religious homes one can see a small square, usually around the size of a few bricks (+-45cm), with no plaster, paint or finishing – the material of the wall exposed. Similar to the tradition of breaking a glass in wedding, the costume reminds us that no happiness can be perfect and we should remember the churban (the destruction and in Yiddish also the word used for the Holocaust) also in times of celebration.

The building in Prozna st. is all a zecher lachurban, the bricks are exposed and there is no plaster or paint – contrast to the new big fancy building in center Warsaw. These marking in the corners of the building are a reverse to the old costume – a remembrance for the living - Zecher Lahaim – A symbolic gesture of remembrance for life, for those who lived, for the homes and families who lived there and for those who are still living.

Building on Prozna st. with my project on right bottom corner (the photos of the old Jews are not related to me, its a n old permanent installation on the building). click picture to enlarge.

more photos in flickr

A street art action on public historic perception, Budapest, Hungary, June 2009

Commemorative plaques, a plate of metal, ceramic, stone, or other material, are attached to the walls of many buildings are very common in Budapest. The plaques, bearing text in memory of an important figure that lived in the building (or event that happened there), are written in Hungarian and usually give you a condensed of the important person, the years they lived, and what they are famous for.
Visiting Budapest I was fascinated by these plaques – the amount, the different designs but mostly wondering as a non Hungarian speaker who are these people, what did they do to deserve a plaque and who decides who gets one. I asked myself if these people who are commemorated are really important to the people who live near and in the buildings where they are attached. In addition, I wanted to learn more about the choices made in Hungarian culture about who is considered important.
The week before the opening of CONTROL an Exhibition at 2B Gallery in Budapest that I participated in,  Orsolya Fenyresi, who was my assistant and translator, and I,  explored the different plaques on Ráday Street (the street of the gallery) and it surroundings. We interviewed the people living in the buildings and passersby and  asked them and who ever was willing to talk to us – if they heard about the people named on the plaques, and if they did  – how they felt about them.  At the end we googled the names to check the stories we gathered  and find more information.
With the information gathered, I wrote new texts, printed them with a basic design on marbled paper and hung my newly produced “street story” plaques witch I hung next to the original ones.

photos by Dazz

The texts of the “new plaque”s: Read More »

Ma’achaz (outpost ; handhold, foothold ; stronghold) marks the first participation of Medinat Weimar at the Venice Biennale. Rather than adopt to the reality that the Jewish state in Thuringia does not exist and the movement for the state has no financial ability to rent a space and hold a decent exhibition (like the Palestinian and gypsy participations), Medinat Weimar decided in the spirit of Zionism to defer reality and settle with a symbolic Pavilion at Giardini.

Medinat Weimar at the 53rd Venice Biennale

Liberating Space Through Art and Action:

Along Jerusalem Boulevard, the entrance into Jaffa, Radio Free Jaffa will be making a radio intervention into all radio transmissions in the proximity.

Radio Free Jaffa offers free space which is much needed in Jaffa, and deals with the current social and political situation in Jaffa by highlighting the housing crises and the evictions of Arab residents from the city.

Radio Free Jaffa will be roaming through Jaffa with a human antenna, broadcasting in close-range. It may not be noticeable, but if your radio starts behaving strangely, you can assume we are in the area.

The project will take place between 19-23.4.09 | The public is invited to join on Thursday 23.4.09, 10:00-12:00 and 15:00 – 18:00 | Please bring a portable radio for listening. Look for us on Jerusalem Blvd. at the northern entrance to Jaffa.

Please visit website to learn more: www.radiofreejaffa.com

Radio Free Jaffa is Kasia Krakowiak in cooperation with Ronen Eidelman.

Paul M. from the blog inicios.es made a nice interview with me. Enjoy!

The Israeli artist Ronen Eidelman shares with us his views about how art fights discrimination in our societies, the artist’s role, the relationship between activist artists and the topics they deal with, his new project of founding a Jewish state in Germany… And many other interesting topics I’m sure you’ll enjoy. I met Ronen last summer at a conference series within the framework of a Palestinian-Israeli exhibition at the Essl Museum, where I couldn’t help getting the impression that what the audience had to say (mostly artists from Israel) was by far much more interesting that what the speakers were -in a very politically correct way- conveying. One of those artists in the audience was Ronen and I think I was quite right…

read interview

In August 2008, Ronen Eidelman, known as The Artist, was invited by the Van Abbemuseum to conceive an art project for the Be(com)ing Dutch exhibition. Through bronze plaques, which he has created and installed throughout the city, he highlights the means of survival of people who are excluded from Dutch society. He aspires to portray them as heroes, resisters to an unjust system, political subjects who fight for their dignity, rights and freedom. The Artist received an honorarium from the museum. By working on these bizarre projects, and through journalistic work he does part time, he manages to live a happy and modest lifestyle in his base in Tel Aviv.

The project can be seen by those willing to explore city of Eindhoven and locate the series of plaques in the sites where these stories were told by their heroes. Hints on the locations can be found in the pictures.

Note: Gallery may take some time to load on slower connections.
Click arrows on bottom right to enlarge and then click image for details.

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I’m participating in the Be[com]ing Dutch exhibition that is opening this week, but I will be creating a project my at the end of August. My work will be installed in different public places around the city. more information will follow closer to the instalment.

Be[com]ing Dutch
Van Abbemuseum
Eindhoven, NL
24/05/08 – 14/09/08

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, Oğuz Tatari, Alite Thijsen, Lidwien van de Ven, Tintin Wulia, Bettina Wind, Stephen Willats

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’. Enjoy!

Charles Esche & Annie Fletcher

http://www.vanabbemuseum.nl/

All the photos from the project The Israeli Border police (Magav) in Weimar can be viewed (also in high-rez) with descriptions at my Flickr account: http://www.flickr.com/photos/maarav/sets/72157603830651117

The videos can be seen at on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/amhaaretz

Magav in front of the salon (my house)

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hey, hello…
these are the comments made by the woman from the LandesverwaltungsAmt (Gauforum) made in regard to the jeep being parked on their property:
First, that all the property is theirs and public art is great, but you should ask for permission…
Then, that the Gauforum has such an ugly history in itself that they need to watch out about what messages are being sent and that she didn’t understand what this Russian military jeep is supposed to mean.
also, that recently the public access to the building, which was always permitted has been removed and quite a few people were upset about it. in these regards this symbol of military protection might be seen within that context…and could cause further reactions from the public.

oh, she also was warning about a possible problem with the police in case your shopping cart was ’stolen’ from a supermarket….
i think that was roughly it.
see u
Catherine

Magav in front of the German National Theatre

The photos from the project The Israeli Border police (Magav) in Weimar can be viewed (also in high-rez) with descriptions at my Flickr account: http://www.flickr.com/photos/maarav/sets/72157603830651117/

Original photo of jeep: Activestills.org
Photos: Anna Gierster, Catherine Grau, Laura Straßer, Nicolas Vionnet and Mike Young.
Videos: Kristina Draskovic and Catherine Grau.
Thanks!