The caravan (RV) that was converted into a mobile studio that includes solar powered electricity and full multimedia equipment. The mobile studio enables full-time interventions in diverse spheres – urban and open spaces, which will be transmitted in real time. The journey, meetings, events and everything that will happen during these nine days will be streamed through Internet video twenty four seven via this website set up for the project

On the first day of Av (the evening of July 11^th) artists Guy Briller and Ronen Eidelman will leave for a nine day journey throughout historic Eretz Yisrael-Palestina  (land of Israel Palestine), travelling in the footsteps of past destructions and in fear of (god forbid) the destructions that could come.

The journey will take place via a caravan (RV) that was converted into a mobile studio that includes solar powered electricity and full multimedia equipment. The mobile studio enables fulltime interventions in diverse spheres – urban and open spaces, which will be transmitted in real time. The journey, meetings, events and everything that will happen during the nine days of the journey will be streamed through internet video twenty four seven via the website set up for the project.

www.thebproject.org

“Nine Days in Av” is a journey that takes place in the current Israeli Palestinian situation.

“The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem… An ox knows his owner and a donkey his master’s crib; Israel does not know, my people does not consider… Your ministers are rebellious and companions of thieves; everyone loves bribes and runs after payments; the orphan they do not judge, and the quarrel of the widow does not come to them…” Isaiah, chapter 1, from the Haftara reading from the Sabbath before 9^th of Av.

Throughout the journey Briller and Eidelman will meet talk and listen to the different people who live between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River. At these meetings, they will explore the different concepts and relevance to the past tragedies; causes and consequences.

Jewish tradition relates to the period of the journey The Nine Days” the first nine days of the Jewish month of Av, as a time of mourning and reduction of joy. The period culminates in Tisha B’Av (9^th day of Av) which commemorates the destruction of the first and second Temples in Jerusalem and many other tragedies that came upon the Jewish people. According to tradition the Temple was destroyed because of Sinat Chinam - Baseless Hatred. During the journey the artists wish to bypass the hatred and replace it with Ahavat Chinam – Baseless Love.

During the journey Briller and Eidelman will hold prearranged meetings with individuals with unique voices that are barley heard through the media racket and are active in their various communities: political activist, neighborhood organizers, union members, artists, religious leaders, poets, philosophers, refugees and unrecognized citizens, Arabs and Jews. These meetings will happen alongside unplanned meetings with people who live or who roam the region and are also concerned with the future of this land.

The planned route will start in Jerusalem; will go west to Tel Aviv, south via Holon, Bat-Yam, and Ashdod to Bersheba and the Bedouin Diaspora, north to South Mount Hebron, Hebron and Gush Etzion, continuing through Palestinian territories (Area C). From there it will the route will continue through the Jordan Valley towards the Galilee visiting Maghar, Nazareth and Kilil. Swinging south via the Mediterranean shore, to Binyamina an Modi’in and Bilin  and then back to Jerusalem for Ninth of Av eve.

The journey  is like a sort of “big brother” on wheels that will include in addition to the streaming live video, text updates (twitter) photos, and video clips edited on the road. The whereabouts of the caravan can also be followed via GPS system. However, in contrast to the “big brother” television show, Eidelman and Briller will be in movement, will meet fascinating people, have sincere conversation and will create interesting, real and honest content about our life here in this land.

A blog with texts, pictures and videos from a personal point of view of the artisst and where anyone can comment and respond to the project will be created.

www.thebproject.org/nineblog

The journey will take place from the evening from July 11^th -20^th

Around the city of Lublin Poland, on empty buildings as well as inhabited ones, in the alleys of the old city and on streets of the newer parts, I posted photos of different kinds of Jew people who lived on these streets in these houses of the center of Lublin in between in the nineteen twenties till 1941.
In a modest gesture, I return the people in the photos to the place they were taken.
The photos show all kind of Jews. Young, old, modern, religious, political activist, Bundist, Zionist, nihilists, bourgeois, Hasidic, yeshiva student, communist, who knows? In some photos the identity is clearly visible, while in others it’s not so clear.
Near the photos appear different questions in polish:
Czy zawsze czu?e? si? inny od swoich przyjació?? / Have you always felt different from your friends?
Czy w twojej rodzinie jest wielka tajemnica? / Does your family hide a great mystery/secret?
Czy twoja babcia mamrocze w obcym j?zyku przez sen? / Does your grandmother mumble in her sleep in a foreign tongue?
Jakim ?ydem jeste?? What kind of Jew are you?

to see captions with explanation of the source of image and translation make flickr full screen (4 arrows on bottom right) and then click on picture

The project was made as part of the Open City Festival – Festival of art in public  spaces. Lublin, Poland. curator: Krzysztof Zwirblis / Studio Gallery

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: Continue reading →