Sigal Barkai | Tel Aviv University (original) (raw)
Papers by Sigal Barkai
Arts Education Policy Review, Jul 1, 2022
Our paper addresses the stated need for art educators to develop inquiries into the history of no... more Our paper addresses the stated need for art educators to develop inquiries into the history of non-Western, non-Anglophone art education systems. In response, we look at data taken from the history of Israeli art education and the development of Israeli art curricula in order to offer a historical sketch of the development of school art curricula in Israel. We frame our sketch using the perspectives of multiculturalism and critical theory. In the course of our discussion we reference scholarship from North America and Europe. However, our focus is primarily on shifts in Israeli policy in the direction of acknowledging greater diversity and multiculturalism. We trace these themes, starting with pre-state Israel and concluding with contemporary Israeli concerns with equity and social justice. We note parallel concerns with the same social issues in scholarship from North America and Europe. The main purpose of this comparison is to bring attention to the “blind spots” and “black holes” in Israeli visual arts syllabi where both Arab and Jewish Eastern culture and esthetics have been overlooked. We note parallels between these omissions in the Israeli visual arts curricula and attempts to correct similar lacunae in North American visual arts education.
World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology, International Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, Jun 13, 2016
Palgrave Macmillan eBooks, Feb 17, 2014
One of the most intriguing and stimulating psychoanalytical concepts, “the Uncanny/’ was formulat... more One of the most intriguing and stimulating psychoanalytical concepts, “the Uncanny/’ was formulated by Sigmund Freud1 in his article of that name. Freud defined the uncanny as “belonging to all that is terrible - to all that arouses dread and creeping horror.”2 Amongst the complex of creeping and frightening things, Freud distinguishes a certain quality of the uncanny: “That class of the terrifying which leads back to some- thing long known to us, once very familiar” (ibid.). In German, the word Unheimlich means “domestic” in a negative sense: the unfamiliar, the non-homey. This is a contradictory term, however, articulating the unfamiliar and the familiar, the known and the unknown, hidden and mysterious. Freud concludes that there is a hidden threat deeply rooted inside the apparently safe and known.
The paper deals with questions of identities of native Israeli artists who chose to live out of t... more The paper deals with questions of identities of native Israeli artists who chose to live out of the country, or to move back and forth to and from it. It asks about the ways these wanderings are reflected in their artwork. "Historiographic Irony" is a hybrid notion, combining criticism of historical narratives concerning the Israeli state with ironic artistic expression. The article discusses the work of four contemporary artists who produce artworks in diverse techniques, such as video, performance and installation art. Yael Bartana, Erez Israeli and Tamir Zadok are artists who constantly deal with Israeli nationality and history in their artwork, using ironic components. In comparison, I examined the works of Mika Rottenberg, who is now a New York based artist. She is concerned with global social issues and neglected specific national identity altogether. All of them use visual irony as a means of reflecting and criticizing society. The analysis was done in awareness of the life stories of the artists, in an attempt to trace the ways they establish their identities through their art. I presupposed that these identities will be shaped in the in-between space of being an Israeli citizen and a citizen of the world. I asked how ironic expression appears in their work, what kind of irony do they use and in what ways does it serves them. The methodology combined visual analysis, interviews with the artists and analyzation of secondary discourses in the media. As theoretical background I used various fields of knowledge such as literature and language studies, Sociology, and Visual Culture studies. Definitions of Irony from other fields of knowledge were adjusted to art review and analysis. The findings point out that visual and artistic irony has many different goals in the use of historiographic fiction. It can bind an artist to his homeland and native society, or it can help to detach, or to heal the breaches in the in-between space. In comparison, when a detachment from any identification with a native origin occurs, the subjects of ironic art become cosmopolitan and ahistorical.
Contemporary Review of the Middle East, Sep 1, 2019
In the political reality of Israel, some symbols lie at the heart of the political, religious, na... more In the political reality of Israel, some symbols lie at the heart of the political, religious, national, and historical discourse that characterize the peoples and cultures living on the Israeli-Palestinian soil. Among these, the Temple Mount in Jerusalem is one of the most complex and conflictual symbols. The multiple religious claims to the Temple Mount-Jewish, Christian, and Muslim-are the subject of extensive study, but this article focuses on their reflection in contemporary Israeli art. In traditional Jewish art, the visual representations of the Temple or of Jews praying nearby expressed the longing of the Jews for generations to return to the Mount. In contrast, Yael Bartana and Nira Pereg view the multiple socio-political currents and religious rituals surrounding the Temple Mount as a reflection of the internal public debate regarding the face of the Israeli society today. This article discusses the contribution of their visual art to a conscious and aware discourse about the Israeli society and the underground currents that shape its contemporary identity. The analysis of their work tracks a "politics of aesthetics"-interpretation of the images within a socio-political context-and draws upon Israeli sociology, art history, and visual culture. In-depth personal interviews with the artists also inform the analysis.
Arts Education Policy Review, 2022
Our paper addresses the stated need for art educators to develop inquiries into the history of no... more Our paper addresses the stated need for art educators to develop inquiries into the history of non-Western, non-Anglophone art education systems. In response, we look at data taken from the history of Israeli art education and the development of Israeli art curricula in order to offer a historical sketch of the development of school art curricula in Israel. We frame our sketch using the perspectives of multiculturalism and critical theory. In the course of our discussion we reference scholarship from North America and Europe. However, our focus is primarily on shifts in Israeli policy in the direction of acknowledging greater diversity and multiculturalism. We trace these themes, starting with pre-state Israel and concluding with contemporary Israeli concerns with equity and social justice. We note parallel concerns with the same social issues in scholarship from North America and Europe. The main purpose of this comparison is to bring attention to the “blind spots” and “black holes” in Israeli visual arts syllabi where both Arab and Jewish Eastern culture and esthetics have been overlooked.
We note parallels between these omissions in the Israeli visual arts curricula and attempts to correct similar lacunae in North American visual arts education.
One of the most intriguing and stimulating psychoanalytical concepts, “the Uncanny/’ was formulat... more One of the most intriguing and stimulating psychoanalytical concepts, “the Uncanny/’ was formulated by Sigmund Freud1 in his article of that name. Freud defined the uncanny as “belonging to all that is terrible - to all that arouses dread and creeping horror.”2 Amongst the complex of creeping and frightening things, Freud distinguishes a certain quality of the uncanny: “That class of the terrifying which leads back to some- thing long known to us, once very familiar” (ibid.). In German, the word Unheimlich means “domestic” in a negative sense: the unfamiliar, the non-homey. This is a contradictory term, however, articulating the unfamiliar and the familiar, the known and the unknown, hidden and mysterious. Freud concludes that there is a hidden threat deeply rooted inside the apparently safe and known.
Neo-Diasporic Israeli Artists Multiple Forms of Belonging , 2021
This paper examines the works of two diasporic Israeli artists, Erez Israeli and Nir Hod, through... more This paper examines the works of two diasporic Israeli artists, Erez Israeli and Nir Hod, through the prism of their transnational existence, acknowledging the politics and ideology that informed their growing up in the Israeli nation-state. This ideology dichotomized the "wandering Jew" from the Jew residing on his land-the "new Jew" that Zionism aimed to produce. Through an analysis of their works before and after emigration, this paper reveals Israeli and Hod's artistic "play" as a method for resolving social and internal conflicts. The artists' identities, initially defined while they were still indigenous citizens of Israel, collide with interpretations of history, ethos, and life rituals after their departure from the homeland. The findings show that their emigration softened and broadened their worldviews, contributing to a more complex perception of personal and artistic identity. They went from a sarcastic critique of Zionist social beliefs that only a person who sees himself as "one of us" would allow himself, to displaying solidarity with the symbolic images that characterize Jews as victims and as an oppressed minority. We see the artists gradually develop a new "cultural identity", change their thinking, and merge the two former "opposites" of homeland and diaspora into a sequence of multiple forms of belonging.
Exhibition Book: Erez Israeli - Pretzelman Begins, Crone Gallery, Berlin, 2021, ISBN 978-3-00-070586-1., 2021
This is a Journey for the discovery of a new artistic image with a clean slate: the Pretzelman, a... more This is a Journey for the discovery of a new artistic image with a clean slate: the Pretzelman, a multi-purpose icon, born on a plane during a flight between two countries, in the ex-territory that lies between homeland and the Diaspora, a pure fabrication that allows the artist Erez Israeli to impose on it every possible fantasy, load it with a baggage of multiple identities - and examine them through this empty-vessel creature.
The Pretzelman emerged as a Jewish-German hybrid that allows for the exploration of any cultural construction that interests the artist, a "transitory object" that mediates the confusing reality for the Jewish emigrant from Israel. A vehicle for dealing with the emotional turbulences swarming underneath the surface of the Jewish-German history, allowing for a sober and ironic observation of both personal and social phenomena to appear.
Exhibition Book: Erez Israeli - Pretzelman Begins, Crone Gallery, Berlin, 2021
Journey for the discovery of a new artistic image with a clean slate: the Pretzelman, a multi-pur... more Journey for the discovery of a new artistic image with a clean slate: the Pretzelman, a multi-purpose icon, born on a plane during a flight between two countries, in the non-territory that lies between homeland and the Diaspora, a pure fabrication that allows the artist Erez Israeli to impose on it every possible fantasy and load it with a baggage of multiple identities. The Pretzelman emerged as a Jewish-German hybrid that allows for the exploration of any cultural construction, a "transitory object" that mediates the confusing reality for the Jewish emigrant from Israel. A vehicle for dealing with the emotional turbulences swarming underneath the surface of the Jewish-German history, allowing for a sober and ironic observation of both personal and social phenomena to appear.
The International Journal of Social, Political and Community Agendas in the Arts, 2021
World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology, International Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, 2016
The paper deals with questions of identities of native Israeli artists who chose to live out of t... more The paper deals with questions of identities of native Israeli artists who chose to live out of the country, or to move back and forth to and from it. It asks about the ways these wanderings are reflected in their artwork. "Historiographic Irony" is a hybrid notion, combining criticism of historical narratives concerning the Israeli state with ironic artistic expression. The article discusses the work of four contemporary artists who produce artworks in diverse techniques, such as video, performance and installation art. Yael Bartana, Erez Israeli and Tamir Zadok are artists who constantly deal with Israeli nationality and history in their artwork, using ironic components. In comparison, I examined the works of Mika Rottenberg, who is now a New York based artist. She is concerned with global social issues and neglected specific national identity altogether. All of them use visual irony as a means of reflecting and criticizing society. The analysis was done in awareness of ...
Contemporary Review of the Middle East
In the political reality of Israel, some symbols lie at the heart of the political, religious, na... more In the political reality of Israel, some symbols lie at the heart of the political, religious, national, and historical discourse that characterize the peoples and cultures living on the Israeli-Palestinian soil. Among these, the Temple Mount in Jerusalem is one of the most complex and conflictual symbols. The multiple religious claims to the Temple Mount—Jewish, Christian, and Muslim—are the subject of extensive study, but this article focuses on their reflection in contemporary Israeli art. In traditional Jewish art, the visual representations of the Temple or of Jews praying nearby expressed the longing of the Jews for generations to return to the Mount. In contrast, Yael Bartana and Nira Pereg view the multiple socio-political currents and religious rituals surrounding the Temple Mount as a reflection of the internal public debate regarding the face of the Israeli society today. This article discusses the contribution of their visual art to a conscious and aware discourse about ...
Contemporary Review of the Middle East, vol. 6, 3-4: pp. 238-251. , First Published September 25, 2019., 2019
Abstract In the political reality of Israel, some symbols lie at the heart of the political, rel... more Abstract
In the political reality of Israel, some symbols lie at the heart of the political, religious, national, and historical discourse that characterize the peoples and cultures living on the Israeli-Palestinian soil. Among these, the Temple Mount in Jerusalem is one of the most complex and conflictual symbols. The multiple religious claims to the Temple Mount—Jewish, Christian, and Muslim—are the subject of extensive study, but this article focuses on their reflection in contemporary Israeli art. In traditional Jewish art, the visual representations of the Temple or of Jews praying nearby expressed the longing of the Jews for generations to return to the Mount. In contrast, Yael Bartana and Nira Pereg view the multiple socio-political currents and religious rituals surrounding the Temple Mount as a reflection of the internal public debate regarding the face of the Israeli society today. This article discusses the contribution of their visual art to a conscious and aware discourse about the Israeli society and the underground currents that shape its contemporary identity. The analysis of their work tracks a “politics of aesthetics”—interpretation of the images within a socio-political context—and draws upon Israeli sociology, art history, and visual culture. In-depth personal interviews with the artists also inform the analysis.
This paper is based on my PHD dissertation, and reflects a study of 84 plays and theatrical perfo... more This paper is based on my PHD dissertation, and reflects a study of 84 plays and theatrical performances written and staged in Israel since the Six-Day War (1967), depicting the Israeli soldier as a protagonist. The methodology draws upon an inter-disciplinary approach, combining Theatre Studies, Sociology, Masculinity and Feminist Studies and Cultural Studies.
The Theater represented transitions and crises in the social acceptance of this figure, which occurred due to events that took place in social reality: wars, terrorism, peace treaties, and occupation.
Socio-psychological structures and collective beliefs that characterized Israeli society in different periods of time were detected through theater performances.
An analysis of the figure of a man, a soldier, a father and a son, both in private and public domain, over a period of four decades, has enabled the diagnosis of three different generations.
The chapter describes the coping of Israeli female artists with a special type of ‘Uncanny‘, def... more The chapter describes the coping of Israeli female artists with a special type of ‘Uncanny‘, defined here as the ‘Feminine Uncanny’. Following an exhibition curated by the author in a Tel Aviv gallery in 2012, she analyses the different representations of that notion, as it were manifested in the exhibited artworks. Freudian and Lacanian perceptions of the phallus, masculinity, castration anxiety and femininity underwent a reversal in meaning, so they could reflect the being of women in general and of Israeli women in particular. The analysis points out three different ways to address the fear of masculine violence: defiance, grotesque exaggeration and Silence.
Thesis Chapters by Sigal Barkai
This paper examines the development of LGTB representations in Israeli theater for four decades b... more This paper examines the development of LGTB representations in Israeli theater for four decades between 1970 and 2005. It focuses on plays that raised central themes in the Israeli experience: the relationship between homosexuality and the Holocaust, the relationship to the army and to militaristic existence and the connection between the Jewish religion, the state and LGTB issues. The main conclusion of the research was that during the years under study there was a significant social change in Israeli society that has changed from a racist society that is alienated to LGTB, to a more inclusive and tolerant one. The theater, alongside with other media, contributed to these changes in consciousness, which lead to real action in the social field.
Arts Education Policy Review, Jul 1, 2022
Our paper addresses the stated need for art educators to develop inquiries into the history of no... more Our paper addresses the stated need for art educators to develop inquiries into the history of non-Western, non-Anglophone art education systems. In response, we look at data taken from the history of Israeli art education and the development of Israeli art curricula in order to offer a historical sketch of the development of school art curricula in Israel. We frame our sketch using the perspectives of multiculturalism and critical theory. In the course of our discussion we reference scholarship from North America and Europe. However, our focus is primarily on shifts in Israeli policy in the direction of acknowledging greater diversity and multiculturalism. We trace these themes, starting with pre-state Israel and concluding with contemporary Israeli concerns with equity and social justice. We note parallel concerns with the same social issues in scholarship from North America and Europe. The main purpose of this comparison is to bring attention to the “blind spots” and “black holes” in Israeli visual arts syllabi where both Arab and Jewish Eastern culture and esthetics have been overlooked. We note parallels between these omissions in the Israeli visual arts curricula and attempts to correct similar lacunae in North American visual arts education.
World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology, International Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, Jun 13, 2016
Palgrave Macmillan eBooks, Feb 17, 2014
One of the most intriguing and stimulating psychoanalytical concepts, “the Uncanny/’ was formulat... more One of the most intriguing and stimulating psychoanalytical concepts, “the Uncanny/’ was formulated by Sigmund Freud1 in his article of that name. Freud defined the uncanny as “belonging to all that is terrible - to all that arouses dread and creeping horror.”2 Amongst the complex of creeping and frightening things, Freud distinguishes a certain quality of the uncanny: “That class of the terrifying which leads back to some- thing long known to us, once very familiar” (ibid.). In German, the word Unheimlich means “domestic” in a negative sense: the unfamiliar, the non-homey. This is a contradictory term, however, articulating the unfamiliar and the familiar, the known and the unknown, hidden and mysterious. Freud concludes that there is a hidden threat deeply rooted inside the apparently safe and known.
The paper deals with questions of identities of native Israeli artists who chose to live out of t... more The paper deals with questions of identities of native Israeli artists who chose to live out of the country, or to move back and forth to and from it. It asks about the ways these wanderings are reflected in their artwork. "Historiographic Irony" is a hybrid notion, combining criticism of historical narratives concerning the Israeli state with ironic artistic expression. The article discusses the work of four contemporary artists who produce artworks in diverse techniques, such as video, performance and installation art. Yael Bartana, Erez Israeli and Tamir Zadok are artists who constantly deal with Israeli nationality and history in their artwork, using ironic components. In comparison, I examined the works of Mika Rottenberg, who is now a New York based artist. She is concerned with global social issues and neglected specific national identity altogether. All of them use visual irony as a means of reflecting and criticizing society. The analysis was done in awareness of the life stories of the artists, in an attempt to trace the ways they establish their identities through their art. I presupposed that these identities will be shaped in the in-between space of being an Israeli citizen and a citizen of the world. I asked how ironic expression appears in their work, what kind of irony do they use and in what ways does it serves them. The methodology combined visual analysis, interviews with the artists and analyzation of secondary discourses in the media. As theoretical background I used various fields of knowledge such as literature and language studies, Sociology, and Visual Culture studies. Definitions of Irony from other fields of knowledge were adjusted to art review and analysis. The findings point out that visual and artistic irony has many different goals in the use of historiographic fiction. It can bind an artist to his homeland and native society, or it can help to detach, or to heal the breaches in the in-between space. In comparison, when a detachment from any identification with a native origin occurs, the subjects of ironic art become cosmopolitan and ahistorical.
Contemporary Review of the Middle East, Sep 1, 2019
In the political reality of Israel, some symbols lie at the heart of the political, religious, na... more In the political reality of Israel, some symbols lie at the heart of the political, religious, national, and historical discourse that characterize the peoples and cultures living on the Israeli-Palestinian soil. Among these, the Temple Mount in Jerusalem is one of the most complex and conflictual symbols. The multiple religious claims to the Temple Mount-Jewish, Christian, and Muslim-are the subject of extensive study, but this article focuses on their reflection in contemporary Israeli art. In traditional Jewish art, the visual representations of the Temple or of Jews praying nearby expressed the longing of the Jews for generations to return to the Mount. In contrast, Yael Bartana and Nira Pereg view the multiple socio-political currents and religious rituals surrounding the Temple Mount as a reflection of the internal public debate regarding the face of the Israeli society today. This article discusses the contribution of their visual art to a conscious and aware discourse about the Israeli society and the underground currents that shape its contemporary identity. The analysis of their work tracks a "politics of aesthetics"-interpretation of the images within a socio-political context-and draws upon Israeli sociology, art history, and visual culture. In-depth personal interviews with the artists also inform the analysis.
Arts Education Policy Review, 2022
Our paper addresses the stated need for art educators to develop inquiries into the history of no... more Our paper addresses the stated need for art educators to develop inquiries into the history of non-Western, non-Anglophone art education systems. In response, we look at data taken from the history of Israeli art education and the development of Israeli art curricula in order to offer a historical sketch of the development of school art curricula in Israel. We frame our sketch using the perspectives of multiculturalism and critical theory. In the course of our discussion we reference scholarship from North America and Europe. However, our focus is primarily on shifts in Israeli policy in the direction of acknowledging greater diversity and multiculturalism. We trace these themes, starting with pre-state Israel and concluding with contemporary Israeli concerns with equity and social justice. We note parallel concerns with the same social issues in scholarship from North America and Europe. The main purpose of this comparison is to bring attention to the “blind spots” and “black holes” in Israeli visual arts syllabi where both Arab and Jewish Eastern culture and esthetics have been overlooked.
We note parallels between these omissions in the Israeli visual arts curricula and attempts to correct similar lacunae in North American visual arts education.
One of the most intriguing and stimulating psychoanalytical concepts, “the Uncanny/’ was formulat... more One of the most intriguing and stimulating psychoanalytical concepts, “the Uncanny/’ was formulated by Sigmund Freud1 in his article of that name. Freud defined the uncanny as “belonging to all that is terrible - to all that arouses dread and creeping horror.”2 Amongst the complex of creeping and frightening things, Freud distinguishes a certain quality of the uncanny: “That class of the terrifying which leads back to some- thing long known to us, once very familiar” (ibid.). In German, the word Unheimlich means “domestic” in a negative sense: the unfamiliar, the non-homey. This is a contradictory term, however, articulating the unfamiliar and the familiar, the known and the unknown, hidden and mysterious. Freud concludes that there is a hidden threat deeply rooted inside the apparently safe and known.
Neo-Diasporic Israeli Artists Multiple Forms of Belonging , 2021
This paper examines the works of two diasporic Israeli artists, Erez Israeli and Nir Hod, through... more This paper examines the works of two diasporic Israeli artists, Erez Israeli and Nir Hod, through the prism of their transnational existence, acknowledging the politics and ideology that informed their growing up in the Israeli nation-state. This ideology dichotomized the "wandering Jew" from the Jew residing on his land-the "new Jew" that Zionism aimed to produce. Through an analysis of their works before and after emigration, this paper reveals Israeli and Hod's artistic "play" as a method for resolving social and internal conflicts. The artists' identities, initially defined while they were still indigenous citizens of Israel, collide with interpretations of history, ethos, and life rituals after their departure from the homeland. The findings show that their emigration softened and broadened their worldviews, contributing to a more complex perception of personal and artistic identity. They went from a sarcastic critique of Zionist social beliefs that only a person who sees himself as "one of us" would allow himself, to displaying solidarity with the symbolic images that characterize Jews as victims and as an oppressed minority. We see the artists gradually develop a new "cultural identity", change their thinking, and merge the two former "opposites" of homeland and diaspora into a sequence of multiple forms of belonging.
Exhibition Book: Erez Israeli - Pretzelman Begins, Crone Gallery, Berlin, 2021, ISBN 978-3-00-070586-1., 2021
This is a Journey for the discovery of a new artistic image with a clean slate: the Pretzelman, a... more This is a Journey for the discovery of a new artistic image with a clean slate: the Pretzelman, a multi-purpose icon, born on a plane during a flight between two countries, in the ex-territory that lies between homeland and the Diaspora, a pure fabrication that allows the artist Erez Israeli to impose on it every possible fantasy, load it with a baggage of multiple identities - and examine them through this empty-vessel creature.
The Pretzelman emerged as a Jewish-German hybrid that allows for the exploration of any cultural construction that interests the artist, a "transitory object" that mediates the confusing reality for the Jewish emigrant from Israel. A vehicle for dealing with the emotional turbulences swarming underneath the surface of the Jewish-German history, allowing for a sober and ironic observation of both personal and social phenomena to appear.
Exhibition Book: Erez Israeli - Pretzelman Begins, Crone Gallery, Berlin, 2021
Journey for the discovery of a new artistic image with a clean slate: the Pretzelman, a multi-pur... more Journey for the discovery of a new artistic image with a clean slate: the Pretzelman, a multi-purpose icon, born on a plane during a flight between two countries, in the non-territory that lies between homeland and the Diaspora, a pure fabrication that allows the artist Erez Israeli to impose on it every possible fantasy and load it with a baggage of multiple identities. The Pretzelman emerged as a Jewish-German hybrid that allows for the exploration of any cultural construction, a "transitory object" that mediates the confusing reality for the Jewish emigrant from Israel. A vehicle for dealing with the emotional turbulences swarming underneath the surface of the Jewish-German history, allowing for a sober and ironic observation of both personal and social phenomena to appear.
The International Journal of Social, Political and Community Agendas in the Arts, 2021
World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology, International Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, 2016
The paper deals with questions of identities of native Israeli artists who chose to live out of t... more The paper deals with questions of identities of native Israeli artists who chose to live out of the country, or to move back and forth to and from it. It asks about the ways these wanderings are reflected in their artwork. "Historiographic Irony" is a hybrid notion, combining criticism of historical narratives concerning the Israeli state with ironic artistic expression. The article discusses the work of four contemporary artists who produce artworks in diverse techniques, such as video, performance and installation art. Yael Bartana, Erez Israeli and Tamir Zadok are artists who constantly deal with Israeli nationality and history in their artwork, using ironic components. In comparison, I examined the works of Mika Rottenberg, who is now a New York based artist. She is concerned with global social issues and neglected specific national identity altogether. All of them use visual irony as a means of reflecting and criticizing society. The analysis was done in awareness of ...
Contemporary Review of the Middle East
In the political reality of Israel, some symbols lie at the heart of the political, religious, na... more In the political reality of Israel, some symbols lie at the heart of the political, religious, national, and historical discourse that characterize the peoples and cultures living on the Israeli-Palestinian soil. Among these, the Temple Mount in Jerusalem is one of the most complex and conflictual symbols. The multiple religious claims to the Temple Mount—Jewish, Christian, and Muslim—are the subject of extensive study, but this article focuses on their reflection in contemporary Israeli art. In traditional Jewish art, the visual representations of the Temple or of Jews praying nearby expressed the longing of the Jews for generations to return to the Mount. In contrast, Yael Bartana and Nira Pereg view the multiple socio-political currents and religious rituals surrounding the Temple Mount as a reflection of the internal public debate regarding the face of the Israeli society today. This article discusses the contribution of their visual art to a conscious and aware discourse about ...
Contemporary Review of the Middle East, vol. 6, 3-4: pp. 238-251. , First Published September 25, 2019., 2019
Abstract In the political reality of Israel, some symbols lie at the heart of the political, rel... more Abstract
In the political reality of Israel, some symbols lie at the heart of the political, religious, national, and historical discourse that characterize the peoples and cultures living on the Israeli-Palestinian soil. Among these, the Temple Mount in Jerusalem is one of the most complex and conflictual symbols. The multiple religious claims to the Temple Mount—Jewish, Christian, and Muslim—are the subject of extensive study, but this article focuses on their reflection in contemporary Israeli art. In traditional Jewish art, the visual representations of the Temple or of Jews praying nearby expressed the longing of the Jews for generations to return to the Mount. In contrast, Yael Bartana and Nira Pereg view the multiple socio-political currents and religious rituals surrounding the Temple Mount as a reflection of the internal public debate regarding the face of the Israeli society today. This article discusses the contribution of their visual art to a conscious and aware discourse about the Israeli society and the underground currents that shape its contemporary identity. The analysis of their work tracks a “politics of aesthetics”—interpretation of the images within a socio-political context—and draws upon Israeli sociology, art history, and visual culture. In-depth personal interviews with the artists also inform the analysis.
This paper is based on my PHD dissertation, and reflects a study of 84 plays and theatrical perfo... more This paper is based on my PHD dissertation, and reflects a study of 84 plays and theatrical performances written and staged in Israel since the Six-Day War (1967), depicting the Israeli soldier as a protagonist. The methodology draws upon an inter-disciplinary approach, combining Theatre Studies, Sociology, Masculinity and Feminist Studies and Cultural Studies.
The Theater represented transitions and crises in the social acceptance of this figure, which occurred due to events that took place in social reality: wars, terrorism, peace treaties, and occupation.
Socio-psychological structures and collective beliefs that characterized Israeli society in different periods of time were detected through theater performances.
An analysis of the figure of a man, a soldier, a father and a son, both in private and public domain, over a period of four decades, has enabled the diagnosis of three different generations.
The chapter describes the coping of Israeli female artists with a special type of ‘Uncanny‘, def... more The chapter describes the coping of Israeli female artists with a special type of ‘Uncanny‘, defined here as the ‘Feminine Uncanny’. Following an exhibition curated by the author in a Tel Aviv gallery in 2012, she analyses the different representations of that notion, as it were manifested in the exhibited artworks. Freudian and Lacanian perceptions of the phallus, masculinity, castration anxiety and femininity underwent a reversal in meaning, so they could reflect the being of women in general and of Israeli women in particular. The analysis points out three different ways to address the fear of masculine violence: defiance, grotesque exaggeration and Silence.
This paper examines the development of LGTB representations in Israeli theater for four decades b... more This paper examines the development of LGTB representations in Israeli theater for four decades between 1970 and 2005. It focuses on plays that raised central themes in the Israeli experience: the relationship between homosexuality and the Holocaust, the relationship to the army and to militaristic existence and the connection between the Jewish religion, the state and LGTB issues. The main conclusion of the research was that during the years under study there was a significant social change in Israeli society that has changed from a racist society that is alienated to LGTB, to a more inclusive and tolerant one. The theater, alongside with other media, contributed to these changes in consciousness, which lead to real action in the social field.
This paper examines the development of LGTB representations in Israeli theater for four decades b... more This paper examines the development of LGTB representations in Israeli theater for four decades between 1970 and 2005. It focuses on plays that raised central themes in the Israeli experience: the relationship between homosexuality and the Holocaust, the relationship to the army and to militaristic existence and the connection between the Jewish religion, the state and LGTB issues. The main conclusion of the research was that during the years under study there was a significant social change in Israeli society that has changed from a racist society that is alienated to LGTB, to a more inclusive and tolerant one. The theater, alongside with other media, contributed to these changes in consciousness, which lead to real action in the social field.
Observative pedagogy and world mending, pp. 261-284, 2022
This article presents the profound connection between observation, art and art teaching. Observat... more This article presents the profound connection between observation, art and art teaching. Observation is the source of creativity, a tool for theoretical learning, a source of inspiration, a way of evaluation and a basis for sensitive hearkening by the teacher and the student. Like teaching yoga, teaching art requires dedication, inter-personal kinship and deep trust.
Interviews with students and a teacher at a high school for the arts In Israel illustrate the personal exposure and the emotional connection in teaching art. Against this background, Barkai courageously examines the dangers and the gray ethical areas. The article offers an ethics of proper teaching, as developed in the wisdom of ancient yoga, as a key to setting boundaries in the teacher-student relationship in teaching art. (From the introduction to the book: "Observative pedagogy and world mending", Ha'Kibbutz Ha'Meuhad Publishing House and Mofet Institute, 2022, in Hebrew.)
אירוניה היסטוריוגרפית השפה החזותית של האירוניה באומנות הישראלית, 2021
Forthcoming publication: אירוניה היסטוריוגרפית השפה החזותית של האירוניה באומנות הישראלית In the ... more Forthcoming publication:
אירוניה היסטוריוגרפית השפה החזותית של האירוניה
באומנות הישראלית
In the book:
שדה האוריינות החזותית: שיטוט מקומי במרחבים של תיאוריה, יישום ופרשנות
Editor: Malka Ben-Peshat
עורכת: מלכה בן פשט
הוצאה: תל-אביב: הוצאת מופ"ת
Research interests:
שפה חזותית, אירוניה היסטוריוגרפית, אומנות ישראלית, אומנות
פוליטית, טרנס-לאומיות, וידיאו ארט, ניתוח סוציו-חזותי, יעל ברתנא, תמיר צדוק,
ארז ישראלי, מיקה רוטנברג