While in graduate school I wrote up a proposal for making aliyah (the hebrew word for ascending to the state of israel) to the Jewish Autonomous Oblast in far Eastern Russia. There is a possibility that V and I will realize some form of the project this summer (depending on funding). The original proposal follows and some associated posts with the beginning of a research.
Making Aliyah
Nathaniel Katz and Valentina Curandi
I am proposing a conceptual video of my immigration to the Jewish Autonomous Oblast in Russia. The concept derives from the implied duty of Jews in diaspora to immigrate (make Aliya) to the State of Israel.
In 1934 Joseph Stalin created the Jewish Autonomous Oblast (JAO) in the far eastern region of the country. Stalin believed that creating a Jewish state in the Soviet Union would provide Soviet Jews with an alternative to the desire to move to Palestine and would redirect their loyalty to the Soviet state.
In 1979 my parents went in search of a communal Jewish lifestyle. We moved to the state of Israel; I was four years old. We lived on a kibbutz, a secular Jewish agricultural socialist settlement for nine years. My parents fulfilled their duty to populate the state of Israel.
The conceptual premise of the work is that I would like to fulfill my duty as a Jew much like my parents did, however, given the political situation in the state of Israel I would like to immigrate to the other Jewish homeland, in Russia.
I will make a video piece that is a fictional staging of Aliyah to the JAO. I will pursue the promise of building a Jewish homeland. I will make the rigorous voyage across Russia to arrive in the distant region. Upon arrival I will claim the promised parcel of land. Once I have secured a parcel of land I will cultivate it and seek my Jewish community.
A couple of months ago v and i were asked to participate in 1 hour art, an Italian/international project based in Bologna from the curators Viviana Checchia and Anna Santomauro. The project proposes the question “Have you ever thought about one hour of contemporary art at home?” and offers an index of proposals by Italian artists all over the world of a one hour art project that they will enact in your home if interested. Looking through the website and proposals we realized just how distant they are from any actual person inviting them to their house. At the same time, since arriving in Milan we have felt quite isolated from any art community and wondering if one even exists in an Italian contemporary art scene that values commodity over exchange. In fact many of the artists listed are no longer even based in Italy, choosing instead the more fertile contemporary art grounds of New York, Berlin, London. So, we decided as our proposal to create the conditions possible for the realization of the other 1 hour art projects by taking the role of the “ordinary” individuals being sought, and requesting the realization of a project for us. Through this we hope to get in touch with some artists and start a conversation about the potential for contemporary art practices in Italy. While you would think that Milan would be a good starting place for having a project realized, we still have not been able to schedule a time when one of the artists are present and available. Possibly next week we will host a visit in our apartment. However, while we were in Berlin we were presented with an option of three different available artists. Since we didn’t have a home to host the art in Berlin, we asked for an alternative proposal. Enrico Bressan proposed the following project for us:
“…a very short performance inside the Tacheles building. The Kunsthaus Tacheles, constructed in 1907, is a former department store which now houses a self-organized collective of artists on Oranienburgerstr. 54-56a in Berlin-Mitte. Though today Tacheles is a popular art center with a nightclub, the lease with the property owner expired with the end of 2008 and the future of the art house is uncertain.
After the many insistent voices about a probable demolition of the building I’d like to improvise a little tribute to this original art space. The impression when you are inside the entrance hall is strange because you find yourself arounded by multi-colours graffiti, posters and writings. But instead of joining to the writers and let my personal sign, I’d like to simulate a cleaning hour trying to dust and brush the stairs and the painted walls. In this way I’m trying to increase the graffiti value of those who pass there and in that way to prepare Tacheles to an other (maybe the last) challenge.”
We enjoyed meeting Enrico and spending the morning together cleaning Tacheles. It was funny cleaning while people that worked there passed us without thinking twice about why or who was cleaning the space (though this is a phenomenon i appreciated in general about berlin, the ability to enter and move in spaces that straddle the public/private line without being questioned or asked to leave). Tourists that entered the building asked us questions, which we tried to answer as best we could. While the act of cleaning may have been a symbolic one, what i appreciated most was the absurdity of the gesture. there was really no point to pick up cigarette butts or broken bottles from a space that is defined by its irreverence. and it felt silly to sweep the dust from a floor that has years of dirtiness caked into its surface. but it felt nice to care for the space a bit. to think of the walls as needing some caressing, and the floor of some agitation. now, writing about it, i am thinking about shel silverstein’s book the giving tree. the tacheles has been that for a couple of generations of german and foreign occupiers, and maybe it needed a little bit of love in return.
After the performance we presented Enrico with a certificate that we created for the actualization of a 1 hour art project. It is the way we hoped to insert our intervention, to acknowledge the mutual exchange necessary for any shared artistic experience.
Enrico documented the project here.
Since then we have e-mailed a bit, most recently I explained to him why v and i were interested in getting in touch with other artists, and that it was unfortunate that he wasn’t actually in Italy anymore. Enrico responded thoughtfully that “As you know, artists need to be in movement trying new experiences and collaborations. The geographical area where I come from (Veneto) is economically very rich but, about art, remains a desert (with only few exceptions). So I decided to move away trying to make a step longer, so I went outside Italy.”
So after the first 1 hour art, our question is still open, whether there is a potential for art community in italy that is engaging with challenging (social) issues in creative (artistic) modes from within.
the art bookstores of berlin are something special. do you read me?! has a focus on art journals and magazines, including many hard to find in just about anywhere all the way to over produced glossy fashion “art” mags. also, a select section of self and small publishing art books. picked up dexter sinister’s portable document format, and report (not announcement) on artist mobility. walther koenig is represented in most german museums, but their stand alone shop was a vast and time sucking utopia of art monographs, artist books (behind a glass door), architecture and urban planning, and even a large theory section in english. spent lots of time staring at the hans-peter feldman books and picked up the francis alys catalog from the hammer museum. retrospective on sale for just 10 euros. as we are on a bit of a budget these days, it was all we could do not to lose control.
on our final day we arrived at pro qm which carried just about every book i’ve dreamed of and i even found a copy of BAVO’s art of overidentification which i have been madly in search of recently, and then when browsing through it decided i no longer wanted it, or maybe the guilt of having spent too much money was setting in…
in all shops kept finding myself drawn to the newly reprinted buckminster fuller’s education automation, need to get that one of these days.
in berlin v and i met up with ana and andres of helena producciones with whom i collaborated in cali on la vida es un teatro.
the day before we met daria (sorry no link). we worked with her at manifesta. we went for a walk whilst she recorded me for possibly maybe a romanian radio broadcast on art with bicycles. will post here when it is aired.
seems like everyone is in berlin at this moment.
while in berlin we visited with our friend gisela whom we met this past summer in the czech republic, we bonded over cow projects. she taught cows lessons in manners (though i can’t find the documentation on her site).
v and i visiting kunst-stoffe in berlin, a recycle art center where we applied for and didn’t get a residency. corrina the director told us she really enjoyed our proposal but that they opted to award their residencies to artists from developing countries. fair. she showed us around and invited us to utilize the materials while in berlin this summer, possible in exchange for leading a workshop on reggio-emilia style remida art.
looks like a busy august in berlin!
sibylle took us to visit dada post where she invited us to collaborate on a project this summer.
dada post is an old fish smoking factory turned art space two years ago by an american sculptor howard mccalebb.
the bicycle film festival stopped in milano this weekend. unfortunately i didn’t make it to any of the screenings, but valentine and i managed to bicycle our way to the dance party saturday night. YACHT was headlining, and they’ve been a favorite of ours for at home dance parties, especially this song
so we needed to check them out live.
the party was more milano fashionista (it was at the european institute for fashion) than it was bicycle crowd. but the energy was super and YACHT were excellent; the music, costuming and performance, mixing sacred and profane symbology with super dance music.
found this clip on youtube from the show. you can see me dancin’ in my cycling cap around 4:18, just before some dude tried to make out with the singer. and then again with my fist dance around 4:54. i was rocking my HUB jersey from providence, rhode island, represent.
after the show, we rode our bicycles back from the south of the city all the way to the northern part where we live. it was 3 am and the center was almost completely desolate. we rode up to the duomo and cycled around the piazza a few times enjoying the emptiness and quiet.
In this side by side comparison you will note that the old man adorning the Moretti beer bottle has gone through a bit of a touch-up.
The old label, on the right, shows a man defeated by life and drink, his shoulders slouched, his eyes closed, his mouth in a frown. He is barely able to lift his beer mug (his only pleasure) to his mouth.
The new label, on the left, shows a more spry old man, with a grin on his face and lightness in his grip of the beer mug, as if he just finished toasting to life with friends (not pictured).
