Breaking Boundaries in Contemporary Israeli Art and Culture

Gannit Ankori, Fine Arts Ilana Szobel, NEJS

FA/NEJS 183a Spring 2018

Mondays and Wednesdays 2:00-3:20 PM [This course fulfills the CA and HUM requirement]

General Description: This course will explore how the Creative Arts reflect, confront, challenge, and reconfigure various cleavages and barriers that characterize contemporary Israeli society.

The course will focus on literary, visual, dance and cinematic works of art that will be organized around thematic clusters and major theoretical issues. We will cover both hegemonic and marginalized voices, exploring work by women, Palestinian, Bedouin, and non-Jewish artists, as well as artists who self identify as LGBTQ.

The main boundaries that will be discussed are: Territorial boundaries (issues pertaining to borders, immigration and globalism); National and ethnic boundaries; Sexual and Gender related barriers; Secular and Religious divides; and hybridization of media and genres.

Learning Goals: Students will learn to apply diverse methods of inquiry as we engage in close readings of literary texts; iconographical, iconological and formal analyses of visual art; and the critical study of historical contexts and theoretical texts, including feminist, queer and postcolonial theories.

The course will provide students with tools with which to analyze art created in diverse media, as well as insights into Israeli society, gleaned from the critical analysis of contemporary Israeli culture.

GUEST ARTISTS:

As part of this class, students will have the opportunity to meet with visiting artists and scholars, whose work we’ll be studying. Among those we will meet are Nataly Zukerman,Safa Abu Rabia, Michal Rovner (TBC),AbieTroen (TBC) and others.

REQUIREMENTS:

-Attendance and class participation 30% (see policies below)

-Midterm project 30%

-Final project 40%

Successin this courserequiresat least ninehoursofworkforeverythreehoursof classtime.

Detailed instructions for all assignments will be provided in class and posted on LATTE.

Course Materials: There is no textbook for this course. Required readings (book chapters, excerpts and articles) will be posted on LATTE for your convenience.

Academic Integrity: You are expected to be familiar with and to follow the University’s policies on academic integrity (see ). Faculty may refer any suspected instances of alleged dishonesty to the Office of Student Development and Conduct. Instances of academic dishonesty may result in sanctions including but not limited to, failing grades being issued, educational programs, and other consequences.”

Communications: We will communicate with you via e-mail in case there are any changes or announcements. Also – please check our LATTE course website frequently for postings and syllabus adjustments. Please come and see us during our office hours if you have any concerns and/ or at least once during the term.

AccessAccommodations: We welcome you todiscuss all access accommodation issues with us early in the semester. Please do not wear scented products.

Disabilities: If you are a student with a documented disability on record at Brandeis University and wish to have a reasonable accommodation made for you in this class, please see us immediately.

CLASS POLICIES:

In order to have an environment conducive to learning and keep us all engaged and focused – students are asked to follow the policies below:

Cell phones:Use of cell phones in class (for talking, texting, reading/writing email, or any other purpose) is prohibited. Kindly keep your cell phones turned off and stowed away in class. However, if you need to leave your cell phone on because of an ongoing emergency situation, please speak to us at the start of class.

Laptops:Kindly keep your laptop turned off and stowed away in class. Using laptop computers in class is distracting to us and to other students, in part because the temptation to take “just a second” to check email or web updates is hard to resist.

Attendance Policy:Attendance is mandatory. Unexcused absences will result in a lower grade. More than 5 unexcused absences may result in a failing mark. If you have to miss class for a legitimate reason, kindly let us know without delay.

Course Outline (this is a tentative outline, subject to change)

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

January 10, 2018

  • Introducing the themes, primary and secondary source material and learning goals for this course.
  • Introducing the methodologies and clarifying expectations and requirements.

January 15, 2018

  • Discussion of diverse modes of artistic expression and art as epistemology.
  • Words and images - intersections and interstices.

ANALYSIS OF:

Israeli Declaration of Independence

Music video: Sticker Song (2004), lyrics by David Grossman, music by Dag Nachash

HOME AND AWAY

Immigration and the immigrant experience find frequent and diverse expression in Israeli art, literature and film. In this module, works that deal with a variety of related topics will be analyzed, interpreted and compared, within historical and theoretical contexts. Among them: the tensions between “Homeland” and “Diaspora”; the “New Jew” and the “Sabra”; the impact of Globalization; and more.

January 17, 2018

  • Diaspora vs Homeland and the Zionist ethos: Close analysis of Zionist Posters, photographs and propaganda films from the early 20th Century.
  • Documentary: “The Ingathering of the Exiles” episode of Tkuma, directed by NetaEfrony (1998)
  • Oded Hirsch’s videos: “50 Blue”, “Tochka”, “Habaita”

January 22, 2018

  • Ideal vs Reality – the immigrant experience as viewed in art, film and literature
  • Self-portraits by immigrant artists (1920-2000)
  • Feature film: Turn Left at the End of the World, directed by AviNesher (2004)
  • Short story: Yoel Hoffmann:“Katschen” (translated by David Kriss)

January 24, 2018

  • Deconstructing and/or reconfiguring the Diaspora/Homeland dichotomy
  • Video Art by Yael Bartana: Polish Trilogy: Mary Koszmary (Nighmares, 2007); Mur iWieza (Wall and Tower, 2009); Zamach (Assassination, 2011)

January 29, 2018

  • PALESTINIAN ART ON EXILE AND ‘SUMUD’ – A comparative perspective
  • Selection of visual art and interpretations from Gannit Ankori, Palestinian Art, London, Reaktion Books, 2006.

RELIGIOUS DIVIDES

January 31, 2018

GENDERED FAITH (part I)

  • Ester Raab: “Holy Grandmothers in Jerusalem” [The Defiant Muse, p. 93]
  • Yona Wallach: “Tefillin,” “Come to Me Like a Jew”
  • The Seven Tapes, directed by YairQedar (2012)
  • HavaPinhas-Cohen: “On the Eve of the Holiday” [Poets on the Edge, p. 268]

February 5, 2018

GENDERED FAITH (part II)

  • Visual art by YochevedWeinfeld and AndiArnowitz
  • Visual art by Nechama Golan and ShuliNachshon

February 7, 2018

  • H.N. Bialik, “Behind the Fence” (1909)

February 14, 2018

ETHNIC/RELIGIOUS DIVIDES

  • Video Art by Nira Pereg: Mandatory Passage (2012-13); Sabbath (2008); Abraham, Abraham; Sarah, Sarah, (2012)

February 19, 21, 2018: No Class – February break

BETWEEN ISRAEL AND PALESTINE; EAST AND WEST; SELF AND OTHER

Prevailing political discourse purports and perpetuates a ‘clash of civilizations’ conceived as an unbridgeable and dichotomous schism between East and West.

Art can reflect this divide, but may also propose alternative ways of imagining the relationship between east and west, refusing monolithic and dichotomous structures; creating liminal spaces that hybridize or imaginatively reconfigure elements of culture, religion and identities.

February 26, 2018

HYBRID COSMOLOGIES – ART AS ALTERNATIVE RITUAL

  • Video Art by RaidaAdon: Rebirth (2007)

February 28, 2015

  • Hakim Bishara and Hagar Ophir - “Theater of Operations” VISITING ARTISTS

March 5, 2018

  • DIS-ORIENTALISM Being Arab in Israel
  • Druze-Israeli-Palestinian painter AsadAzi: embracing multiple identities
  • Video Art by Nevet Yitzhak: The Orient Express (2013) and other works

March 7, 2018

THE ORIENT WITHIN Mizrachi (Oriental) Jews

Arab-Jewish Literature

RonitMatalon: “My Father at Seventy-Nine” (2001)

Almog Behar: “Ana min al yahud” (2005)

“There is a place” (YeshMakom): Lyrics by Amos Ettinger, music by Dov Seltzer, performed by YehoramGaon(from the movie Kazablan)

March 12, 2018

  • REFUSING DICHOTOMIES Photography and Video Art by Dor Guez
  • Subaru-Mercedes (2009)
  • July 13 (2009)
  • (Sa)mira (2009)
  • Watermelons under the Bed (2010)
  • Sabir (2011)
  • Pioneer Tree (2011)

THE UNCHOSEN BODY

DISABILITY CULTURE

March 19, 2018

  • Performance: Nataly Zukerman: “The Other Body” (2013)

Readings: Excerpts from: Rosemarie Garland-Thomson:Staring: How We Look, 2009

Excerpts from: Meira Weiss, The Chosen Body: The Politics of the Body in Israeli Society, 2002

March 21, 2018

  • Nataly Zukerman– VISITING ARTIST (performance)

March 26, 2018

  • Documentary: Tamar Kay – The Mute’s House (2016)

Link:

password: fe$tival$123

March 28, 2018

  • Dance performance: Tamar Borer: Gaza (2003), Ana (2010)

Reading: OrlyLubin: “Low Gaze, Freed Gaze.” IgaelShemtov: Low Landscape Low Reality. Tel Aviv: Loushy Art & Editions, 2004.

PASSOVER BREAK – April 2, 4, 2018

TRANSGENDER EXPERIENCE

April 9, 2018

  • Yishay (Yisha) Garbatz – Transgender identity; Second generation Holocaust survivor -- art and identity
  • AbieTroen, “Finding Home” (2017) LGBT asylum seekers in LA : “Finding Home” VISITING ARTIST

April 11, 2018

  • Michal Rovner – VISITING ARTIST [TBC]

FORBIDDEN LOVE IN THE HOLY LAND

[Loshitzky, Yosefa, Identity Politics on the Israeli Screen, Austin, University of Texas Press, 2002, pp. 112-153.]

April 16, 2018

  • Excerpts from DoritRabinian: All the Rivers (2014)
  • Movie: Amos Gitai, “Kadosh” (1999)
  • Short story: Dvora Baron, “Family” (1933)

April 18, 2018

  • Bedouins in Israel
  • Feature film: Yellow Asphalt, directed by Dan Verete (2000)
  • Dr. Safa Abu Rabia VISITING SCHOLAR [TBC]
  • Film: “Sand Storm” (2016)

BEYOND ‘SELF’ and ‘OTHER’

April 23, 2018

  • Sigalit Landau, Jumana Emil Abboud, OriGersht
  • Video Art by the artist couple: Hila Lulu Lin and Hanna Fouad Farah – exchanging gendered/ ethnic/ national identities V7 (2006)
  • COURSE SUMMARY

Select Bibliography

There is no textbook for this course. Background readings will be recommended. Specific texts, websites and videos on individual artists will be posted on LATTE.

Background reading:

  • Hutchinson, John and Anthony D. Smith, eds., Nationalism, Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1994.
  • Jones, Emilia, ed., The Feminism and Visual Culture Reader, London and New York, Routledge, 2010
  • Rabinovich, Itamar and JehudaReinharz, 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.
  • Weiss, Meira. The Chosen Body: The Politics of the Body in Israeli Society (California: Stanford University press, 2002).

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 YgalZalmona

Hebrew and Israeli literature:

  • Dan Miron: From Continuity to Contiguity: Toward a New Jewish Literary Thinking (2010)
  • HannanHever: Producing the Modern Hebrew Canon: Nation Building and Minority Discourse (2001)
  • Yael Feldman: Glory and Agony‬: Isaac's Sacrifice and National Narrative‬ (2010)‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

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.

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