First year students at the Kibbutz College held their traditional “Artistic Hyde Park” – an outdoor happening of installations and performances at Theatronetto 2012. Now in its fourth edition, with a different theme selected each year. Peace was the word this year, as the works were created in tribute to Abie Natan, peace activist and humanitarian who broadcast great music on the Voice of Peace – “somewhere in the Mediterranean.”
There was a lot of energy, some of it perhaps too diffuse, and the intentions of the performers/creators was not always clear, but there were several intriguing works.
A uniformed Dorothy called out “There’s no place like home,” while her companions took the oars, looking lost and frightened.
The land was literally pulled in all directions by these three.
The Beatles sang their part: “All we are saying/Is give peace a chance.”
A man in a Kaffiya and a woman in a headscarf walked through the square interacting with the festival visitors offering “free hugs,” two young women dressed in white also walked among the crowd smiling and saying “Shalom” (peace), while yet another student, smartly suited in black, walked holding out her hand in a gesture of peace – with blinders on.
A loving John & Yoko invited everyone to come into their “bed of peace” – connected by a sheet, they wrapped themselves around whoever wanted to join in, embracing their new friends.
This group of students protested the prostitution of the concept of peace.
Ms. Universe wandered through the crowd with a broken leg and crutches, smiling sadly and saying, “I’m sorry. I failed. You voted for me but I failed.” For those who are not pageant viewers, her apology refers to the traditional pageant contestant’s declaration that what she would like to accomplish most is “world peace.”
Yet the installation that had by far the strongest visual and emotional impact was the boat itself, the Voice of Peace and its crew: the dead soldiers. They silently went about the tasks on board ship, swabbing the bloody deck, confronting the viewer with the ravages of war.
