The strange wooden structure just outside the Wagner Bros. Factory at the ARTLV_09 exhibit in the Nechushtan Pavilion is not evidence of alien landing (or perhaps it is?), but rather part of Side Shows, curated by Michael Kessus Gedalyovich and Maayan Sheleff. An installation created by the Israeli Eifo Dana Company with the Centrala Group from Poland it is an inter-cultural phenomenon that demands personal investigation.<\/p>\n
Your guide through this experience (at least during this writer\u2019s visit) is a lovely young woman in a black dress and red lipstick. Silently efficient and wielding a long pole with a hook at the end \u2013 participants with dominatrix fantasies may experience\u00a0a slight buzz of excitement not typically associated with municipal art exhibits. Yes, there is a wait (not long at all most of the time), and yes \u2013 it\u2019s worth it. The area around the structure is surrounded with a sturdy rope and one queues patiently until the gracious yet mysteriously silent hostess motions one to enter the space. Do not be alarmed when she approaches you with the long pole, her intentions are purely functional and you will not be harmed as long as you cooperate.<\/p>\n
If you\u2019ve read my previews before, then you know that I hate spoilers and love suspense. It looks like a bizarre plywood spaceship and it will indeed transport you. Having lived in Chicago I will note that I expected it to be colder in there, but others may have a different perspective on the environment of this installation. The effect on me was to bring to mind Robert Frost: \u201cWhose woods these are I think I know\u2026\u201d To quote one young and quite satisfied customer on the scene: \u201cCool!\u201d Yes, it is an extremely child-friendly exhibit \u2013 bring the whole family.<\/p>\n
Chatting with Shootzi, a member of the Eifo Dana (which in Hebrew means: where is Dana?) Company, I learned that they met their collaborator, Kuba of the Centrala group (who is an architect) when he came to Israel on one of the many amazing excursions of the Polish year in Israel. They began an artistic dialogue which led to creating this installation for the Blue Festival in Yafo which took place in June. After extensive research of Yafo \u2013 which is an exhilarating and not always harmonious mix of different ethnic and economic groups \u2013 they realized that they did not want to do a political project that relates directly to the city itself.<\/p>\n
They decided to create a fun experience that would also involve some interaction between the people who came to view the installation. So they put politics aside, at least to a certain extent. As Shootzi pointed out, the installation creates a certain \u201cnarrative of dissonance. Your feet are on the ground and your head\u2026\u201d \u2013 but I strongly urge you to visit the installation and discover that land for yourself.<\/p>\n
Eifo Dana Company with Centrala Group from Poland<\/p>\n
Performing Sunday – Thursday 18:00 \u2013 22:00, Friday 10:00 \u2013 14:00<\/p>\n
Closed during the Rosh Hashana Holiday September 18-20<\/p>\n
Through September 23 \u2013 Nechushtan Pavilion, 61 Eilat Street<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The strange wooden structure just outside the Wagner Bros. Factory at the ARTLV_09 exhibit in the Nechushtan Pavilion is not evidence of alien landing (or perhaps it is?), but rather part of Side Shows, curated by Michael Kessus Gedalyovich and Maayan Sheleff. An installation created by the Israeli Eifo Dana Company with the Centrala Group […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1448","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-art"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1448","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1448"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1448\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1448"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1448"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1448"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}