Nearing Yom Ha'atzmaut, Israel's 65th birthday, a new art prize has been announced with the potential of presenting supporters of Israel with a provocative view of Zionism.
The prize, named "The Arthur Szyk Prize for Disruptive Thought and Zionist Art," will "Push the boundaries of how Zionism is spoken of and understood today," promises the award's co-sponsors--Artists 4 Israel, the Arthur Szyk Society, and the Jewish National Initiative.
Named after Arthur Szyk (pronounced "shick") the Polish Jewish-American graphic artist who attacked Hitler and the Nazis with his scathing satirical caricatures and cartoons, the prize of $1000 to be awarded in May, will according to the prize website, be given to "a working artist whose work challenges the static conception of Zionism with ideas that extend beyond the work of art itself."
Ensuring that the winning entry will not be just another pretty picture, the contest's rules state that winner will be one "Whose work has and meets a purpose. All entries should consider their ultimate, advocacy goal and their ability to achieve acit" state the guidelines.
Setting an example, Artists 4 Israel--a community whose stated mission is to express, Israel's right to exist in peace and security-- has produced their own disruptive art on Israel's behalf.
"Anti-Christ" (1942) by Arthur Szyk, part of a show at the Deutsches Historisches Museum.
In 2010, in East Hampton New York, the group created a "Bomb Shelter Museum," a functional bomb shelter built to the exact specifications of those found in Sderot, Israel. Their site describes the shelter fitted out with wailing red alert sirens and interactive computer terminals that coupled with artistic flourishes create "Emotive and important visceral reactions in the visitor."
As part of a generation that watched the Vietnam War come undone on the six o'clock news, I recall how the battle for hearts and minds is sometimes won by the eye. Recently, as I looked at the World Press Photo of the Year--two Palestinian men, each carrying a child who was killed when an Israeli airstrike struck their house in Gaza City-- I could see how that battle for the eye, now fought on the web and cell, continues.
As this great sad photo, with the potential of becoming an even greater piece of agitational art, went round the world, showing up seemingly everywhere, I wondered where was an image showing the Israeli side of the conflict?
The YouTube videos of the Iron Dome system at work were fine from a techie point of view, but for me, failed to put a human face on what was happening to Israelis on the ground.
Where was that breakthrough image--something beyond the usual touristy girl on the Tel Aviv beach shot, or Masada at sunrise stuff-- that was supposed to stir our emotions?
Many do find the images of model Bar Rafaeli, who appeared in an Israeli government sponsored commercial promoting Israeli technology appealing. As they say, she is easy on the eyes, but perhaps in terms of winning the image war, it is time to stop playing Barbie.
From this new prize, inspired by the collaboration between a group that wants to utilize the arts to counter media and pop culture misconceptions about Israel, and the biting visual heritage of Szyk, what might we expect as "disruptive" imagery?
Barbie with an Uzi? Ken as a Haredi?
Don't expect a walk on the beach.
Back to Jewplexed Main Edmon J. Rodman has written about making his own matzah for JTA, Jewish love music for the Jerusalem Post, yiddisheh legerdemain for the Los Angeles Jewish Journal, a Bernie Madoff Halloween mask for the Forward, and what really gets stuck in the La Brea Tar Pits for the Los Angeles Times. He has edited several Jewish population studies, and is one of the founders of the Movable Minyan, an over twenty-year-old chavura-size, independent congregation. He once designed a pop-up seder plate.In 2011 Rodman received a First Place Simon Rockower Award for "Excellence in Feature Writing" from the American Jewish Press Association."
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with the potential of presenting supporters of Israel with a provocative view of Zionism.
