Mor Arkadir
dal 8/3/2008 al 21/6/2008
Segnalato da
8/3/2008
Mor Arkadir
The Jewish Museum, New York
Oil/Water-Mother/Daughter. The documentary film Oil, Water (2005) and photograph Overlap (2004) by the artist, winner of the 2005 Adi Prize for Jewish Expression in Art and Design, explore the intersection between the artist's secular world and her mother's religious observance.
New York, NY - The Jewish Museum will present Oil/Water-Mother/Daughter: Video and
Photography by Mor Arkadir from March 9 to June 22, 2008 in the Museum's Barbara and
E. Robert Goodkind Media Center. The documentary film Oil, Water (2005, 14 min.)
and photograph Overlap (2004) by Mor Arkadir explore the intersection between the
artist's secular world and her mother's religious observance. Oil, Water is a
14-minute film depicting a 24-hour road trip in which mother and daughter confront
generational differences, opposing belief systems, and car trouble. Arkadir's
portrait Overlap depicts a microcosm of Israeli society that is at once diverse and
contradictory.
Oil, Water begins with the video camera positioned on the dashboard facing the
pair. In the driver's seat, the artist's mother recites the traditional traveler's
prayer, a blessing for a safe and peaceful journey. Arkadir, looking out the
window, pays scant attention to her mother's spiritual petitions. Their journey
consists of starting and stopping along the highway, nursing their vehicle with
fluids, snacking, stretching, dancing, and inventing other distractions to pass the
time. In a critical moment during the film, mother and daughter take a swimming
break at the Sea of Galilee where differences seem to dissolve temporarily.
The photograph Overlap features the artist in jeans and t-shirt, her long hair
loose on her shoulders as she bends forward, closes her eyes, and leans her head
against her mother's back. Wearing a head covering according to modesty laws, the
artist's mother faces the window while concentrating on her prayers. Hanging on
the wall is a portrait of the artist's maternal grandfather. While these women
share genetics and history, their body language suggests an attempt in bridging a
cultural chasm.
Mor Arkadir (b. 1979, Israel) lives and works in Tel Aviv. Her work has been
exhibited at Tel Aviv's Center for Contemporary Art and the Jerusalem Artists'
House. In 2006 she was the winner of The Adi Prize for Jewish Expression in Art
and Design for Oil, Water. The Adi Prize is an international biennial competition
that promotes and nurtures work that examines the relationship between art and
Judaism, and endeavors to combine Jewish thought and tradition with design and
artistic expression. Susan Tumarkin Goodman, Senior Curator at The Jewish Museum,
served on an independent panel of judges that selected Arkadir's work for the
prize.
Oil/Water-Mother/Daughter was organized by Andrew Ingall, Assistant Curator,
National Jewish Archive of Broadcasting and Media, The Jewish Museum. The
exhibition is presented in conjunction with artis: Israeli Contemporary Art in New
York.
Located on the third floor of The Jewish Museum, the Goodkind Media Center houses a
digital library of radio and television programs from the Museum's National Jewish
Archive of Broadcasting (NJAB). It also features a changing exhibition space
dedicated to video and new media. Using computer workstations, visitors are able
to search material by keyword and by categories such as art, comedy, drama, news,
music, kids, Israel, and the Holocaust.
About the National Jewish Archive of Broadcasting
The National Jewish Archive of Broadcasting, founded in 1981 in association with
the Charles H. Revson Foundation, is the largest and most comprehensive body of
broadcast materials on 20th century Jewish culture in the United States. With a
mission to collect, preserve and exhibit television and radio programs related to
the Jewish experience, the NJAB is an important educational resource for critical
examination of how Jews have been portrayed and portray themselves, and how the
mass media has addressed issues of ethnicity and diversity. Its collection is
comprised of 4,300 broadcast and cable television and radio programs.
About The Jewish Museum
The Jewish Museum was established on January 20, 1904 when Judge Mayer Sulzberger
donated 26 ceremonial art objects to The Jewish Theological Seminary of America as
the core of a museum collection. Today, The Jewish Museum maintains an important
collection of 26,000 objects - paintings, sculpture, works on paper, photographs,
archaeological artifacts, ceremonial objects, and broadcast media. Widely admired
for its exhibitions and educational programs that inspire people of all backgrounds,
The Jewish Museum is the preeminent United States institution exploring the
intersection of 4,000 years of art and Jewish culture.
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