The Performative Utterance “I” Theatricality and Subversion of Identity in the Works of Eyal Weiser Sharon Aronson-Lehavi

Eyal Weiser is an Israeli playwright and theatre director whose works complexly interrogate and explore constructions of Israeli identity, first and foremost by addressing Israeli identity/(ies) as constructions. His works thus offer a critique of historical, social, and cultural processes that were (and are) intended to instigate and naturalize an idea of a collective Jewish-Israeli identity. By unmasking identity as a construction — as a result of ideological, educational, and political mechanisms — Weiser’s works destabilize the borders between lies and truth, fiction and reality, and fabrication and authenticity. Over the past decade, Weiser has emerged as a significant

Sharon Aronson-Lehavi is Chair of the Department of Theatre Arts at Tel Aviv University and Academic Director of the TAU Theatre. She is the author of Street Scenes: Late Medieval Acting and Performance (Palgrave Macmillan, 2011) and Gender and Feminism in Modern Theatre (Open University Press, in Hebrew, 2013), editor of Wanderers and Other Israeli Plays (Seagull Books, In Performance series, 2009), and coeditor with Atay Citron and David Zerbib of Performance Studies in Motion: International Perspectives and Practices in the Twenty-First Century (Bloomsbury, 2015).

Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00690 by guest on 01 October 2021 Eyal Weiser 23 - - in order — Efrat Danon, Danon, Efrat — is based on a play- is based on 2 specifically written written Beast? the How’s Tamar Lam, Sylwia Drori, Max Max Drori, Sylwia Lam, Tamar — ) and quotes from Weiser’s Weiser’s from quotes and ) Beast the How’s : written and directed by Eyal Eyal by directed and written : Jerusalem Mein

: written and directed by Eyal Weiser; Weiser; Eyal by directed and written : Beast? the How’s 3 1 autobiographical performance autobiographical performance ) and was not translated into Hebrew or English. Translations into into Translations English. or Hebrew into translated not was and ) — . www.eyalweiser.com their here and nowness too. Though the notion of too. their here and nowness — : written and and B: written Salon/Program Rejects’ Creation Zionist Land: The the Is This מיין ג’רוזלם

, about real Israeli literary figures, [re]constructing their homes and lives in seemingly real yet yet real seemingly in literary lives and homes their [re]constructing figures, Israeli real about Accursed, The

Weiser relies on the authority and authenticity that are associated with and ascribed to the and authenticity that are associated relies on the authority Weiser performances in English were given to me by Weiser. All other translations into English are mine. mine. are English into translations other All Weiser. by me to given performanceswere English in (2008:29–30). Heddon example for See artists other well. by as used been has technique This autobiographies: invented manipulate similarly who context worthis artistsother two mentioning Israeli the in It Exhibition,” Group A Rosen: “Roee Artof featured Museum Aviv Tel the 2016 In Levi. Hagai and Rosen Roee of Museum Aviv Tel (see himself Rosen by invented all artists various were that by created works included which documentary fake a created Levi Hagai television writer and Art director television and film 2013, in And 2016). series, 2014). Films Gum (see enactments and sets fabricated Weiser; photography and visual concept by Rami Maymon; stage design by Yinon Peres; performed by Michal performed Michal by Peres; Yinon by design stage Maymon; Rami by concept visual and photography Weiser; Aviv). Tel Theatre, (Tmuna Weinberg prop and costume Peres; Yinon by designed space Maymon; Rami by photography Weiser; Eyal by directed appearance of partners performersand order in creative Brothers); (Muslin Levit Tamar by design Aviv). Tel Theatre, (Tmuna Weiner Neta Fainstein, Natalie costume Maymon; Rami by (partconcept visual “White2, Lie”) Weiss; Hinda artistic by video and consulting (partsdesign and prop and 1 costume Brothers); (Muslin Levit Tamar by (part design prop and “White2, Lie”) appearance of partners performersand order in creative Kalderon; Adam by 3) House). Theatre Mazia Beit Jerusalem, Festival (Israel Liberman Adili Wagner, a as appeared it publications performance;this of Hebrew in German) (in title original the is Jerusalem Mein ( words German the of transliteration performancesother two the of titles the of and Land the is (This English Weiser, in other words, builds on a performance aesthetic that signals “truth,” “realness,” and “realness,” “truth,” builds on a performance aesthetic that signals in other words, Weiser, see awards and works Weiser’s of list full a For Integral to the here-and-nowness of autobiographical performance is the visible pres of autobiographical performance Integral to the here-and-nowness subject ence of the performing performers might have been thor that adheres to performance and “aura” or “presence” or “authentic” cannot be, performer is not, oughly challenged following Derrida (the is in this nevertheless the fact that the performer “there”), even if they are unmediated, on my reception of his/her autobiographical space with me might well have an impact (Heddon 2008:5–6) stories. The aesthetic vocabulary Weiser has developed in his recent works, three of which I shall three works, developed in his recent has Weiser vocabulary The aesthetic 3. 4. 1. to subvert this assumption. Regarding autobiographical performance, Deirdre Heddon writes: Regarding autobiographical performance, to subvert this assumption. truthful and sincere space of performance truthful and sincere space Figure 1. (facing page) Polish choreographer Agnieszka Tz’zak (Sylwia Drori) in Drori) (Sylwia Tz’zak Agnieszka choreographer Polish page) (facing 1. Figure and directed by Eyal Weiser. Beit Mazya Theatre House, Israel Festival, Jerusalem, 2015. (Photo by by Jerusalem, (Photo 2015. Festival, Israel House, Theatre Mazya Beit Weiser. Eyal by directed and Gadi Dagon) an embodied assertion of presence and subjective identity in order to reveal identity itself as an embodied assertion of presence and subjective a masquerade. Zohi Ha-Arretz: Zohi Ha-Arretz: 2011; Sabine Sauber, by A Performance article (Mein Jerusalem: discuss in this Rejects’ Zionist Creation The Land: Bet [This Is the Ha-Tzionit/Tochnit Ha-Yetzira Salon Dchuyei the Beast?] 2015a), [How’s Ha-Chaya? and Ma Shlom 2013; B], Salon/Program

2. creative voice in Israeli alternative theatre. His works have been performed internationally and internationally have been performed His works theatre. in Israeli alternative creative voice productions. many prizes for his he has won fulness with the genre of autobiographical performance. Weiser does not perform himself; Weiser of autobiographical performance. fulness with the genre danc- photographers, (performance artists, he writes fictional characters who are artists rather, actors whom audiences often mis- spoken-word poets) and are played by choreographers, ers, the characters they enact. takenly believe are really Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00690 by guest on 01 October 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00690 by guest on 01October 2021

24 Sharon Aronson-Lehavi ing seeminglyunifiedstagesubjects. duality anddoublenessofthetheatricalsubject, Weiser doesittheotherwayaround, creat- dialectics incasessuchascross-genderedenactmentsorbodyartperformanceemphasizethe is perceivedasadramaticfigureinthenextandviceversa” (87). Whereasperformer/ She examinescasesinwhich “what inonemomentisperceivedastheactor’s phenomenalbody ent spectators, leavingthemconfusedaboutthereferentforperformingbodyfacingthem. ity” (2008:87). With thisphraseFischer-Lichte identifiestheatricalexperiencesthatdisori- spectators areaskedtoattendwhatErikaFischer-Lichte terms “perceptional multistabil- guise ofperformanceartcreatesaworldthatisoverturnedandothertoitself, aworldinwhich inner workings, language, andaesthetics. Inthecaseof Weiser, hisfictional theatricalityinthe such as Weiser’s. As aconcept, ittakesusbeyondtheideologicalcontentofaworktowardits would qualify. “Overturned” isusefulinthinkingabouttheaestheticsofpoliticalperformances be designatedas “subversive,” thisetymologysuggeststhat “overturned” asanaestheticquality 5. bodily characteristics words, intowhatcouldperhapsbetermed “body politics.” At thesame time, however, their rather toembodiedmetaphorsforthepoliticalrealitiesIsraeli societyfaces. They turn, inother tive bodies,” areperformingbodiesthatdo notrefertothebodiesofactualperformers, but the performerher/himself. Weiser’s fictionalperformanceartists, thatishisfictional “subjec - to conventionaltheatreisthehighlightingofsubjective, corporeal, andindividualbodyof in Weiser’s works. Oneofthedefiningmarkersperformanceorartasopposed of performance. to itsopposite:theatreconsciousofowntheatricalityandthe seeminglyunmediatedspace Israeli metanarratives. sent thesocialstereotypesthatcomposeIsraelisociety, butalsotosubversivelyreflecton give voicetoamultitudeof “individual” identitiesratherthandramaticcharactersthatrepre- sonal lives. This kindofconstructed “performance-subjectivity” enables Weiser notonlyto ent andwithrealityasmuchtheyareabsorbedintheirownartisticcreativityper audience assheperformsherlifestory. Rami Maymon, createdSauber’s 20-yearbodyofphotographicworks, whichshepresentstothe another wall. Inorderto(re)constructherhistory(andidentity), Weiser andhiscollaborator, Wall in1989throughhervisittoIsrael2011(thedateoftheperformance), whereshefaces experiences astheyfoundexpressioninherworksofart, beginningwiththefallofBerlin rapher andconceptualartistwhorevealsshareswithheraudienceprivaterecollections it generatesthem. Palestinian conflict. Theworldbeyondthestagemorethanfiltersintohisfauxautobiographies; and socialdiscourses, suchaspost-HolocaustIsraeli-GermanrelationsortheongoingIsraeli- formance artistsrespondtorealeventsanddebateissuesthatarecentralIsraelicultural overturn,” fromsub“under”+ ation ispolitical. The etymonoftheverb “subvert” isderivedfromtheLatinsubvertere , “to of actors, because Weiser’s worksrelyonformsofdocumentarytheatreandextensive useof ers whoplaythem. Unlikeconventionaldramaticcharacters whocanbeplayedbyanynumber 6. For thisreason, thequestionofidentityperforming bodyisfurthercomplicated “Subversive” isanadjectivefrequentlyusedtosignalthataperformanceunderconsider All of Weiser’s inventedcharactersareyoungartists whoaredeeplyengagedwiththepres- For example, oneofthefirstcharacters Weiser created, SabineSauber, isaGermanphotog- This baselineisfurthercomplicatedin Weiser’s worksbythefactthathisfabricatedper On the formation of subjectivity see throughAmelia Jones body art (1998). Oxford English, 3rd ed., 2012. s.v. Dictionary “subvert,” “subversive.” — how theylookandsound vertere “to turn” (versus). 6 Indoingsohereconnectsrealistic “slice-of-life” theatre — become attachedtotheindividualperform- 5 Foraworkofart, anact, oraneventto character - - - Eyal Weiser 25

—

through a solo performance of the abovementioned German of the abovementioned German through a solo performance 7 In Weiser’s work, stage personae resist identity even while they stage personae resist identity even work, Weiser’s In 8

The term “third-generation” is used in Israeli culture to denote the grandchildren of Holocaust survivorsHolocaust for (see of grandchildren the denote to culture Israeli in used is “third-generation” term The 2017). Berger and Aarons example (2009). Levy Shimon see theatre political Israeli of modes various of discussion a For What we understand as the “really real” has its own continuum that includes the unmed- “really real” What we understand as the In the simulated. sometimes, and also, the reconstructed, the staged, the replicated, iated, and political, and staging the raw data of life to meet particular cultural, editing, selecting, its forms participates in how we come to know, theatre of the real in all theatrical needs, The domains of actual daily life and the performance of and analyze things. understand, (2013:15) daily life continue becoming increasingly blurred. The fracture that Weiser senses and expresses is not a critique of the social schisms of the senses and expresses is not a critique of the social schisms of Weiser The fracture that These performances are embodied reactions to Israel’s “political and social reality” “political and social are embodied reactions to Israel’s These performances - narratives by con he destabilizes accepted exemplify how recent works Weiser’s Three of 7. 8. are deeply grounded in the reality that tries to determine the identities they resist. This way to determine the identities they resist. are deeply grounded in the reality that tries and multiplicity, up the possibility of uncertainty, of thinking avoids indoctrination and opens “theatre of the real”: creates a version of what Carol Martin calls Weiser complexity. disconnects and reconnects with theatre by theatre both “really not really real” Weiser’s Finally, playing out a performer/character dialectic rather than an actor/character one. in quotes because this reality is contested from multiple perspectives, not reducible to one not reducible from multiple perspectives, in quotes because this reality is contested Weiser’s the identity without an origin running through Thus, unchanging conceptual entity. society, senses in Israeli Weiser of an identity crisis works might also be seen as an enactment the Holocaust, people born well after 20s and 30s, affecting many mostly secular Israelis in their ongoing and and the 1967 and 1973 wars: the bases for the of Independence, War the 1948 these constitutive events are For this young generation, unresolved Israeli-Palestinian conflict. they are narrativized. experienced mostly through the ways that ultra- religious, secular, Arab, which includes Jewish, multicultural and diverse Israeli society, to mention but a few and Ethiopian social groups, Russian, Sephardi, Ashkenazi, orthodox, history and but rather an interrogation of subjective identity formation within the components, critiques the Weiser By staging fictional identities that feel real, reality of the Israeli context. separates His fictional deictic theatricality ways both history and life stories are manipulated. in which identities are clearly aligned “Israeli political theatre” his work from the more typical identities Referring to reality in terms of stable with prescribed and known historical discourses. ( of same/different and self/Other even in etc.) maintains a dialectic Palestinians, Jewish Israelis, radically critical performances. photographer and performance artist Sabine Sauber, born in 1970, who is brought to life by who is brought to life born in 1970, artist Sabine Sauber, photographer and performance Rejects’ Salon (2013) is a The Zionist Creation This Is the Land: Weinberg. Israeli actress Michal in response to the (real) Weiser created of performance artists that fictive alternative festival Weiser’s In by the Ministry of Culture. Award of the Zionist Creation 2011 announcement Award rejected from the Creation fictional performance artists who were three Rejects’ Salon, the How’s relation to Zionism. versions of Israeli identity and their perform their own parodic (Mivtza War the 2014 Gaza of four invented performance artists to Beast? (2015) is the reaction Protective Edge]). Zuk Eitan [Operation

deals with Israeli and German “third-generation” identities “third-generation” Israeli and German deals with Mein Jerusalem structing otherness. of both victims and perpetrators, multimedia, including photography and video, the identities of his fictional performance artists performance identities of his fictional the and video, including photography multimedia, spe- can exist only in the these characters In this sense, those of the real performers. are tied to and of a truthful the notion of real presence destabilizing them, bodies that perform cific (real) identity. assertion of self and and trustful Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00690 by guest on 01 October 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00690 by guest on 01October 2021

26 Sharon Aronson-Lehavi relations betweenIsraelandGermany. theatres overthepastdecade. In2015aseriesofcultural eventsmarked50yearsofdiplomatic and Schobesberger2011). Weiser, likemanyyoungIsraeliartists, hascollaboratedwithGerman than thatoftheactorswhoplayperformanceartists)isgiven. MeinJerusalem ’s subtitleis work. Intheseprograms, biographicalinformationofthebogusperformanceartists(rather The theatreprogramhandedoutateachof Weiser’s performancesisasignificantpartofhis Mein Jerusalem 10. and visual concept by Maymon) Rami directed by Eyal Weiser. Tmuna Theatre, Tel Aviv, 2011. (Photo of projected during the performance Figure 2. A self-portrait by Sabine Sauber (Michal Weinberg) 9. is the in-house Gorki Theatre Director, and Ofira Henig, whose works have been featured by the Schaubühne the Volksbühne Theater in Berlin. Other Israeli theatre directors who work in Berlin include Yael Ronen, who Weiser’s productions in havevarious been Germanperformed theatres, including the Münchner Volkstheater and Nazi capital” (2014). See for example Anthony Faiola and Ruth Eglash’s “Waves article of young Israelis find a home in the former Mein Jerusalem, written and 10 And yet, notunexpectedly, therelationsbetween of historyandidentity(Simon fronted withcomplexquestions who movetoIsraelandarecon- tells thestoriesofsixGermans Israel (Germans:LivinginIsrael) documentary who havemovedtoIsrael. The there arealsoyoungGermans whom Weiser wasincontact. Sauber,” aGermanartistwith thing withorabout “Sabine Weinberg wascreatingsome- name, soIassumedthatMichal ing performerhadadifferent Sabine Sauberwhilethecreat- formance andphotoswereby Aviv. Iwasn’t surewhy theper at theGoetheInstitutein Tel the performance, incidentally, encountered informationabout as “creating performer.” Ifirst as directorandMichal Weinberg list ofcreditsmentions Weiser (fig. 2). Ifonereadscarefully, the many ofwhichareself-portraits Sauber’s artandphotographs, images andbriefdescriptionsof artist. The programincludes photographer/performance Sauber,” referringtoaBerlin “A Performance bySabine reasons. cial, professional, andpersonal have movedtoBerlinforfinan- Israelis, manyofthemartists, a growingnumberofyoung Over thepasttwodecades, 9 To alesserdegree, Deutsche. Lebenin - Eyal Weiser 27 - - The majority of Israeli theatre is performed in Hebrew 12 is the German photographer Sabine Sauber Sauber Sabine photographer German the is Jerusalem Mein This idea seems to have already functioned as the dramatic This idea seems to have 11

and the Deutsches Theater Berlin. In addition, there are a number of German-Israeli academic programs that are are that programs academic German-Israeli of number a are there addition, In Berlin. Theater Deutsches the and (German-Israeli GIF including scholars, Israeli and German between collaborations research enhance to meant Foundation). Cooperation Project (German-Israeli DIP and Research) Scientific for Foundation cm. 80 x 77 cut, mirror 2011, myself,” see to am I where from away far to walk need I “Sometimes Gupta, Shilpa http://shilpagupta.com/pages/2011/11sometimesineed.htm). (see (2010). Rokem and Aronson-Lehavi example for see theatre, Israeli to relation In Weiser chooses to have Sabine Sauber tell her story in a heavily German-accented English, English, Sabine Sauber tell her story in a heavily German-accented chooses to have Weiser 11. 12. who has come to tell her story to an Israeli audience. Weiser’s choice to create the voice of a to create the voice choice Weiser’s to an Israeli audience. to tell her story who has come in Wall of the Berlin experienced the fall East Berlin in 1970, who was born in German artist an fell in love with and eventually Berlin, West photography in to study art and moved 1989, is an original Jerusalem, a series of photos in led her to create which met in Berlin, Israeli she in both Israeli and German con- to examine the complexities of identity way “subversive” and performed by an Israeli actress one realizes that Sabine Sauber is a character The moment texts. 2015 Weiser’s of self and Other. experience of the complex conflation constitutes a bewildering who Weiser, by a Polish choreographer invented Tz’azk, Agnieszka Beast? opens with the How’s Tz’azk cre- The work girlfriend. of guilt following her separation from her examines the notion far away from where I am to see “Sometimes I need to walk Israel is called ates upon her visit to from a work by Indian art- borrowed Weiser in fact an intertextual quote that which is myself,” 2017). ist Shilpa Gupta (Weiser two cultures are complex and remain haunted by the Holocaust. For all these reasons, it was it was these reasons, For all Holocaust. haunted by the are complex and remain two cultures of performer the that believe to easy - theat Weiser’s methodology that underlies and as a performance mechanism of Mein Jerusalem ricality of fictitious artists. Although the entire performance is in English, adopts. Weinberg, Michal which the performer, languages All three as a signifier of identity. and utterance speech, it destabilizes language, used in ways that and English) are German, that are at the basis of the performance (Hebrew, performs The Hebrew-speaking performer (Weinberg) interrupt naturalization of identity. uses imperfect English to bridge or rather dis- a German-speaking character (Sauber) and thus is not a transparent vehicle through which a story rupt the flow of the utterance; language since most interactions However, of identity. is told but rather a signifier of the theatricality In quite real. Sauber performing in English feels between Israelis and Germans are in English, occasional insertion of German words, with the English is not fluent, since Sauber’s addition, through the construction of identity the utterance, the work highlights the performativity of is a Hebrew-speaking per hybrid stage persona Weiser’s and accent. language, voice, one’s former “translating” German into English. This mixture of languages calls attention to a for German into English. “translating” former Almog As Oz as the mother tongue of Jewish Israelis. Hebrew mative aspect of Israeli identity, “The Sabras were a product of what historians , of the New Jew The Creation writes in The Sabra: language Until the end of the 19th century the Hebrew ‘the Hebrew revolution’” (2000:1). call within a set of mainly religious actions and prac- existed almost solely as a holy language used modern world, it was gradually secularized and adopted to the During the 19th century, tices. expressive form for the revival of a modern secular at the same time as it served as the major including the theatre. Hebrew culture, (unless it is in Arabic or a community theatre in Russian, Yiddish, etc.). The language play in etc.). Yiddish, Arabic or a community theatre in Russian, (unless it is in from the title of the piece to the way the German-inflected English is spoken, , Mein Jerusalem fil- is told, more attuned kind of listening to be able to hear how the story demands a different, as suggested The performing body thus becomes, and performed. translated, uttered, tered, German identity through the eyes of an Israeli a conflated metaphor of a contemporary above, and performed as a directed, since Sauber is written, At the same time, identity and vice versa. and individual she is received as a subjective conceptual performance artist in search of identity, a believable character. person, Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00690 by guest on 01 October 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00690 by guest on 01October 2021

28 Sharon Aronson-Lehavi 13. by Maymon) Rami Weiser. Tmuna Theatre, Tel Aviv, 2011. (Photo andvisual concept of performance May Day celebrations. Projected during the her memories of a work by Sabine Sauber (Michal Weinberg), representing Figure 3. photos ofhousesandstreetsin Berlin, imagesshecreatedthatrepresentherrecollections of Maymon, whodesignedSauber’s photography, createdanimpressivearchive:self-portraits, formance. As mentioned, inordertoinventSauber’s archive, Weiser andhiscollaboratorRami she createdsincewasinher20sandwhichareprojectedon ascreenthroughouttheper and aroundher. Her storyandrecollectionsareillustratedbythephotographsartworks boxes, andshelves(designedby Yinon Peres)thatrepresentherstrugglewiththewallsinside rapher) shehasbecome. Throughout theperformance sheassemblessimplewoodendrawers, Weiser’s work, boththepersonandpersonal aresubverted. her assertionisdeeplyironicbecause, afterall, whoisthe “person” utteringthe “personal”? In ble” (1997:vii). When SauberpronouncesCarolHanisch’s 1969iconic “the personalispolitical,” It wasawayofreflectingtheirlivesandconcernsinthemostdirectlow-costpossi- that, “in theeightiessoloshowbecameweaponofchoiceformanyperformingartists. uses, alluding, asinthisexample, toherpreparationsfortheperformance. MarkRussellnotes performance art, particularlythewaySaubershareswithherspectatorsverymaterialsshe me, thetoothpasteinIsraelissothick” (Weiser 2011). uses toothpastetodrawanimageonapieceofglasssheturnstheaudienceandsays, “excuse performance “authenticity” includesdirectaddresstotheaudience, asforexamplewhenSauber the audience, creatingyetanotherlayerofperformer/characterdialectics. Otherevidenceof formance shereferstoherselfinthethirdpersonasreexaminesherpastandsharesitwith ments suchasSauber’s diaries, personalnotes, photos, andrecollections. Throughout theper the performerasarealperson. These conventionsincludethereadingfrom “archival” docu- a fictionalperformanceartist, Weiser usesconventionsassociatedwiththegenrethatestablish for granted, whatMartinterms “informal testimony” (2015:143). Bycreatingthesubjectivityof tional. Telling apersonalstorycreatessenseof “truth,” preciselybecauseittakessubjectivity The localandtrivialdetailofthetoothpasteconnectsspectatorswithtraditionsolo Weiser’s decisiontouseautobiographicalperformance artconflatestherealwithfic- All quotes from the three plays are from the unpublished manuscripts provided to me by Eyal Weiser. Red Carnations attached with sticky tape to trees , Mein Jerusalem, written and directed by Eyal 13

than astheonlooker(photog- ing toliveinthemomentrather loss ofidentityandherlong- the Holocaust. preceded herbirth, including by thehistoricaleventsthat structed, formed, andinformed stories andidentities, iscon- performance, andliketheirlife ators andspectatorsofthe lel tothelivesofrealcre- 1970 to2011takesplaceparal- phantom whoselifestoryfrom former ofMeinJerusalem isa (Protection Squadron). The per tion totheNaziSchutzstaffel “SS” initialscreateanassocia- load ofassociations;evenher clean. The namecarriesaheavy Sauber revealshersenseof “Sauber,” inGerman, means - - - Eyal Weiser 29 - - and melody are familiar to Israelis. and melody are familiar to Israelis. —

14 “God take care of mother, God take care of father, [...] God take care of the God take care of father, “God take care of mother, — 2009) (Weiser 2011), a series of photographs of children and families, which Sauber a series of photographs of children and families, 2011), 2009) (Weiser

—

Other scenes documenting Sauber’s “artistic projects” include her recollections and photo- “artistic projects” Other scenes documenting Sauber’s the end of the performance Sauber reads an email she sent to Elad accompanied Towards “Prayer to God,” written by Lev Oshanin in 1962 as “May There Always Be Sunshine,” melody by by melody Sunshine,” Be Always There “May as 1962 in Oshanin Lev by written God,” to “Prayer militarya for 1972 in Koren Gidi by Hebrew into adapted was song this Ostrovsky; (Avraam) Arkady entertainment band. tain vis-à-vis, and cannot escape this pure deictic language. (1982:4, 5) (1982:4, escape this pure deictic language. and cannot tain vis-à-vis, Germany, when Sauber recollects the May Day festivities in communist East For example, - she shares with the audi works of art that of Sauber’s and the invented archive The photos once: the photograph reproduces to infinity has occurred only What the photograph The photograph is [...] what could never be repeated existentially. mechanically repeats cer “Here it is”; it points a finger at a “See,” “Look,” antiphon of never anything but an The tune and its associative contexts exceed spoken language and create a bewildering moment The tune and its associative contexts exceed between German and Israeli identities. that suggests a deep if complex connection the KitKatClub and her trip to explore her childhood graphic interpretations of the nightlife at Despite Each and every event is authenticated by its date. home and relations with her father. Towards Sauber gradually reveals her loss of identity. “self,” her attempt to recapitulate her an Israeli student she tells how she met and fell in love with Elad, the end of the performance, as childhood teddy bear, mending her She sits on a chair, at Humboldt University in Berlin. and her fear of starting a family together with him in she reveals the failure of their love story This part of the performance her finger with the needle. she pricks Every now and then, Israel. Der one of her art projects, is accompanied by projections of another Verlorene Son — 2009 (The Lost Son The hints at self-wounding 5). bought at flea markets and stained on the back with blood (fig. playfulness Weiser’s and the use of blood on the back of the photographs is another example of it also puts into ques- At the same time, with practices that are associated with performance art. tion the identity and realness of the body that produces the blood. all appearing with the familiar Gmail titles by projections of photos she took in Jerusalem, “My journey begins where one wall falls and etc. “Jerusalem 034.jpg,” “Jerusalem 033.jpg,” 14. In Weiser’s work, ironically, the photo points not at the real event, person, object, or place but at or place but object, person, event, real the not at points photo the ironically, work, Weiser’s In The photographs create not only a into question. “really real” to call the fiction meant “real” a indicating that even real pho- itself, the performance but also an art project, believable archive, This might also be unreal. that a real performance and accordingly, tos are potentially unreal, is the artist who created many “Sauber” complicated by the fact that is further enhanced and This Pirandellian required autobiographical research. of these photographs as art projects that manipulation of the conventions of performance art. effect is achieved through a sophisticated 1962 Soviet Pioneer song melody for Lev Oshanin’s Arkady Ostrovsky’s she plays on a flute This perfor which she performs as a childhood memory. Always Be Sunshine,” There “May ence as she narrates her life story are seemingly examples of what Roland Barthes famously of what Roland are seemingly examples narrates her life story ence as she characterized: Ostrovsky’s meaning for Israeli spectators. mance-within-performance evokes an additional Its lyrics in the song in Israel. popular children’s melody was used for what became a very Hebrew version 2009) (koliphone who are alone in the dark” soldiers, May Day celebrations from her childhood in East Berlin (fig. 3), images of her childhood home, home, of her childhood images 3), (fig. childhood in East Berlin from her May Day celebrations real the KitKatClub (a when she worked at stands from boyfriends and one-night photos of her when experienced the city as she recorded and photos of Jerusalem, and finally venue in Berlin), to Israel. she traveled Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00690 by guest on 01 October 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00690 by guest on 01October 2021

30 Sharon Aronson-Lehavi A numberofartistsweretroubled bythisinitiativebecausetheyfeltitsfocusonideological 16. 15. was intendedforartistsandworksofartthatdealwithreflect Zionisthistoryand 2011) realinitiativetogiveanawardinthefieldofZionistcreation. Thisaward(2012–2015) tion theassumptionsofZionisminresponsetoLimorLivnat’s (theMinisterofCulturein In Rejects’ Salon This IstheLand: The ZionistCreation fueled andinterrogatedbyhistoricalcontemporaryreality. a deeprelationshipwiththeperformer/characterwhohasbeen broughttolife, arelationship lematized. ButunlikeBreuer’s Nora, Michal Weinberg (Sauber), Weiser, andtheaudiencehave DollHouse (2003), heretoothequestionofa “neutral” humanidentityremainsopenandprob- of LeeBreuer’s stagingofNoratakingoffherwigandclothesattheendMabouMines naked foramoment, andthenliesdownonthetablecoversherself. Inascenereminiscent is inEnglish, andtheword “wall” isused, thedoubleentendreiseffective. laterally builtin2002bytheIsraeligovernmentasasecuritybarrier. Becausetheperformance Judaism’s holiestsiteinJerusalem. Italso refers, however, totheIsraeli West BankBarrieruni- the wallthatstands, has, ironically, adoublereference. To someitmeansthe Wailing Wall, another wallstands,” Sauberwrites(Weiser 2011). The wallthatfellistheBerlin Wall, and directed by Eyal Weiser. Tmuna Theatre, Tel Aviv, 2011. (Photo by Gadi Dagon) Figure 4. Michal Weinberg as Sabine Sauber, repairing her teddy bear in This IstheLand: The ZionistCreation Rejects’Salon, threefictitiousperformanceartistsques- At theveryendofperformance, Saubertakesoffherwig, shoes, andclothes. Shestands See for example Nir Hasson’s report, “Israel Culture Offers Ministry Prize for ‘Zionist-oriented’ Art” (2011). HaMaaravi, from the wall between the Israelis and the Palestinians, the Gader HaHafrada (fence of separation). It should be noted that in Hebrew two different words for “wall” differentiate the Western Wall, HaKotel

Mein Jerusalem, written and 15

values. 16

Eyal Weiser 31

than about — Another reference the emphasis on artists’ 17 , written and directed by by directed and written , Jerusalem Mein Why smile upon your mother that last smile? last that mother your upon smile Why Gali Sudanski, a fashion designer; Gali Sudanski, — Figure 5. Photograph collected by Sabine Sauber at a flea market and stamped stamped and market flea a at Sauber Sabine by collected Photograph 5. Figure piece her for blood, her with Projected during the performancethe during of Projected Eyal Weiser. Tmuna Theatre, Tel Aviv, 2011. (Photo and visual concept concept visual and (Photo 2011. Aviv, Tel Theatre, Tmuna Weiser. Eyal by Rami Maymon) by - is composed of three satirical performance segments that ques- This Is the Land is composed of three satirical performance

(This Is the Land; 1935). The film, directed by Baruch Agadati and Isaac Agadati, can be found in be found can Agadati, Isaac and Baruch Agadati by directed film, The 1935). Land; the Is (This Haaretz Zot-hi Jerusalem. of University Hebrew Archive, Spielberg the Whereas the pre-State film and play exhibit “this land” through a strong sense of belief and “this land” Whereas the pre-State film and play exhibit In reaction to the call for In reaction to the call about Weiser In a conversation with . Zohi Haaretz the title This Is the Land is In Hebrew, that might be mentioned in this context is Aharon Ashman’s 1942 play Ha-adama Ha-zot (This Ashman’s Aharon that might be mentioned in this context is which was written and This play, Aviv. Tel Theatre in which premiered at the Habima Land), struggles of examines the hardships and town Hadera, performed to mark 50 years of the Jewish the founda- Notably it was staged six years prior to the pioneer newcomers with the land itself. tion of the State of Israel. piece is ironic and crit- Weiser’s hardships it entails, willingness to struggle and overcome the Weiser’s ical. can evoke “language of performance” personal narratives once again demonstrates how the program the This Is the Land , Again as for Mein Jerusalem bewildering authenticity. an illusory, gives more details about the fictional performance artists and DJ composer, a poet, a photographer; and Regev Huberman, Opfer, Ayala “creative partners and performers”: Efrat the three real performance artists who are credited as in the festival program The event itself is listed Weiner. and Neta Natalie Fainstein, Arnon, they might have giving even very experienced spectators the impression that “Program B,” as missed “Program A.” , As in Mein Jerusalem tion narration as a tool for constructing identity. 17. content would inhibit artistic content would it should “Zionism,” creativity. has gone through ter be noted, minological changes over the minological the rise of post- Following years. what used to Zionist theories, of be quite a neutral identifier has status quo Israeli identity political become a much more appro- term that is utilized and from both priated by politicians spectrum. sides of the political created Weiser submissions, festi- an invented alternative made by val of performance art rejected performers who were In reality they from the contest. were not rejected because they are fabricated to start with; but Weiser the alternative festival performa- created has a real, and could be seen tive status, In other words, to the real award ceremony. subversively, as a peripheral event that responded, in fact, did, Weiser artists were fabricated, although here too the identities of the performance critique of the real event. fabricate an event expressing his and his collaborators’ of the first film that was created in Eretz Israel in the piece he notes that this was also the title and scripted scenes about ) and which was a combination of documentary 1935 (Zot-hi Haaretz 2017). Land of Israel (Weiser 50 years of Jewish pioneer settling in the Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00690 by guest on 01 October 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00690 by guest on 01October 2021

32 Sharon Aronson-Lehavi (Photo by Gadi Dagon) the Land, written and directed by Eyal Weiser. Tmuna Theatre, Tel Aviv, 2013. designed. Costume and prop design by Tamar Levit (Muslin Brothers). Figure 6. Fashion designer Gali Sudanski (Efrat she garments Arnon) performing spectators thattheperformerwas therealperson, inThisIstheLandparodicmetatheatricality a Holocaustsurvivor. Whereas inMeinJerusalem Weiser dideverythinghecouldtoconvince ect istofollowandphotograph hermiserableoldneighbor, Esther, whom shebelievestobe her culturalknowledgeisshaped andmanipulated. tion toarealcontest, butitisalsoatheatricalmomentinwhich onebecomesawareoftheways that theaudienceseesandexperiencesimagesblinkingrapidly. The sceneisaparodicreac- subliminal messagesprojectisabsolutelyfictional, but whathappensduringtheperformanceis an imageofthe Wailing Wall, Anne Frank isconflatedwiththeHunger Games, andsoon. for example, Ben-GurionistalkingwithBradPitt, aletterSandraBullockreadsmergeswith films andstarsinterruptedeverysooftenbyimagesoffigures fromJewishandIsraelihistory: use ofsubliminalmessages.” Rapidlyprojectedonthescreenareimagesof famousHollywood audience aboutamilitary “secret projectwiththeMinistryof Tourism, focusing ontheeffective When Sudanskiisfullydressedinallofheroutfitsandaccessories, shecontinuestotellthe with an Arabic spice. The performancealsohighlights theanxietiesofadestabilizedidentity. Israel, inthiscaseflavoringgefiltefish, oneofthe most stereotypicalJewish-Ashkenazifoods, plays ontherunwayher “gefilte fish” leotard. Thisstoryreferstothemixtureofidentitiesin Israeli historyandculture. Wearing darksunglasses, Sudanski, withanironicundertone, tells Tamar Levit)influencedbystoriesandurbanlegends(allinvented Weiser) havingtodowith being somewhereinbetweenart(ificiality)andreality. that lettersarewrittenanderasedreflexivelyhighlightsthetheatricalityofevent, andofits that anauthoritativevoicecanbeachievedbytheveryactofconstructinganarrative. The fact 2013). The imageoftypinganddeletingisonenumerousexpressionsinthepieceways is atext, /size24, Miriamfont, /accompaniedbythesoundofacomputerkeyboard” (Weiser [...].” This scene endswiththeline “But thisisn’t theZionistCreation Award ceremony. / This suggesting differentendingstotheline “If thishadbeentheZionistCreation Award ceremony The secondperformanceartist is Ayala Opfer, aphotographerwhosedocumentaryproj- The firstperformanceartist, GaliSudanski, designsclothesandaccessories(designedby Program Bstartswithaprojectionoftextbeingtypedanddeletedfromcomputerscreen, This Is

she tells(fig. 6). of clothesillustratingthestories tion, ametaphoric “body politic” becomes agrotesqueaccumula- the other. Eventuallyherbody just layersonegarmentover doesn’t takeoffanything of animaginarycamera. She on theoutfitandposesinfront she hasdesigned. Then sheputs the storybehindeachgarment 2013). Sudanskidesignsanddis- cious Lebanesespice” (Weiser ing toitsrecipebaharat, adeli- dish, thegefiltefish, byadd- fected thefactory’s mostpopular he andhiswifeIbtissam “per factory inPetah Tikvah” where work inthe “Kugel JewishFood Lebanese army” andwhofound used tobeamedicintheSouth about “Wahill Djourian[...], who One story, forexample, is — The she - Eyal Weiser 33 - settler: enters the — poet, musician, and DJ musician, poet, — , written and directed by Eyal Weiser. Tmuna Theatre, Tel Aviv, 2013. 2013. Aviv, Tel Theatre, Tmuna Weiser. Eyal by directed and written Land, the Is This

Ayala Opfer.” This line is yet another one of Weiser’s “theatricks” that unsettles spec- “theatricks” Weiser’s This line is yet another one of Opfer.” Ayala — in Hebrew means “clod of earth”) is a performance artist dressed as a stereotypical “clod of earth”) is a performance in Hebrew means

subverts spectators’ expectations. Regev Huberman Regev The final segment of This Is the Land subverts spectators’ expectations. large yarmulke, sandals, and beard (fig. 8). Huberman 8). and beard (fig. sandals, large yarmulke, history of his grandfather and father who over He tells the long stage playing an accordion. of the State long before the establishment many years took part in the building of the country, which he reads from family let- and folkloric jokes, He is full of intimate family stories of Israel. and anec- songs, recordings of old radio programs, His performance includes ters and albums. who for decades Yarkoni (1925–2012), Yaffa dotes about figures such as the legendary singer “the known also in popular culture as represented the epitome of the fulfillment of Zionism, and perform for the soldiers. because she used to sing singer of the wars” acter, Opfer (which in German means “victim”), is a metaphoric embodiment of the constant “victim”), means Opfer (which in German acter, and she “she is sick” For this reason consciousness. presence of the Holocaust in Israeli societal although it she is a Holocaust survivor, behavior as a sign that therefore reads her neighbor’s she frequently audience the story about her neighbor, As Opfer tells the turns out she is not. Opfer crisis. suggesting that she herself is also suffering an identity mentions schizophrenia, which she screens the photos of Esther she has stands on the empty stage with an iPad from an invented identity These photographs add yet another layer of 7). been obsessively taking (fig. of the meticulous reconstruction of her life and the (of the neighbor) which seems real because The signs of misery and poverty a sense of realness. use of black-and-white photos that create and of the old neighbor as photographed by Opfer strongly resonate with an Israeli audience, therefore turn this part of the performance into a troubling if distorted mirror. (regev is clearly in play. Before Opfer enters the stage, a projection tells the audience, “The performer a projection tells the audience, stage, Before Opfer enters the is clearly in play. is sick that this char is interested in is Weiser The idea tators’ sense of what is true and what is false. Figure 7. Performance artist Ayala Opfer (Natalie Fainstein) sharing with the audience her photographs of of photographs her audience the with sharing Fainstein) artist(Natalie Opfer Ayala Performance 7. Figure neighbor. her Esther, Dagon) Gadi by (Photo Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00690 by guest on 01 October 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00690 by guest on 01October 2021 34 Sharon Aronson-Lehavi (Photo by Gadi Dagon) the Land, written and directed by Eyal Weiser. Tmuna Theatre, Tel Aviv, 2013. Figure 8. Performance Regev and sound artist Huberman (Neta Weiner). performance endwithacallforartisticaction: Weiner, inwhichhelamentsthelossespastandpraysforabetterfuture. The poem and ciative multilingualspoken-wordtext(inHebrew, English, German, and Arabic), writtenby leftist activist with therealidentityofperformer, Neta Weiner viduals intheaudience. Then, mixingtheidentityoffabricatedcharacterRegevHuberman would betooextremefroma(hypocritical)mainstreampointofview(Weiser 2017). the firstplacebecauseheistooexplicitandbluntabouthisrighttobeasettler, a positionthat According to Weiser’s narrative, HubermanwasallegedlyrejectedfromtheZionist Award in to see “political theatre,” andturnsaspotlightonthehypocrisy Weiser wishestounmask. Creation Award subvertsthesenseofcommunalidentityamongspectatorswhoregularlycome reality, hissuggestionthatRegevHubermanandpeoplelikehimareexcludedfromtheZionist taken placeinIsraelisocietysincethe1967war. Typical of Weiser’s intricateunderstandingof Get up(Weiser 2013) Get upandcreate Before itgetslate And here Across theoceans And thechangeonecanmake Is theoneofourlife For inthissortofclimate, theonlycreationnotcondemned to besere Between theblearofsoilourcreation Maybe nowwecanseeclearly Beyond thecracksofwalluntruth Of anyonewhoisnotyourself Deep inthegutssameoldknot Same old Oh boyohdear After Hubermanendshisstory, heapproachesthespectatorsandstartstalkingwithindi- — Huberman/Weiner endstheperformanceinalongandpowerfulrhymedasso- — same fearofthemerepresence This Is — who reallyisapoet, soundartist, and and nationalconsensusthathas and dissolutionofthesocial attention tothedeepfracture cal opponents. Weiser thuscalls artistic spacewithitspoliti- ambivalent aboutsharingthe in itself;asocialgroupthatis gesting thatitisasocialgroup native theatreinIsrael, sug- audience thatcomestoseealter points attheidentityof Weiser, throughHuberman, the words “some peoplehere” that isbewildering. Byusing direct addresstotheaudience a gives 2013) —Huberman the settlements” (Weiser what somepeopleherecall Huberman, Icomefrom settler Presenting himselfasa — “My nameisRegev - Eyal Weiser 35

The evocative images are closely tied with symbols of the land of Israel, especially the The evocative images are closely tied with symbols of the land of Israel, confession creates a multilayered intimate Tz’zak’s The conflation of these images with Of all of Weiser’s pieces, this is the most abstract. Throughout this section the video depicts this is the most abstract. pieces, Weiser’s Of all of So there was this sense of alienation. You feel you do not have a place. You do not have You a place. feel you do not have You of alienation. So there was this sense Because I have hard feeling. and this was a you do not belong, with, someone to identify this is where you can grew up, this is where I is where my family is, This nowhere to go. And if these you work with the materials from reality. So almost therapeutic. create; it’s interceptions then this is the material clips in which people film Iron Dome YouTube are and maybe through that you’ll from there redemption will come, And maybe I work with. 2015) (in Gordon be freed. “Sometimes I need the Beast? opens with the line the first part of How’s As mentioned above, olive tree and the “thorny outside and sweet inside” sabra, the typical symbol and metonym of sabra, sweet inside” “thorny outside and olive tree and the The bees and stereotypical Jewish diasporic identity. which stands in opposition to Israeliness, not these are painful images, At the same time, beehive symbolize the land of milk and honey. only because of the bees’ sting but also because of how the bees die when they sting. “choreography of a bat- Tz’zak narrates her personal embodied metaphor of guilt and shame. a land that housed the reflecting on her own feelings of guilt coming from Poland to Israel, tle,” she War during the Gaza Israel Visiting Auschwitz concentration camp during the Holocaust. after tourist in Israel who has surrendered to anxiety, “thoughts of a Polish reveals that hers are Trying to and a selfie with the remains of a missile. three missile interceptions, two siren alarms, The video art in the background 2015a). (Weiser who is to blame for all this shit?” understand, , which premiered at the 2015 international Israel international Israel at the 2015 which premiered the Beast?, How’s most recent work, Weiser’s Tal with In an interview War. 2014 Gaza in response to the was created Festival Jerusalem, in Israel from a project just returned to He had process. describes his creative Weiser Gordon, expressed Weiser to and during the war. atmosphere prior experienced the tense Munich and press and in social media) that because of the general atmosphere (in the the frustration he felt as having a demoralizing critical voices that were regarded was intolerant of nonmainstream of disorientation and dissatisfaction He specifically refers to his sense effect in a difficult time. of both the right and the left wings: with the political leadership in is, invented performance artists, Weiser’s one of What sounds like part of a monologue by and an expression of the frustration with the ongoing violent conflict between Israelis fact, on creates performance artists who offer multivocal perspectives Weiser This time Palestinians. digs deeper into the expressive and abstract qualities of art by Weiser in this piece Yet (the) war. and film. video, turning to dance, a Polish Here, myself”to walk far away from where I am to see projected on the back screen. who broke up with her girlfriend and came Tz’zak, Agnieszka choreographer and video artist, as she inves- shares her thoughts and experiences out, broke War to Israel just when the Gaza and her performance is She is dressed as a beekeeper in a white suit, tigates the feeling of guilt. a video of a beehive, as well as by dressed in black, “girlfriend,” accompanied by a dance by her shown Tz’zak that is to Weiser but attributed by Weiss created by (the real) video artist Hinda created one year this video was to the program, According on a large screen in the background. Tz’zak speaks in Polish and her monologue is War. visit to Israel during the Gaza Tz’zak’s after accompanied by Hebrew supertitles. How’s the Beast? How’s intensifying images and sounds of bees creating honey. The dancer appears both live onstage and The dancer appears both honey. intensifying images and sounds of bees creating Weiser tree. and at times we also see images of olive trees and of the thorny sabra in the video, a kibbutz that was built by Yad Mordechai, Kibbutz chose to film this video at the beehive of Gaza Strip the region surrounding the envelope, Polish Jews and which is located in the Gaza Anielewicz The kibbutz is named after Mordechai and also the largest honey supplier in Israel. Ghetto uprising. Warsaw (1919–1943) who was the commander of the 1943 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00690 by guest on 01 October 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00690 by guest on 01October 2021 36 Sharon Aronson-Lehavi Hinda Weiss) Beit Mazya Theatre House, Israel Festival, 2015. (VideoJerusalem, still by and stigmata. crucifixion stands in front of an olive tree with dead bees in her hands, alluding to the Near a beehive at Kibbutz Yad Mordechai, dancer Johana Busko (Tamar Lam), Figure 9. A still from the video by Hinda Weiss, projected behind the performance. Theatre House, Israel Festival, 2015. (VideoJerusalem, still Rami by Maymon) design by Tamar Levit (Muslin Brothers). Subtitles:performance. “Wars never had good timing.” Photo and visual concept by Maymon; Rami costume Figure 10. Uriah Rein-Merchav (Max Wagner) in a video, titled actually lip-synchingarecordingofwoman’s voicethat Weiser hadmade. She, hetellsus, which hetakesfromafamilyrecording. Forthisperformancetherealactor, Max Wagner, was ist. Throughout thescenehelip-synchsamonologueofhis(invented)motherHelenaMerchav, How’s the Beast? written and directed by Eyal Weiser. How’s the Beast? written and directed by Eyal Weiser. Beit Mazya White Lie, screened of the as part a speaking UriahRein-Merchavis cube (fig. 10). TheGerman- abstract disorientingwhite Lie, whichtakesplaceinan formance isavideotitledWhite of thewaronbothsides. take responsibilityfortheresults audience tocontemplateand that Weiser expectsthelocal contemplation andconfession ure (fig. 9). Itisthrough Tz’zak’s gestion ofJesus/asacrificialfig- creating aniconographicsug- where thestigmatawouldbe, out fromthepalmsofherhands, her body, withdeadbeesfalling tree, herhandsatthesidesof standing infrontofanolive ends withthedancer/girlfriend gender-fluid performanceart- The secondpartoftheper - Eyal Weiser 37 - How’s the Beast? the How’s - story the performer, — Figure 11. Performance artist Liora Alshech (Adili Liberman). Liberman). (Adili Alshech artist Liora Performance 11. Figure written and directed by Eyal Weiser. Beit Mazya Theatre House, Israel Festival, Festival, Israel House, Theatre Mazya Beit Weiser. Eyal by directed and written Rami Maymon) by (Photo 2015. Jerusalem, - now lives. now lives. —

The choice of “Uriah” as the name of the son resonates in the Israeli cultural context. Uri is Uri cultural context. in the Israeli name of the son resonates as the “Uriah” of The choice per In the final part of the In her performances, Alshech uses materials that come straight from reality but uses them Alshech uses materials In her performances, Alshech claims autonomous inner logic. to create alternate worlds that have a renewed, she can treat her own violence and pain with that only in those substitute universes, 2015b) (Weiser humor and compassion. the name of the paradigmatic sabra, a fictional character in Moshe Shamir’s foundational 1947 Moshe Shamir’s a fictional character in sabra, the name of the paradigmatic Uri is the model and epitome of the The character of . in the Fields Walked novel and play He is killed in the Gadi, father like Uriah’s Uri, masculine identity. newly constructed Jewish/Israeli character is thus formed around His heroic and never meets his own son. of Independence War In referring to the results of the and myth of the Israeli sacrificial figure. the foundational ethos the futility emphasizes Weiser War, in a performance about the 2014 Gaza War 1982 Lebanon impact on society. of war and its continuing While the audience watches images of the recently experienced war, Alshech narrates the While the audience watches images of the recently experienced war, of grow story/scripts of an all-American family whose Easter celebration is haunted by a sense 2005 based on Steven Spielberg’s ing fear because underground tunnels have been discovered, The dissociation novel. Wells H.G. which is itself an adaptation of the 1898 , Worlds of the War one creates and deflection of meaning from the real and recent events to a filmic and fictitious because in this case the spectators are very much precisely a dreadful sense of disorientation, The final image is of an explosion and a aware of the actual recent war and its consequences. Alshech This image leads “the desert of the real.” in standing small herd of sheep left alone, Here it is hard to tell if it is a sincere gesture or if to end the performance with a deep moan. Weiser’s Indeed, is perhaps ironically quoting a cliché of an expressive gesture of grief. Weiser formance, titled in a projection titled in a formance, Weiser “Desert of the Real,” 2002 references Slavoj Zizek’s to the Desert of the Real Welcome as he screens footage from the turning war images War, Gaza into an aestheticized experience. footage shows This war-to-art missiles flying through the sky at night and their interception (accompanied by the sound of videos that YouTube the sirens); groups of soldiers uploaded, ironically accompanied by the Williams’s sounds of Pharrell (a phenome- “Happy” pop song American non that started with Afghanistan); the IDF soldiers in clips of the air force spokesman’s bombings of Gaza; and images At a certain point of explosions. starts to Adili Liberman) Alshech (performed by calls Liora Weiser the performance artist that Weiser states: The program written by 11). narrate the screened images (fig. and phantom teller, as he doubles her voice, came from Germany to Israel in the 1970s, fell in love, and married a and married in love, fell in the 1970s, Germany to Israel came from her voice, as he doubles never got to meet Gadi War. 1982 Lebanon who was killed in the named Gadi, kibbutz member in the war, death husband’s Following her we are now watching. the performer Uriah, their son, where he Uriah, to Germany with decided to return Helena eventually Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00690 by guest on 01 October 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00690 by guest on 01October 2021

38 Sharon Aronson-Lehavi utterance “I” gainsmeaning. tions aboutthewaysinwhichhistoryiswritten, theselfisconceptualized, andtheperformative create isanaffectiveandeffectivepoliticaltheatredesignedtoresetallouroperativeassump- struction intheserviceofideology. What Weiser’s invented “performance artists” ultimately autobiographical performanceartinordertoshowthatreality, bothonstageandoff, isacon- worthiness ofautobiographicalartistsandthestoriestheytellbyexploitingconventions itative andauthentic(ifsubjective)utterancespresence. Weiser’s workundoesthetrust- The methodologiesofperformanceandarthavecreatedasecurespaceforauthor Conclusion tial ofantiwarartandperformance. rated, includinginhisownwork, suggestsanunsettlingoverturningoftheredemptivepoten self- koliphone. 2009. “Tfila le-Elohim” [PrayertoGod]. YouTube, 31May. Accessed21July2017. www Jones, Amelia.1998. Heddon, Deirdre. 2008. Autobiography andPerformance. Basingstoke:PalgraveMacmillan. Hasson, Nir. 2011. “Israel CultureMinistryOffersPrizefor ‘Zionist-oriented’ Art.” Haaretz, 6October. Hanisch, Carol. (1969)2009. “The PersonalIsPolitical.” Women ofthe World: Unite! Writings by Carol Gum Films. 2014. TheAccursed. Accessed 14July2017. www.gumfilms.com/projects/accursed. Gordon, Tal. 2015. “Ha-Makom haOtentishebetochHasheker:Reaayon” [The Authentic Placewithinthe Fischer-Lichte, Erika. 2008. “Reality andFictioninContemporary Theatre.” Theatre Research International Faiola, Anthony, andRuthEglash. 2014. “Waves ofyoungIsraelisfindahomeintheformerNazicapital.” Barthes, Roland. 1982. Camera Lucida:ReflectionsonPhotography. Translated byRichardHoward. New York: Ashman, Aharon.1942. Aronson-Lehavi, Sharon, andFreddieRokem. 2010. “Word and Action inIsraeliPerformance.” In Almog, Oz. 2000. TheSabra: The Creation oftheNewJew. Translated byHaim Watzman. Berkeley: Agadati, Baruch, andIsaac Agadati dirs. 1935.Zot-hiHaaretz [ThisIstheLand]. Scriptwrittenby Avigdor Aarons, Victoria, and Alan L. Berger. 2017. Third-Generation HolocaustRepresentation: Trauma, History, and References .youtube.com/watch?v=yT2JfQSeTMY. -art-1.388419. Accessed 21July2017. www.haaretz.com/israel-culture-ministry-offers-prize-for-zionist-oriented Hanisch. Accessed 14July2017. http://www.carolhanisch.org/CHwritings/PIP.html. .aspx?Subj=1&Area=1&ArticleId=24692. Interview].Lie: An 33, 1:84–96. -c4be22049a2f_story.html. /waves-of-young-israelis-find-a-home-in-the-former-nazi-capital/2014/10/21/7ecd02bf-70fa-4b9f-b226 The WashingtonPost , 21October. Accessed 1June2016. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe and Wang.Hill Jerusalem: KiryatSeferPress. Wee, 222–35. Basingstoke:PalgraveMacmillan. Contesting Performance: GlobalSitesofResearch, editedbyJonMcKenzie, HeikeRoms, andC.J. W.-L. University ofCaliforniaPress. University ofJerusalem. Ha-Meiri. AGA Film. Filmreconstructedby Yaakov Grossin2010; The Spielberg Archive, Hebrew .Memory Evanston, IL:NorthwesternUniversityPress. reflective interrogation intothewaysrealviolenceisaestheticized, organized, andnar Body Art: Performing theSubject.Minneapolis:UniversityofMinnesota Press. Habama, 9June. Accessed 1November2015. www.habama.co.il/Pages/Description Ha-Adama Ha-zot[ThisLand: A Playin Three Acts aboutLifeintheLand]. - - - Eyal Weiser 39

, and The Ruth Kanner The Ruth and , Children Arna’s

London: Verso. London: Verso. , edited by Susan C. Haedicke, Deirdre Heddon, Deirdre Heddon, Haedicke, edited by Susan C. , Theory and Practice Performances: In Political Group.” Rodopi. Amsterdam: 215–35. Westlake, and E.J. Oz, Avraham Bantam Books. York: New www.deutsche-leben-in-israel.eu/Idee.html. Uppergate Entertainment. org.il/en/about-the-exhibition/roee-rosen-a-group-exhibition. manuscript. Unpublished B]. Rejects’ Salon/Program The Zionist Creation , Plonter Theatre: Israeli Political of “Modalities 2009. Shimon. Levy, . Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Basingstoke: Palgrave the Real of. Theatre 2013. Carol. Martin, 1:135–46. 67, Journal Theatre Essay.” and Its Outliers: Review “The Real 2015. Carol. Martin, Artists. Performance Top Today’s Monologues from and Raves, Rants, Out of Character: 1997. ed. Mark, Russell, Or Am. Aviv: in Tel the BaSadot [He Walked Hu Halach Fields]. (1947) 1989. Moshe. Shamir, Simon & Simon and DVD. . Leben in Israel Deutsche. 2011. and Martina Schobesberger. Helmut, Simon, www.tamuseum. 14 July 2017. Accessed A Group Exhibition.” Rosen: “Roee 2016. Art. Museum of Aviv Tel manuscript. Unpublished Sabine Sauber. by A Performance Mein Jerusalem: 2011. Eyal. Weiser, Bet [This Is the Land: Ha-Tzionit/Tochnit Ha-Yetzira Salon Dchuyei Zohi Ha-Arretz: 2013. Eyal. Weiser, Unpublished manuscript. the Beast?]. [How’s Ma Shlom Ha-Chaya 2015a. Eyal. Weiser, Israel. Jerusalem, Theatre House, the Beast? Beit Mazya Program for How’s 2015b. Eyal. Weiser, 23 March. University, Aviv Tel Personal conversation with the author. 2017. Eyal. Weiser, 11 and Related Dates on September. Essays to the Desert of the Real: Five Welcome 2002. Slavoj. Zizek, Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00690 by guest on 01 October 2021