[spectre] TRACING UNDERCURRENTS: Sonic Routes Between

[Simon Biggs]

Nat, Jayce, Andreas,

How to deal with Israel is an issue for all artists. It is a heavily loaded
cultural issue. I have been invited to show there a few times and always
refused. I do not recognise the right of Israel to exist. To me it is simply
an illegal occupation of a region by a group of uninvited people. At the
same time I recognise that many Israeli's have very diverse and nuanced
attitudes and positions in this respect. Ultimately, however, I cannot see
any justification for a country (any country) to exist that is defined in
terms of religion and ethnicity. Any such country, by definition, is a
fundamentalist state that will always deny rights to those who are different
to those who determine that definition. That Israel does this and then adds
injury to insult is doubly problematic. Anybody who chooses to be identified
as Israeli or whom chooses to make their home there as an Israeli is putting
themselves in an ethically very difficult position.

Jayce's conflation of Israel post 1948 and South Africa during apartheid
seems a reasonable position to take, even though the situations in the two
regions are very different. Nevertheless, the cultural and economic boycott
of SA during the 1980's was definitely an important element in contributing
to change. As you might be aware, many in the UK, and elsewhere, are calling
for an equivalent boycott of Israel and although there have only been half
successful attempts to institutionalise this many individuals and groups do
implement such a boycott (for a few months the UK University lecturer's
union NATFHE managed to sustain an official academic boycott until it was
overturned under governmental and institutional pressure). Personally I
support the strategy of a boycott and thus also refuse to work with Israeli
institutions or those who identify themselves as politically/culturally
Israeli (I have no problem with Jewish non-Zionists, having been married to
one for many years).

I do not agree with Jayce that the moderators of Spectre should filter out
the announcement you posted. If your post had not been made this debate
would not now be being had; a debate that is valuable here, as elsewhere. If
you are going to position yourself in a manner that inevitably leads to
questioning your political position in respect of Israel in a forum where I
imagine most people deplore what Israel has done, is doing and thus what it
stands for then you have to expect robust debate.

I am sure your political intent with this show is good - but perhaps you
have made an error of judgement in doing such a show at this time,
especially one that does not set as its central thematic the relationship
between Israel and the people they have subjugated and imprisoned en mass.
Given this you have to expect criticism from those who hold rather strongly
held positions on this. You cannot on the one hand say that there is " NO
acceptance of Israeli imperialism within this program" and then do a show
describing itself as an exhibition of Israeli artists. By doing that you
have explicitly accepted the right of Israel to exist and thus all the
imperialist baggage that goes with it (Israel is by definition imperialist).
There is no great difference between your show and doing a show of white
only South African art during aparthied. I would expect you can see that.

Best

Simon


> Message: 1
> Date: Mon, 10 Oct 2005 15:59:20 +0200
> From: nat muller <nat at xs4all.nl>
> Subject: Re: [spectre] TRACING UNDERCURRENTS: Sonic Routes Between
> To: spectre at mikrolisten.de
> Message-ID: <07a43e86ea37cec4c77a3f43595ea93b at xs4all.nl>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
> 
> dear simon,
> 
> thank you for your comment.
> as the organiser and curator of this event, and as someone who has
> lived in israel, and is quite familiar with its  various discourses,
> AND as someone who has always been highly critical (and vocal) about
> israel's politics of occupation and dispossesion, i feel i need to
> position myself.  being an *israeli imperialist* as you put it, is def.
> not my position!  whoaw!
> 
> i think everyone on the list knows about the *indigenous* people who
> have lived in Palestine, that is a superfluous comment. nor  do i think
> this PR blurb propagates a Golda Meir-like stance.  let me make clear
> that there is , 
> and i am very sorry you read that into this announcement.  there are a
> few points i would like to clarify before being further accused of
> having internalised the evils of zionism.

> Message: 3
> Date: Mon, 10 Oct 2005 15:43:18 -0400
> From: jsalloum at aol.com
> Subject: [spectre] Re: your
> To: spectre at mikrolisten.de
> Message-ID: <8C79BE9FF68F126-177C-1668A at MBLK-M42.sysops.aol.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed
> 
> Dear Spectrel list managers,
> 
> It is rather unbelievable that you accept and promote uncritically an
> 'Israeli' position and attitude that denies any representation of a
> Palestinian existence not to mention such things as rights or
> occupation or even conquest. Just think if you were running this list
> in Apartheid era S. Africa you could be promoting and accepting the
> Afrikaaner arts groups at the same time denying any recognition or
> representation of the indigenous people in that colonized state.
> 
> Sincerely,
> Jayce

> Message: 4
> Date: Tue, 11 Oct 2005 10:29:19 +0200
> From: Andreas Broeckmann <abroeck at transmediale.de>
> Subject: [spectre] Re: your
> To: jsalloum at aol.com
> Cc: spectre at mikrolisten.de
> Message-ID: <a05200f4bbf71269d249c@[192.168.3.23]>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" ; format="flowed"
> 
> dear jayce,
> 
> so far, this list has been an open forum for people in the arts in
> europe and beyond, to inform others about their work and discuss
> things where necessary. i see no reason why we should start censoring
> postings so long as people like simon and yourself keep a critical
> eye on what the colleagues are doing. to accuse nat muller, of all
> people, of promoting a kind of zionist apartheid is nonsense (do you
> have an idea what she has been doing in the last years? check it
> out!), though i agree that the formulations in her announcement were
> problematic - which she has acknowledged.
> 
> nevertheless i think it is more fruitful to discuss things with her
> on or off the list, rather than call for the list police to expell an
> unwanted voice.
> 
> regards,
> -a


Simon Biggs
simon at littlepig.org.uk
http://www.littlepig.org.uk/

Professor, Art and Design Research Centre
Sheffield Hallam University, UK
http://www.shu.ac.uk/schools/cs/cri/adrc/research2/