Come to Israel: It’s hot and wet and we have the Humus Recent video works by Ruti Sela & Maayan Amir and Yossi Atia & Itamar Rose Curated by Joshua Simon

A collection of short Israeli art films that use role-playing as an instrument of social investigation. Shopping malls and checkpoints, outings and family BBQs, war zones and everyday entertainment are all the subject of Israeli the satirical experiments of filmmakers Rose and Atia. Juxtaposed with this series is Sela & Amir’s acclaimed video trilogy of barhopping, S&M quickies and prostitution, a steamy first-person investigation into the sexual practices of Tel Aviv’s nightlife that often uncovers complex military reminiscences.

Rose and Atia’s satirical shorts, as they call them, have been attracting attention in their hometown of Tel Aviv, mostly by word of mouth, since 2005. Their movies, which feature them in a variety of fictional characters interviewing Israelis they meet or approach on the street, the mall or the park, squarely take on the highly controversial issue of Israeli society’s relationship with race, gender and sexuality.

In their video trilogy Beyond Guilt (2004-2006), the female duo Sela & Amir investigates pick-up bars, internet dating sites and call girl services in Israel, revealing the deep effects of the army experience on the most intimate practices of young Israelis. As they actively participate and try to seduce young men in restrooms of pick-up joints, schedule anonymous sessions with S&M partners and pay a prostitute to film them with her in a hotel room, the two upset the balances of power between photographer and photographed; male and female; multiple and singular; object and subject.

VIDEOS SCREENED

Telethon (Shirutrom) Yossi Atia & Itamar Rose (2006) 8 mins. Memorial Day Yossi Atia & Itamar Rose (2006) 6.30 mins. Jewish Arab State (Aravhayehudit) Yossi Atia & Itamar Rose (2007) 4.30 mins. Kids at War Yossi Atia & Itamar Rose (2006) 3.55 mins. Missiles (Tilim) Yossi Atia & Itamar Rose (2006) 3.55 mins. Homosexual Yossi Atia & Itamar Rose (2006) 3.14 mins. Checkpoint at the Mall Yossi Atia & Itamar Rose (2006) 6.20 mins. Rape (Ones) Yossi Atia & Itamar Rose (2006) 3.40 mins. Independence Day Yossi Atia & Itamar Rose (2006) 6 mins. Beyond Guilt Ruti Sela & Maayan Amir (2003-2005) 42 mins. Nothing Happened Ruti Sela (2007) 23 mins.

SPECIAL EVENT Thursday April 10, 6pm: Presentation of the filmic work of Ari Libsker. Libsker, who is showing his documentary film Stalags – Holocaust and pornography in Israel at the Film Forum (opening April 9), will be speaking at Storefront for Art and Architecture about his ongoing filmic investigating of perversion and Jewish sexuality. He will also be showing three short videos he shot in Tel Aviv (2003), London (2004) and Accra, Ghana (2007), which he made as part of his ongoing video-project Lectures.