Exploration of Emeth-Shalom-Gilgul Neshamot and Dibbukim
For decades, I have been artistically involved with Jewish culture, history and the existing xenophobia in today's society. I have been working on the series "Exploration of Emeth - Shalom - Gilgul Neshamot and Dibbukim" for twenty years. Meanwhile, I have an extensive cycle on the topics. The works include photos, videos, sculptures, installations, performances and exhibitions with artists from Israel and all over the world. In 2009 I filmed a whole series about the Jewish Museum Berlin as a tribute to the architecture of Daniel Libeskind.
Thunderbolt
The video "Thunderbolt" is about the Jewish Museum Berlin. It refers to the shape of the building in the form of a lightning bolt, the Void-as a central theme of the architecture of JMB by Daniel Libeskind* about the absence of Jewish people in contemporary German society. Other elements of the work are related to the Jewish history, the present, the number '7' and the returning or reincarnation.The Hebrew word for reincarnation, "Gilgul", the word gilgul means "cycle" or "wheel" and neshamot is the plural for "souls, or "turning in a circle" meaning reincarnation. Therefore the movement in the video resembles a Möbius loop, a constantly changing recurrence.
The video Thunderbolt from 2009 pays homage to Daniel Libeskind, with the music of David "Didi" Fire.
* I first saw and heard Daniel Libeskind in December 2002 in New York. My friend Marc de Bourcy invited me to a presentation in the Wintergarden of the WTC. Years later I moved to Berlin and visited the Jewish Museum Berlin. I was inspired by the building and fortunately I shot pictures and videos with my mirror installations. On the pevious page you can see some selected works.
Memento 1
In the video "Memento I" from 2009, I am exploring the transience of human existence, and in particular the violent death by murder. The Jewish Memorial in Berlin by the architect Peter Eisenman drew me in its spell in an alarming way. The structure is not loaded with the overblown pathos of traditional memorial architecture, and thus the experience is even more terrifying and cryptic. The soundtrack is inspired by the lasting impression, which accompanied me during the walk through the memorial's aisles, the pounding sound of my heart.
I lived and worked in the artists' residence HomeBaseLab Berlin in 2011-2012 for six months. Founder Anat Litvin, artist and curator from New York / Jerusalem invited me. It was about the topic "The Notion of Home". During that time, I have got to know and love numerous artists from all over the world.
The outstanding artist, I introduce here is the composer and filmmaker Didi Fire from Jaffa.
Friction Art Berlin
An interdisciplinary event about interaction-friction-between artists, their cultural and personal idenetety, their work, the space and some neighbours *
Paintings, drawings, installations, video, photography, poetry, theatre, performance, concerts, jam session, dj's...
After the second HomeBaseFestival-2012, in the former brewery in the Thulestrasse I had the idea to use the freed space for an interactive festival. I have invited 18 female and 18 male artists from all continents. The idea was that the artists interact and partly intervene in the work of other artists and transform them.
In addition to various reasons to be in Berlin, they all have one thing in common - they are urban nomads and brought with them fresh ideas and a lot of friction energy.
ARTISTS: Adar Aviam, Adrian Brun, Alina Shmukler, Alejandro Vaquero, Merav Steinmetz, Loudwig van Ludens, Lior Vilenchik, Thomas Henriksson, Heather Allen,Tra Bouscaren, Heather Ann McKee, Scottie B., Stonedrifters Sound Brigade, Billie Pistol 27, Daniel Kula,
Jennifer Morone, Ulrika Segerberg, Marcos Covelo/M8K8, Miriam Cartagena,Tomoyo Urabe, Minoru Ashikari, Michal Rivlin, Miguel Rosas, Shony Rivnay, Slawjana Kola, Arnon Amitai, Roberto Equisoain, Rotonda Teatro, Angela Cory, Nilo Gallego, Aurora Costilla, Denise Baldauf, Renee Lamothe, Marika Zaghis
Founded and curated by: Loudwig van Ludens
Hosted by: HomeBase LAB Berlin
Thulestrasse 54, Berlin-Pankow
* Some of the neighbors of the HomeBase residence were hostile. Many were marked by xenophobia. I invited them to stimulate an exchange of ideas, some came, but... some of them called the police to stop the event. Last but not least, after a friendly discussion with the officers we were able to continue until the morning.
Ouroboros
The lower three Ouroboros are a selection from the series "60 Years BRD" from 2009. In this series, I have visited "German Stages of History", landmarks, buildings... and have made my own impressions thoughts, pictures, to even begin to understand what happened in the past and what is happening now. At the end of the Series I was invited to Munich for a TV Special by BR1 TV.
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Berlin
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Munich
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Nürnberg-Fields of Dibbukim
Multi-media room installation at Home Base Residency Project Berlin.
Cavexa Reflexa-Urban Nomads
Multi-media room installation at Home Base Residency Project Berlin.
Inspired by "The parable of the Cave"- an allegory used by the Greek philosopher Plato in his work "The Republic" which illustrates "the human nature in its education and strive for education“(or ignorance). I interpreted this allegory by playing with the relativity of perception. I have replaced the cave with a living room, the rocks and chains where the people are attached to, with a wheelchair and the projected shadows on the cave walls with a TV Screen and a beamer.
The installation offers the viewer options for interactive exploration of the allegory, by sitting in the wheelchair, and changing the reflections with remote control, changing the shape and arrangement of some mirrors and light setting to create its own projections and anamorphic membrane reflections. The scenery of Plato's Cave is replaced with the habitat of the contemporary human who is consuming Information via TV, PC, tablet or smartphone, often taking the information for granted, without questioning the source or content.
During the experience, I was giving hints to the participants that this is still a content produced by an unreliable source - mine! Encouraging them to think out of the box.
P R A Y E R ?
Prayer?
This animation from 2005 is a response to the increasing religious radicalization in the Middle East, Europe and its dissemination by the media worldwide. Religious belief has always been used as a weapon of power struggles. The mass media transforms the bigotry into a strategic arsenal to be utilized by the power brokers at will. Ironically, the puppets do not see through the delusion. The absurdity of the progress of the mass media is that moving images mobilize even the illiterate and make cheap remote-controlled weapons out of them.
If God created everything, then that is a truly great Creator, fine, praise the Creator of your choice! But, I've never seen a god on TV calling people out to commit suicide and murder. The ones I see on the news seem to me as some frustrated, hate-infested, power-hungry but mortal men. Why God created them is a mystery to me, but certainly not because the Almighty is in need of help, of people who know nothing better to do with the gift of life than to destroy it. That some people believe that they will be rewarded after their death for hatred and murder is even more absurd. In this sense, I wonder is it the Devil who seduces those people to destroy God's creation?
Well, it's a hypothetical consideration, because I do not believe in the devil and other myths that people have ever invented to control their fellow human beings, while they are pathetic and cowardly, claiming that they are doing it in the name of God. I think it's disgusting, that parents put children into the world and do not educate them to thrive and become loving and creative humans but incite them and let them rot in hatred and destruction.