Chen Tamir / Ex-Territory  

 
   
 

Ex-Territory is a project initiated by artists, curators, and scholars who wish to rethink geo-political conventions in a non-national space. Taking to the sea on board three vessels the first Ex-Territory event took place in the international waters of the Mediterranean Sea and on Cypress from June 17-21, 2010. Together we held workshops, discussions, and film-screenings that were projected on the sails of the ships.


As part of this project I showed videos by Mirelle Borra and Douglas Paulson. Borra’s video, “Walls of Seperation," examines separation barriers all over the world, including the Berlin Wall, Tortilla Wall, West Bank Wall, etc. Paulson’s work, "Fish and Politics, and Fishy Politicians,” mixes animation with found photographs and gives voice to the yearning for a better world, the cruelties of this one, and to the impulse to start over.

 

I also invited three artists to create editioned artwork that was thrown overboard in bottles with the hopes of reaching someone in the
nearby coasts of Lebanon, Cypress, Turkey, Greece, or Israel.
 
Nadia Awad created drawings, which are incomplete, suggestive, or purposely fragmentary, on cloth dyed with tea. Along with the rolled up drawings, she placed a tiny piece of charcoal inside, which the finder of the bottle may use to “finish” the drawing, cover it, or leave as is. The work exists in the moment of contemplating one's agency and is thus completed by the finder.

Paul Ramirez-Jonas’ Admit One (Beckett) is a study for a series of drawings that provide everything required to form a public. The receiver can perform a play without language, one presumably anyone in the world can understand. They are even provided with admission tickets at the ready.

Douglas Paulson’s zine is a collection of provocative and disturbing photographs of Molotov cocktails culled from leftist, anarchist, neo-nazi, military history, and newsmedia websites. Inside the zine are bookmarks with instructions on how to turn the bottle into a Molotov cocktail, in four languages (English, Hebrew, Arabic, and Greek). Made of simple and easily-found materials, everyday objects are turned into powerful, violent tools with a single purpose and a complex history.
       
   
 
 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
   
  For more information on Ex-Territory please visit the website or see articles in The Art Newspaper or Haaret.
  *The bottles and their contents were biodegradable.