Or some thoughts about the Heara\u2019s art events in Jerusalem<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Heara (comments) multidisciplinary art events orchestrated by Lea Mauas and Diego Rotman of the Sala-Manca art group \u00a0that took place in Jerusalem during the years 2002-2007, in the midst of the Second Intifada, and involved hundred of artists who exhibited site-specific works\u00a0in significant sites throughout the city, were the most fascinating art events in which I took part. It was during these events that I did my first performances and that I collaborated with other artists to create works of art. Those events enhanced my perception that Jerusalem was the geographical place I would choose in order to express my art without having to run to Tel Aviv to present my portfolio to curators hesitant to drive beyond the Sha\u2019ar Hagai\u2019s junction. It increased my awareness that art should not dwell into Kantian Disinterestedness, but should instead be rooted into the political and the ethical of a \u2018here and now\u2019. It was at a time when, with almost daily suicide bombings and the building of the Wall around Jerusalem,\u00a0the political conflict entered\u00a0my art more directly consequently to my work as\u00a0a free-lance news photographer. \u2018Here it is not Switzerland\u2019,\u00a0with black\u00a0graffiti in Hebrew written over a huge banderol showing Lindt chocolats snowy Alps\u2019 peaks\u00a0hanging on the facade of the Sergey Coutyard,\u00a0created the link between my pastoral country of birth, art and the \u2018here and now\u2019 that did not allow me to make blind aesthetic choices detached from the actual context. The banderol was exhibited at the art happening \u2018Migrashim Harousim\u2019 (2003) together\u00a0with two Jerusalem Scrolls<\/em>\u00a0showing the Separation Wall in Abu Dis.\u00a0The event was organised by Lea and Diego in response to Art Focus, the international art biennial, taking place nearby at the\u00a0Museum\u00a0of\u00a0Underground Prisoners.<\/p>\n

The Heara events offered the artists the challenge of learning about and \u2018reacting\u2019 to the history of a building, bringing together past and present into a work of art, a possibility that could not actualise in the more respectable yet dull\u00a0\u2019White Cube\u2019\u00a0museum space.\u00a0During these events, I also discovered the power we had, we the artists, as a group of creative individuals thirsty to express ourselves without being dependant on the dominant institutions and without having to pursue a \u2018courting ballet\u2019 with its curators. In the midst of the Intifada, and afterwards, there was still a reason to create and exhibit in Jerusalem and to be proud of doing so. Lea and Diego created this space and we filled up that space with creative energies and works of art that resonated throughout the corridors and the rooms of those historical buildings. What else could we ask for?<\/p>\n