Leonardo

Tel Aviv, 2004Author(s): Jessica CohenSource: Leonardo, Vol. 38, No. 2 (2005), pp. 90-91Published by: The MIT PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1577783 .

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troops. On its side is a contemporary bumper sticker with the words, "WE MUST LEAVE GAZA. IMMEDI- ATELY!" Is this juxtaposition an unself- conscious or "vernacular" statement

expressing the politically active nature of Israeli society? Or is it an intentional and conscious direct statement about the looping of history, leading into revisionist anti-Zionism?

CONFLICT/COEXISTENCE

Tel Aviv, 2004

After Midnight: A dispatch on the arts, technologies and cultures served by the Tel Aviv TLVBen Gurion Airport.

byJessica Cohen

What specifically about the medium of visual culture in the public domain essentializes an expression of Israeli

identity? The absurd juxtapositions of images seen in the public domain

project a very Israeli coexistence of

polar micro-identities and temporally alternating expressions of self. The

contemporary Israeli psyche can be characterized by a radically and intensely experienced questioning of the self, the self within the context of the state and religion, and the over-

whelming question, What will happen to us?

OUR STRUGGLE AGAINST THEM/THEIR STRUGGLE AGAINST US

This municipal plaque-monument in Tel Aviv narrates a 1940-1947 conflict between pro-Israel militias and British

This billboard stands at the Kasem

junction, near the Green Line. The

large second row of Hebrew graffiti is a pneumonic Kabalistic hymn that reads, "NA NAH NAHM NAHMAN M'OMAN"; the third row is Arabic, reading, "THERE IS NO GOD BUT ALLAH AND MOHAMMED IS HIS PROPHET." These competing and dichotomous claims to total religious correctness deny coexistence. However, their physical form of expression on this billboard shows an active sharing of space, and their respective linguistic contents show a striking similarity.

SOLDIER/CIVILIAN

The center image, among posters affixed to ajobsite scaffolding in Tel Aviv, is an ad for a student film titled Blue-and-White Collar: A Comedy of Road- blocks. Displaying beer, tanks, ecstasy pills, and a T-shirt that says "RAVE AGAINST THE OCCUPATION," it essentializes Israel's Generation X's frustration with the state, its acquies- cence with and rejection of army serv- ice and national identity. Blue and

white are not only social classes, but also the Israeli flag's colors, suggesting a growing professional and financial frustration in a socialist, war-ridden framework. The Israeli in the poster could potentially emigrate and be rid of reserve duty, but the fact that he remains in Israel represents a choice to participate in the collective national

being. The frustration among Genera- tion X-ers in performing an ideologi- cally onerous job is matched only by their acquiescence and even support for their younger Generation-Y broth- ers or nieces participating in draft service. The two states of civilian and soldier are temporally alternating expressions of the same Israeli.

MICRO-IDENTITY/ COLLECTIVE IDENTITY

A poster for a "Tropical Sex Show" at a club in the Tel Aviv Port is censored by a religious Jew's handwritten ad: "Painter for general works (security grates, doors, sills, etc.) Call Eran. B.S.D." (B.S.D. is an Aramaic acronym for "God-willing.") Eran chose to stamp his appeal to the public by covering the naked body's image. This scene juxta- poses two simultaneous affirmations of sexual and religious micro-identities, with complete indifference to the polar extreme's self-expression. Each identi- fies itself as part of the collective Israeli whole, but within it creates a micro-

identity of, for example, the homosex- ual Tel Avivi, or the pious day laborer.

NURTURING/DESTROYING "TNUVA FOR THE SAKE OF THE SOLDIER." Tnuva is a leading Israeli

dairy company that distributes free dairy products and snacks to soldiers in this refurbished bus. The banner below it reads "WE MUST LEAVE GAZA. IMMEDIATELY!" The IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) enforces a perma- nent, nationwide draft, so every citi- zen becomes part of it; this creates a national consciousness and identifica-

90 LEONARDO, Vol. 38, No. 2, pp. 90-91, 2005

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tion that does not exist in nations with commissioned armies. There is this presence of support and nurtur- ance for the soldiers within the con- text of exposing them to violence and death. The question arises whether this juxtaposition was intentional or not. I think the answer is more com-

plex than yes or no: they are two simul- taneous, polar expressions of the same

nationality.

Center in Tel Aviv, flanked by a private security guard. The word "promised" in Hebrew is based on a three-letter root, Bet-Tet-Het, a root that also conjugates into a family of words relating to "secu-

rity" and "safety." What did Zionism

promise? A safe haven forJews against religious and racial persecution? Was this the promise of Zionism, to live in a land riddled with bombs and interna- tional criticism?

COLLECTIVE MEMORY/ SELECTIVE MEMORY

CITY." "The Red City" refers to Eilat, an Israeli resort town similar to Ft. Lauderdale.

CASUAL/RADICAL

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The advertisement above, from a bus stop in Ramat Gan, also shows an absurd comfort level with nurturing and fighting on the same plane. Here, the Israeli media's "it" couple, Aki Avni and pregnant Cindy Bar, adver- tise "MILKI" pudding, with swords (not shown in this detail). The caption says, "DON'T LEAVE IT ALONE..." This advertisement is also tragically metaphorical of the biblical desert

mentality: only enough water at the well for one tribe, and only one birth-

right for one chosen brother.

PROMISED LAND/GENOCIDE

Here, a poster for Amos Gitai's film The Promised Land is on display at Dizengoff

Here is a poster forJim Carrey's film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind subtitled in Hebrew, inJerusalem. Carrey's character finds out that his

girlfriend underwent a medical proce- dure that selectively erased a painful and important memory-Carrey's character. In a sense, she achieved freedom from her past. Like the film's characters, Israelis find their own lives

weighted down with the tortuous nature of their past. A wish for selec- tive historical amnesia often expresses itself among Israelis as, "I don't hate the Palestinians; Ijust want them to leave us alone." The film's memory- erasing procedure does not exist in

reality, so for several hundred thous- and Israelis, the only escape from the weight of Israeli nationalism is ... Los Angeles.

This Israeli cellular service actually targets Israeli youth with the brand and tagline, "Escape ... there is some- where to ... [escape]" The text in the center reads, "FEELING THE BASE? ANOTHER 349 KM / THE RED

And across the street from the "Escape" ad, adjacent to the Israeli Stock

Exchange in Ramat Gan, stands this billboard: "IS THERE A GOD?"/ WALLA! SEARCH ENGINE." While the question is absurd-a question that cannot be answered, particularly by an Internet search engine-it appeals to a

very Israeli computer literacy, intellec- tual thirst, and radically casual attitude towards basic, existential questions.

I hope that this current generation of Israelis will not be so scarred by their involvement with the security crisis, and overall the sheer weight of Israeli iden-

tity, that they will seek escapism and disassociation. That is what we have, optimism.

Jessica Cohen is a product designer with a con-

sulting office in Tel Aviv. She holds design degrees from Stanford University and U.C. Berkeley. She can be contacted at PM. Box 176, 270 Redwood Shores Parkway, PO. Box 29864, Redwood City, CA 94065, U.S.A., or PO. Box 29864, Tel Aviv 61298, Israel. Web: <www.jessicacohen.com>.

All photographs ?Jessica Cohen.

After Midnight 91

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