Yael Bartana

Yael Bartana's video and sound installation 'Wild Seeds' consists of two projections shown on adjoining walls. Large blue velvet cushions lying on the floor invite the viewers to take a seat. One of the two projections focuses on a group of youths in the middle of a barren West Bank mountain landscape. The group is simulating the 'evacuation of the Gilad settlement' in the form of a game. The game was developed by Israeli activists and is based upon an actual confrontation between the Israeli army and Jewish settlers. The camera circles the teenagers, who are seated on the grass, as they link their bodies together into knots and refuse to leave their settlement. The players take turns being two of the authorities who attempt to break up the occupation and pull the bodies away from each another. Close-ups of body parts are then shown: hands grab at hands or latch onto legs or feet; other hands attempt to yank particular youths out of the group, brutally pulling at arms and legs and jabbing at faces. The sounds of screams and laughter alternate; the atmosphere moves back and forth between being playful and aggressive. The scenes are accompanied by the voice of a female reform cantor, who sings off-camera about the love of God. The second projection allows the viewer to read English translations synchronized to the cries and exclamations within the other film: words such as 'traitor' or sentences like 'A Jew does not deport another Jew' or 'This is our land'. The text projection creates a second narrative that has less to do with the game but more with the political moment in evacuation.(from: Yael Bartana, exh.cat. Kunstverein in Hamburg, Hatje Cantz, 2007, p. 85)