Mary-Koszmary , 2007

Yael Bartana has dedicated many works to an almost anthropological study of certain customs, rituals, and practices in Israel, the country where she was born and where she still spends part of the year. Some images refer to ancient traditions, such as the wearing of masks by religious people in observance of Carnival in Ad De’loYoda, 2003, while others seem intended to establish a new identity, as in the ATv competition on the desert dunes in Kings of the Hill, yet another variation on atavistic machismo. And then others are images of the contemporary, powerful, and perhaps even more striking liturgies of ancient celebrations, such as the sound of a siren on the Day of the Fallen Soldier, when traffic comes to a halt for an entire minute, even on the highways. [...]