And Europe Will Be Stunned (2011) is the compelling trilogy of films made by Israeli artist Yael Bartana, which premiered at the 54th Venice Biennale last year, making Bartana the first non-national to exhibit in the Polish Pavilion. Revolving around the activities of the Jewish Renaissance Movement in Poland, a group that calls for the return of three million Jews to Poland, Bartana’s films traverse a landscape scarred by the histories of competing nationalisms and nightmares across Europe and the Middle East.
Bartana expertly mixes imagery reminiscent of the historical past with the present, and raises questions of identity and belonging, leaving us to pause and question our own concepts of home and homeland. In raising these questions regarding the complexities of cultural integration, interwoven with reality and fiction, her films challenge us to question our own understanding and acceptance of historical events.
Her film trilogy – Mary Koszmary (Nightmares) (2007), Mur i wieża (Wall and Tower) (2009), Zamach (Assassination) (2011) – is on view from 24th of March until 26th of August 2012 in Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven – The Netherlands.
Visiting address:
Bilderdijklaan 10
5611 NH Eindhoven
The Netherlands
You can also attend the upcoming symposium on 18th of May at the Whitechapel Gallery in London – ‘And Will Europe Be Stunned?’ – which opens up the debates sparked by these highly ambitious and contentious films: beginning with a keynote paper from Gil Hochberg, Professor of Comparative Literature at UCLA, there will then follow a Q&A with the artist and a panel discussion with Joanna Mytkowska, Director of the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, and Jacqueline Rose, Professor at Queen Mary University.
22 May – 1 July 2012
Hornsey Town Hall
Crouch End, London
This event has been organised with the support of the Polish Cultural Institute. Tickets are available from the Whitechapel Box Office.
For those who are interested in the full version of the interview with Yael Bartana for Louisiana Museum we attach the link:
