Medinat Weimar

Artistic Project & Performance and Events. (Various locations Weimar and the internet) June 2008.
project web site: medinatweimar.org
Media outlets worldwide wrote about the project. Press here for a selected list of internet links of many of the articles, Blog posts and discussion that can be found on the internet. see Pictures… Read the rest

Magav in Weimar

Artistic Project & Performance, various locations in Weimar, January 2008.

I wanted to bring The Israeli border police in Weimar, the standard armored jeep that the border police uses to patrol will escort me in my daily life in town. I examine what such an action brings, how the presence of a militarized police force from Israel in a small quiet East German place would be perceived. Would it produce fear, antagonism, discomfort or maybe understanding and sympathy? The site … Read the rest

Nine Days in Av – A Journey between the Mediterranean Sea to the Jordan river

On the first day of Av (the evening of July 11th) artists Guy Briller and Ronen Eidelman left for a nine day journey throughout historic Eretz Yisrael-Palestina (land of Israel Palestine), traveling in the footsteps of past destructions and in fear of (god forbid) the destructions that could come.

The journey took place via a caravan (RV) that was converted into a mobile studio that includes solar powered electricity and full multimedia equipment. The mobile studio enabled full time interventions … Read the rest

Coming out in Lublin, Poland

Around the city of Lublin Poland, on empty buildings as well as inhabited ones, in the alleys of the old city and on streets of the newer parts, I posted photos of different kinds of Jew people who lived on these streets in these houses of the center of Lublin in between in the nineteen twenties till 1941.
In a modest gesture, I return the people in the photos to the place they were taken.
The photos show all kind … Read the rest

Erev Rav: Art. Culture. Society

Erev Rav is an independent journal of Arts, Culture and Society, edited by Yonatan Amir and Ronen Eidelman; Established in early 2010 to advance the discourse on art, and to support a multi-cultural, democratic, pluralistic discussion on culture.

Erev Rav online magazine publishes articles, reviews, interviews and essays about art and culture. In addition to our online journal, we publish special printed Issues based on themes, and organizes events such as video screenings, performances and artist talks.

erev-rav.com… Read the rest

Zecher Lahaim (In remembrance for living)

Project made for The Prozna Project 2009. Prozna Street is the only street in Warsaw which survived the destruction of the ghetto.

In Jewish tradition upon first moving in to a new house, it is customary to leave a certain space on the wall free of decoration and furnishing as a remembrance of the destruction of the Temple (zecher lachurban). In many Jewish religious homes one can see a small square, usually around the size of a … Read the rest

Street Stories

A street art action on public historic perception, Budapest, Hungary, June 2009

Commemorative plaques, a plate of metal, ceramic, stone, or other material, are attached to the walls of many buildings are very common in Budapest. The plaques, bearing text in memory of an important figure that lived in the building (or event that happened there), are written in Hungarian and usually give you a condensed of the important person, the years they lived, and what they are famous for.… Read the rest

Medinat Weimar at the 53rd Venice Biennale

Ma’achaz (outpost ; handhold, foothold ; stronghold) marks the first participation of Medinat Weimar at the Venice Biennale. Rather than adopt to the reality that the Jewish state in Thuringia does not exist and the movement for the state has no financial ability to rent a space and hold a decent exhibition (like the Palestinian and gypsy participations), Medinat Weimar decided in the spirit of Zionism to defer reality and settle with a symbolic Pavilion at Giardini.

 … Read the rest

RadioFreeJaffa

Liberating space through art and action.
Along Jerusalem Boulevard the entrance into Jaffa , Radio Free Jaffa made a radio intervention into all radio transmissions in the proximity.
Radio Free Jaffa, offers a free space which is much needed in Jaffa, and deals with the current social and political situation in Jaffa by highlighting the housing crises and the evictions of Arab residents from the city.
Radio Free Jaffa will be roaming through Jaffa with a human antenna, broadcasting in … Read the rest

Lazet! Words and Art against the War in Gaza

Lazet!* A Collection against the war in Gaza and the abandonment of the south, was created in great urgency and anger, immediately with the beginning of the war, as a prompt protest act. The collection is a collaborative project by Maayan, Etgar, Maarav, Daka, Sedek art and poetry journals and Guerrilla culture group. On the third day of the war we sent out the open call. On the fifth day of the war we sat for … Read the rest

Interview in inicios.es

Paul M. from the blog inicios.es made a nice interview with me. Enjoy!

The Israeli artist Ronen Eidelman shares with us his views about how art fights discrimination in our societies, the artist’s role, the relationship between activist artists and the topics they deal with, his new project of founding a Jewish state in Germany- And many other interesting topics I’m sure you’ll enjoy. I met Ronen last summer at a conference series within the framework of a Palestinian-Israeli exhibition

… Read the rest

Heroes of Survival

In August 2008, Ronen Eidelman, known as The Artist, was invited by the Van Abbemuseum to conceive an art project for the Be(com)ing Dutch exhibition. Through bronze plaques, which he has created and installed throughout the city, he highlights the means of survival of people who are excluded from Dutch society. He aspires to portray them as heroes, resisters to an unjust system, political subjects who fight for their dignity, rights and freedom. The Artist received an honorarium from the

… Read the rest

PUBLIC PREPARATION SOCIAL CLUB

I’m will be giving a talk, a workshop and participating at a symposium and artist summer camp in Pärnu, Estonia. If you are in the neighborhood, stop by.

Symptoms of nationalism and critique of nationalism in the practice of
contemporary art

Date: July 11, 2008
Venue: Pärnu Artists’ House, Nikolai 27, Pärnu, Estonia
Info: www.publicpreparation.org

An international seminar in the series of “Public Preparation” events concentrating on the relations of contemporary art and nationalism in different places of the world.

… Read the rest

Be[com]ing Dutch

I’m participating in the Be[com]ing Dutch exhibition that is opening this week, but I will be creating a project my at the end of August. My work will be installed in different public places around the city. more information will follow closer to the installment.

Be[com]ing Dutch
Van Abbemuseum
Eindhoven, NL
24/05/08 – 14/09/08

With the artists:
Petra Bauer, Abdellatif Benfaidoul, Michael Blum, Libia Castro & Ólafur Ólafsson, Phil Collins, Carla Cruz, Gerrit Dekker, Erwin van Doorn, Ronen Eidelman, Ed … Read the rest

OVERLAPPING VOICES – Israeli and Palestinian Artists

I’m showing the documentation of TheGhost of Manshia Awakes in Vienna, please come!

16/05/2008- 26/10/2009
Opening: 15/05/2008, 07.30 p.m
Essl Museum, Exhibition Hall
Curators: Karin Schneider, Friedemann Derschmidt, Tal Adler, Amal Murkus

This exhibition of Israeli and Palestinian artists offers a rare and interesting opportunity to discuss different artistic practices from a conflicted area. Both Israeli and Palestinian societies contain a vast range of people, cultures and positions with rich and intertwined histories. This exhibition tries to

… Read the rest

The Movement for a Jewish State in Thuringia – Announcement

my new project, Medinat Weimar has started:

Shalom friends and future supporters,

Medinat Weimar the newly founded movement for a Jewish state inThuringia,Germany, is in the process of drafting support for the movement.

We invite and encourage people from any background and nationally to become active members of the movement and take part in forwarding the vision based on the Thirteen Principles of the movement that you can read below.

If you support the movement please! Enter our website and

… Read the rest

VFC: Interview with Ronen Eidelman by Nat Muller

The interview took place for the launch of the sixth issue of Visual Foreign Correspondents,  de Balie Amsterdam On the 15th April 2008

Nat Muller: In “Magav in Weimar” you mash up standard tourist information footage of Weimar (with a large emphasis on architecture) with your wanderings through the city streets with the fake jeep. Though alien, the jeep does not entirely come across as foreign, rather it seems to blend in very well with the urban … Read the rest

Vorhang auf: Lüften!

… Read the rest

interview in subtopia

I gave an interview to Subtopia about the project in Manshia. I think it came out good so your are all welcome to read and comment. Irrelevant to me I think it’s a good site to check out anyway.

I remember when I found Ronen‘s project (un)Documented Disappearance back in March I was blown away. I thought it made crucial reflections on migratory space today, filling the street drains of Europe with images and documents of refugees and immigrants

… Read the rest

The ghost of Manshia awakes

During the Jewish Holiday of Sukkot (September, 2007) we marked out the grid of streets and houses of the Manshia Quarter with the help of soccer field marking equipment and simple paint rollers. The marking was done near the sea, on the border between present-day Tel Aviv and Jaffa. For a few weeks, the streets of the former neighborhood where marked on the Promenade and the grassy lawns of the Charles Clore Park. You can now stroll down Al-Yarmuk … Read the rest

Turning a dead giraffe into an idea

Peter Friedl’s work “Zoo Story” that was exhibited at the Documenta 12 was a great attention grabber, but is also a remarkable work of art?

Peter Friedl, exhibited three art works at Documenta 12: “Ohne Titel”, drawings from 1968 that the artist drew when he was eight years old, “Tiger or Lion” from 2000, and “Zoo Story” from 2007. Zoo Story was one of the most popular art works and was a central photograph in many of the articles reviewing … Read the rest

Ukraine – No Border

Last week I was in Ukraine attending the No-Border camp. It was held in Transcarpathia the main region of transit and labor migration to the European Union. (You could read more about the camp and its motivations here).

The camp was really interesting and also a lot of fun. I have many stories and observations but until i get around to writing them you could see pictures of my travels in my flicker. There are almost no pictures … Read the rest

Yiddish Summer Weimer

After almost a year in Weimar I really should not be surprised about anything, but after finding myself sitting at marktplatz, one of Hitler’s favorite places, drinking beer, singing along with the crowd songs in Yiddish while a group of Germans attempt to dance the Hora behind me I felt that I better figure out what’s going on.

When a big guy with a big mustache started signings a Nachman Me’uman song, I knew that that he was the … Read the rest

street art belongs on the street not in the gallery

Following my visit to two street art exhibitions in Berlin, Planet Prozess and Backjumps, I came to a clear conclusion. Street art does not work in a gallery. Sure there was some good work; cubabrasil‘s installation and blu’s stop motion room at backjumps and m-city at Planet Prozess for example related to space they were working in and made some decent art works, but most of the work was just weak, some of the work just looked like … Read the rest