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Internationally renowned artist Yael Bartana presented a brand-new work, Inferno (2013), in Building 6 on the upper part of Cockatoo Island for the 19th Biennale. Inferno is a work of visions and destructions, both historical, present-day and imagined. As is usual in Bartana’s works, there is a phantasmic occurrence. Her unique filmmaking style combines powerful iconography and visually stunning material with an acute ability to tap into and challenge foundational religious belief systems.

Continuing the artist’s interest in the Jewish religious tradition, with a remarkable twist, Inferno takes as its starting point the activities of the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God, a Pentecostal Christian organisation formed in Brazil in 1977. Led by the visionary and contentious Bishop Edir Macedo, the eight-million-strong Brazilian congregation is currently building a mega-church in the fantasised image of the Third Temple of Jerusalem, prophesised and described in blueprint-like detail in the Old Testament’s Book of Ezekiel. The church is being constructed, with stones imported from Jerusalem, to the exact grand scale of its biblical prototype, and is projected to cost US$200 million.

Orthodox Jews believe the rebuilding should only occur in the Messianic Age, when suffering, war and poverty have been expunged and there is universal peace on earth. However, in Bartana’s piece, as in modern-day São Paulo, the temple is being rebuilt, not by the grace of God, in reward for human behaviour, but rather by the will of one man and his dedicated followers. As the work’s title suggests, a scene of spiritual enrapture descends into bloody chaos. All at once, the world seems to explode with the warning: Beware false prophets. The masses are engulfed in flames; the earth splits in two; bodies lie torn and bloodied.

Israeli-born Bartana fuses history, real life and fictional narratives in her films, which explore controversial subjects such as anti-Semitism, the Holocaust, the Israeli settlement movement, and the Palestinian right of return, encouraging us to consider and question history; not to find answers, but rather to imagine alternate possibilities and ways to generate social change.

Bartana was the first non-Polish citizen to represent Poland at the 54th Venice Biennale (2011), exhibiting her acclaimed film trilogy …and Europe will be stunned (2007–11). The first film of the series, Mary Koszmary (Ghost and Nightmares) (2007), examines contemporary sociopolitical relationships in Europe and issues of anti-Semitism in Poland. The film, reminiscent of Second World War propaganda, depicts a young political leader delivering a rousing speech to a group of young patriots in the crumbling National Stadium in Warsaw, an edifice that arose from the ruins of the Warsaw Uprising in 1944. The activist calls for three million Jews to return home to Poland, his voice echoing and reverberating in the abandoned space.

In Bartana’s second film, Mur i Wieża (Wall and Tower) (2009), the prophecy of the Jewish Renaissance raised in the first film appears to be fulfilled. Protagonists dressed as Jewish immigrants labour to construct houses in the square in front of the Monument to the Ghetto Heroes in Warsaw. Recalling a Zionist dream, men and women are shown working together to build a future, constructing a kibbutz in the centre of the city. Bartana explores a hypothetical scenario in which a political movement – the Movement for Jewish Rebirth in Poland – has brought Jewish people back to Poland. The final instalment of the trilogy, Zamach (Assassination) (2011), is set in the not-too-distant future and takes place at a funeral service for the leader of the Jewish Renaissance Movement who has been murdered by an unidentified assassin.

Bartana was the winner of the prestigious Artes Mundi Prize in 2010 and has participated in numerous international exhibitions, including the 7th Berlin Biennale (2012); 29th São Paulo Biennial (2010); and documenta 12, Kassel (2007). Her work is included in a number of public collections, among others at the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Centre Pompidou, Paris; Tate Modern, London; and the Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven.

Internationally renowned artist Yael Bartana presented a brand-new work, Inferno (2013), in Building 6 on the upper part of Cockatoo Island for the 19th Biennale. Inferno is a work of visions and destructions, both historical, present-day and imagined. As is usual in Bartana’s works, there is a phantasmic occurrence. Her unique filmmaking style combines powerful iconography and visually stunning material with an acute ability to tap into and challenge foundational religious belief systems.

Continuing the artist’s interest in the Jewish religious tradition, with a remarkable twist, Inferno takes as its starting point the activities of the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God, a Pentecostal Christian organisation formed in Brazil in 1977. Led by the visionary and contentious Bishop Edir Macedo, the eight-million-strong Brazilian congregation is currently building a mega-church in the fantasised image of the Third Temple of Jerusalem, prophesised and described in blueprint-like detail in the Old Testament’s Book of Ezekiel. The church is being constructed, with stones imported from Jerusalem, to the exact grand scale of its biblical prototype, and is projected to cost US$200 million.

Orthodox Jews believe the rebuilding should only occur in the Messianic Age, when suffering, war and poverty have been expunged and there is universal peace on earth. However, in Bartana’s piece, as in modern-day São Paulo, the temple is being rebuilt, not by the grace of God, in reward for human behaviour, but rather by the will of one man and his dedicated followers. As the work’s title suggests, a scene of spiritual enrapture descends into bloody chaos. All at once, the world seems to explode with the warning: Beware false prophets. The masses are engulfed in flames; the earth splits in two; bodies lie torn and bloodied.

Israeli-born Bartana fuses history, real life and fictional narratives in her films, which explore controversial subjects such as anti-Semitism, the Holocaust, the Israeli settlement movement, and the Palestinian right of return, encouraging us to consider and question history; not to find answers, but rather to imagine alternate possibilities and ways to generate social change.

Bartana was the first non-Polish citizen to represent Poland at the 54th Venice Biennale (2011), exhibiting her acclaimed film trilogy …and Europe will be stunned (2007–11). The first film of the series, Mary Koszmary (Ghost and Nightmares) (2007), examines contemporary sociopolitical relationships in Europe and issues of anti-Semitism in Poland. The film, reminiscent of Second World War propaganda, depicts a young political leader delivering a rousing speech to a group of young patriots in the crumbling National Stadium in Warsaw, an edifice that arose from the ruins of the Warsaw Uprising in 1944. The activist calls for three million Jews to return home to Poland, his voice echoing and reverberating in the abandoned space.

In Bartana’s second film, Mur i Wieża (Wall and Tower) (2009), the prophecy of the Jewish Renaissance raised in the first film appears to be fulfilled. Protagonists dressed as Jewish immigrants labour to construct houses in the square in front of the Monument to the Ghetto Heroes in Warsaw. Recalling a Zionist dream, men and women are shown working together to build a future, constructing a kibbutz in the centre of the city. Bartana explores a hypothetical scenario in which a political movement – the Movement for Jewish Rebirth in Poland – has brought Jewish people back to Poland. The final instalment of the trilogy, Zamach (Assassination) (2011), is set in the not-too-distant future and takes place at a funeral service for the leader of the Jewish Renaissance Movement who has been murdered by an unidentified assassin.

Bartana was the winner of the prestigious Artes Mundi Prize in 2010 and has participated in numerous international exhibitions, including the 7th Berlin Biennale (2012); 29th São Paulo Biennial (2010); and documenta 12, Kassel (2007). Her work is included in a number of public collections, among others at the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Centre Pompidou, Paris; Tate Modern, London; and the Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven.

Details

  • Title: Inferno Inferno
  • Creator: Yael Bartana, Yael Bartana
  • Creator Lifespan: 1970, 1970
  • Creator Nationality: Israeli, Israeli
  • Creator Gender: Female, Female
  • Creator Birth Place: Kfar Yehezke, Kfar Yehezke
  • Date: 2013, 2013
  • Provenance: Courtesy the artist; Petzel Gallery, New York; Annet Gelink Gallery, Amsterdam; and Sommer Contemporary Art, Tel Aviv. This project was made possible through the generous support of Anonymous, and with assistance from Sherman Foundation and Kathy and Greg Shand, Courtesy the artist; Petzel Gallery, New York; Annet Gelink Gallery, Amsterdam; and Sommer Contemporary Art, Tel Aviv. This project was made possible through the generous support of Anonymous, and with assistance from Sherman Foundation and Kathy and Greg Shand
  • Type: Audio Visual/Installation, Audio Visual/Installation
  • Rights: http://www.biennaleofsydney.com.au/legal-privacy/, http://www.biennaleofsydney.com.au/legal-privacy/
  • External Link: Biennale of Sydney, Biennale of Sydney
  • Medium: single channel 2K video, 18 mins (looped), colour, sound, single channel 2K video, 18 mins (looped), colour, sound
  • Edition: 2014: 19th Biennale of Sydney: You Imagine What You Desire, 2014: 19th Biennale of Sydney: You Imagine What You Desire

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