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ACTIVE BLOCK: THE BLOCKING PRACTICE IN CONTEMPORARY ISRAELI FINE ART PHOTOGRAPHY

Year 2019, Issue: 69, 195 - 219, 01.06.2019

Abstract

This article defines and discusses the
blocking practice apparent in Israeli fine art photography of the last decade
of the twentieth century and the first decade of the twenty-first century. The
blocking practice is used in landscape photography and it is essentially
realized when the photographer positions his main object in the center of the
composition and so close to the picture plane in a way that blocks the viewer's
field of vision and hides most of the other objects in the picture. The article
presents it as an active and harsh practice and divides its embodiments in
four: The first associated with Israeli building culture, the second with
Israeli obsession with security measures, the third with segregation in the
Israeli sphere and the last which is dubbed as "The Beautiful Block".
The article clearly presents this practice as the most significant formative
measure in contemporary Israeli photography which sets it apart from other
currents in international landscape photography.

Cite this article as: Rosen, Jochai,
“Active Block: The Blocking Practice in Contemporary Israeli Fine Art
Photography”, Turk J Hist, issue 69 (2019), p.195-219.

References

  • Alberti, Leon Battista. On Painting. Translated by Cecil Grayson. London: Penguin Books, 1972. Alexandrovitch, Or. “Eolianite, Cement, Arabs, Jews: How to Build a Hebrew City.” Theory and Criticism 36 (2010): 61-87 (Hebrew). Azoulay, Ariella. Chic-Point: Fashion for Israeli Checkpoints. Tel Aviv: Andalus, 2007. Ben-Dov, Eyal. “Earthly Jerusalem.” In Yaakov Israel: A Repressed Landscape. Tel Hai: The Open Museum of Photography, 2005, 34-35. Direktor, Ruti. “Bernd Becher 1931-2007.” In Hatsofa Blog, January 24, 2009 (Hebrew). Efrat, Gid’on. “From the Personification of Nature to the Punishing of Nature.” Studio, Art Magazine, 33 (1992), pp. 8-10 (Hebrew). Efrat, Zvi. The Israeli Project: Construction and Architecture 1948-1973. Vol. 1, Tel Aviv: The Tel Aviv Museum of Art, 2004. Flusser, Vilem. Towards a Philosophy of Photography. Translated by Anthony Mathews, London: Reaktion Books, 2000. Freidus, Marc. Typologies: Nine Contemporary Photographers. Exhibition catalogue, Newport Beach, CA: Newport Harbor Art Museum, 1991. Haikin, Naama. Yaakov Israel: A Repressed Landscape. Tel Hai: The Open Museum of Photography, 2005. Harlap, Amiram. “Reinforced Concrete: On the Security Syndrome in Israeli Architecture.” Musag 8 (1976): 12-15 (Hebrew). Haver, Hanan. “Cement Trap to Ivory!” in The Song of Concrete, ed. Yehudit Matzkel, exhibition catalogue, Tel Aviv: Eretz Israel Museum, 2009, 26-43 (Hebrew). Kallus, Rachel. “The Political Construct of the ‘Everyday’: The Role of Housing in Making Place and Identity.” In Constructing a Sense of Place: Architecture and the Zionist Discourse, ed. Haim Yacobi, Aldershot: Ashgate, 2004, 136-161. Kremer, Shai. Shai Kremer: Infected Landscapes. Israel, Broken Promised Land. Stockport: Dewi Lewis Publishing, 2008. Kremer, Shai. Shai Kremer. Fallen Empires. Stockport: Dewi Lewis Publishing, 2011. Lourie-Hayon, Adi. “Existence and the Other: Borders of Identity in Light of the Israeli/Palestinian Conflict.” Afterimage, the Journal of Media Arts and Cultural Activism 34, nos. 1-2 (2006): 22-26. Maimon, Vered. “Living Space: Distant Near.” In Distant Near, exhibition catalogue, Curator: Wulf Herzogenrath. Herzliya: The Museum for Contemporary Art, 1998, unpaged (Hebrew). Maimon, Vered. “Ideal Homes, Real Subjects: On Efrat Shvily’s Photographs.” In Efrat Shvily. Point/Counterpoint: Works, 1992-2012. Exhibition catalogue, Ein Harod: Museum of Art, 2013, 11e-14e. Maor, Haim. Marked Landscapes: Landscape-Place in Contemporary Israeli Art. Exhibition catalogue, Beer Sheba: Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, 2003 (Hebrew). Matzkel, Yehudit. The Song of Concrete. Exhibition catalogue, Tel Aviv: Eretz Israel Museum, 2009 (Hebrew). Mendel, Iris. Assaf Evron, Near and Apparent. Tel Aviv: The Heder Contemporary Art, 2007. Mendelsohn, Amitai. “The End of Days and New Beginnings: Reflections on Art in Israel, 1998-2007.” In Real Time. Art in Israel 1998-2008. Jerusalem: The Israel Museum, 2008, 16-26. Mendelsohn, Amitai. “The Rebirth of Beauty in Contemporary Israeli Art.” Protocols of History and Theory 3 (2006), Bezalel Academy of Art and Design (online in Hebrew) Ochs, Juliana. Security and Suspicion: An Ethnography of Everyday Life in Israel. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2011. Oren, Ruth. System and Themes - Aspects of the Jewish Landscape Photography in Israel, 1945-1963. Dissertation, Haifa: University of Haifa, 2005 (Hebrew with an English summary). Oren, Ruth. “Zionist Photography 1910-1941: Constructing a Landscape.” History of Photography 19, no. 3 (1995): 201-210. Oren, Ruth. “Space, Place, Photography: National Identity and Local Landscape Photography, 1945-1963.” In Spatial Borders and Local Borders, A Photographic Discourse on Israeli Landscapes. Tel Hai: The Open Museum of Photography, 2006, 164-188. Rabina, Doron. Eventually We’ll Die: Young Art in Israel of the Nineties. Exhibition catalogue, Herzliya: Herzliya Museum of Contemporary Art, 2008. Raz, Guy. “Only What His Eye Took In: A Comment on Local Landscape Photography.” In Framed Landscape: A Comment on Local Landscape Photography, exhibition catalogue, Haifa: University of Haifa Art Gallery, 2005, 5-21 (Hebrew with an English summary). Rosen, Jochai. “The Abused Landscape: The Works of Young Israeli Photographers.” Afterimage, A Journal of Media Arts and Cultural Criticism 35, no. 1 (2007): 23-27. Rosen, Jochai. “’Behold, I have set the land before you’: The P6 Group and Critical Landscape Photography in Israel.” In Building a Place: The P6 Group and Critical Landscape Photography, exhibition catalogue, Tel Aviv: Rubin Museum, 2010, 69-74. Segev, Hagai. Beyond Richness. Farewell to ‘The Want of Matter.’ Exhibition catalogue, Ashdot Yaacov: Rami and Uri Nechushtan Museum, 2006. Sela, Rona. “Cyclopean Walls and Built Landscapes.” in Gilad Ophir: Cyclopean Walls, exhibition catalogue, Tel Aviv: The Tel Aviv Museum of Art, 1995, unpaged. Shalem, Avinoam and Gerhard Wolf. Facing the Wall: the Palestinian-Israeli Barriers. Photographs by Dror Maayan, Cologne: W. Konig, 2011. Weitzman, Eyal. Hollow Land: Israel’s Architecture of Occupation. London and New York: Verso, 2007. Wigoder, Meir. “The Blocked Gaze: A User’s Guide to Photographing the Separation Barrier-Wall.” Public Culture 22, no. 2 (2010): 293-308. Yacobi, Haim and Shelly Cohen (eds.). Separation: The Politics of Space in Israel. Tel Aviv: Am Oved and Xargol, 2006 (Hebrew). Zweite, Armin. Typologies of Industrial Buildings / Bernd and Hilla Becher. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2004.

AKTİF BLOK: ÇAĞDAŞ İSRAİL GÜZEL SANATLAR FOTOĞRAFÇILIĞI ENGELLEME UYGULAMASI

Year 2019, Issue: 69, 195 - 219, 01.06.2019

Abstract

Bu makale İsrail güzel sanatlar
fotoğrafçılığında yirminci yüzyılın son on yılı ve yirmi birinci yüzyılın ilk
on yılı arasında görülen engelleme uygulamasını tanımlamakta ve tartışmaktadır.
Bu uygulama manzara fotoğrafçılığında kullanılır: Fotoğrafçı ana nesnesini
kompozisyonun merkezine, resim düzlemine o kadar yakın yerleştirir ki
izleyicinin görüş alanını engeller ve resimdeki diğer nesnelerin çoğunu saklar.
Makale bunu aktif ve katı bir uygulama olarak sunmakta ve somut örneklerini
dörde ayırmaktadır: İsrail inşaat geleneği, İsrail’in güvenlik önlemleri
saplantısı, İsrail kültüründeki ayrımcılık ve “Güzel Engel” olarak adlandırılan
teknik. Makale bu uygulamayı çağdaş İsrail fotoğrafçılığını diğer uluslararası
manzara fotoğrafçılığı akımlarından ayıran önemli bir şekillendirici ilke
olarak ele almaktadır. 

Cite this article as: Rosen, Jochai,
“Active Block: The Blocking Practice in Contemporary Israeli Fine Art
Photography”, Turk J Hist, issue 69 (2019), p.195-219.

References

  • Alberti, Leon Battista. On Painting. Translated by Cecil Grayson. London: Penguin Books, 1972. Alexandrovitch, Or. “Eolianite, Cement, Arabs, Jews: How to Build a Hebrew City.” Theory and Criticism 36 (2010): 61-87 (Hebrew). Azoulay, Ariella. Chic-Point: Fashion for Israeli Checkpoints. Tel Aviv: Andalus, 2007. Ben-Dov, Eyal. “Earthly Jerusalem.” In Yaakov Israel: A Repressed Landscape. Tel Hai: The Open Museum of Photography, 2005, 34-35. Direktor, Ruti. “Bernd Becher 1931-2007.” In Hatsofa Blog, January 24, 2009 (Hebrew). Efrat, Gid’on. “From the Personification of Nature to the Punishing of Nature.” Studio, Art Magazine, 33 (1992), pp. 8-10 (Hebrew). Efrat, Zvi. The Israeli Project: Construction and Architecture 1948-1973. Vol. 1, Tel Aviv: The Tel Aviv Museum of Art, 2004. Flusser, Vilem. Towards a Philosophy of Photography. Translated by Anthony Mathews, London: Reaktion Books, 2000. Freidus, Marc. Typologies: Nine Contemporary Photographers. Exhibition catalogue, Newport Beach, CA: Newport Harbor Art Museum, 1991. Haikin, Naama. Yaakov Israel: A Repressed Landscape. Tel Hai: The Open Museum of Photography, 2005. Harlap, Amiram. “Reinforced Concrete: On the Security Syndrome in Israeli Architecture.” Musag 8 (1976): 12-15 (Hebrew). Haver, Hanan. “Cement Trap to Ivory!” in The Song of Concrete, ed. Yehudit Matzkel, exhibition catalogue, Tel Aviv: Eretz Israel Museum, 2009, 26-43 (Hebrew). Kallus, Rachel. “The Political Construct of the ‘Everyday’: The Role of Housing in Making Place and Identity.” In Constructing a Sense of Place: Architecture and the Zionist Discourse, ed. Haim Yacobi, Aldershot: Ashgate, 2004, 136-161. Kremer, Shai. Shai Kremer: Infected Landscapes. Israel, Broken Promised Land. Stockport: Dewi Lewis Publishing, 2008. Kremer, Shai. Shai Kremer. Fallen Empires. Stockport: Dewi Lewis Publishing, 2011. Lourie-Hayon, Adi. “Existence and the Other: Borders of Identity in Light of the Israeli/Palestinian Conflict.” Afterimage, the Journal of Media Arts and Cultural Activism 34, nos. 1-2 (2006): 22-26. Maimon, Vered. “Living Space: Distant Near.” In Distant Near, exhibition catalogue, Curator: Wulf Herzogenrath. Herzliya: The Museum for Contemporary Art, 1998, unpaged (Hebrew). Maimon, Vered. “Ideal Homes, Real Subjects: On Efrat Shvily’s Photographs.” In Efrat Shvily. Point/Counterpoint: Works, 1992-2012. Exhibition catalogue, Ein Harod: Museum of Art, 2013, 11e-14e. Maor, Haim. Marked Landscapes: Landscape-Place in Contemporary Israeli Art. Exhibition catalogue, Beer Sheba: Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, 2003 (Hebrew). Matzkel, Yehudit. The Song of Concrete. Exhibition catalogue, Tel Aviv: Eretz Israel Museum, 2009 (Hebrew). Mendel, Iris. Assaf Evron, Near and Apparent. Tel Aviv: The Heder Contemporary Art, 2007. Mendelsohn, Amitai. “The End of Days and New Beginnings: Reflections on Art in Israel, 1998-2007.” In Real Time. Art in Israel 1998-2008. Jerusalem: The Israel Museum, 2008, 16-26. Mendelsohn, Amitai. “The Rebirth of Beauty in Contemporary Israeli Art.” Protocols of History and Theory 3 (2006), Bezalel Academy of Art and Design (online in Hebrew) Ochs, Juliana. Security and Suspicion: An Ethnography of Everyday Life in Israel. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2011. Oren, Ruth. System and Themes - Aspects of the Jewish Landscape Photography in Israel, 1945-1963. Dissertation, Haifa: University of Haifa, 2005 (Hebrew with an English summary). Oren, Ruth. “Zionist Photography 1910-1941: Constructing a Landscape.” History of Photography 19, no. 3 (1995): 201-210. Oren, Ruth. “Space, Place, Photography: National Identity and Local Landscape Photography, 1945-1963.” In Spatial Borders and Local Borders, A Photographic Discourse on Israeli Landscapes. Tel Hai: The Open Museum of Photography, 2006, 164-188. Rabina, Doron. Eventually We’ll Die: Young Art in Israel of the Nineties. Exhibition catalogue, Herzliya: Herzliya Museum of Contemporary Art, 2008. Raz, Guy. “Only What His Eye Took In: A Comment on Local Landscape Photography.” In Framed Landscape: A Comment on Local Landscape Photography, exhibition catalogue, Haifa: University of Haifa Art Gallery, 2005, 5-21 (Hebrew with an English summary). Rosen, Jochai. “The Abused Landscape: The Works of Young Israeli Photographers.” Afterimage, A Journal of Media Arts and Cultural Criticism 35, no. 1 (2007): 23-27. Rosen, Jochai. “’Behold, I have set the land before you’: The P6 Group and Critical Landscape Photography in Israel.” In Building a Place: The P6 Group and Critical Landscape Photography, exhibition catalogue, Tel Aviv: Rubin Museum, 2010, 69-74. Segev, Hagai. Beyond Richness. Farewell to ‘The Want of Matter.’ Exhibition catalogue, Ashdot Yaacov: Rami and Uri Nechushtan Museum, 2006. Sela, Rona. “Cyclopean Walls and Built Landscapes.” in Gilad Ophir: Cyclopean Walls, exhibition catalogue, Tel Aviv: The Tel Aviv Museum of Art, 1995, unpaged. Shalem, Avinoam and Gerhard Wolf. Facing the Wall: the Palestinian-Israeli Barriers. Photographs by Dror Maayan, Cologne: W. Konig, 2011. Weitzman, Eyal. Hollow Land: Israel’s Architecture of Occupation. London and New York: Verso, 2007. Wigoder, Meir. “The Blocked Gaze: A User’s Guide to Photographing the Separation Barrier-Wall.” Public Culture 22, no. 2 (2010): 293-308. Yacobi, Haim and Shelly Cohen (eds.). Separation: The Politics of Space in Israel. Tel Aviv: Am Oved and Xargol, 2006 (Hebrew). Zweite, Armin. Typologies of Industrial Buildings / Bernd and Hilla Becher. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2004.
There are 1 citations in total.

Details

Primary Language English
Journal Section Articles
Authors

Jochai Rosen This is me

Publication Date June 1, 2019
Published in Issue Year 2019 Issue: 69

Cite

APA Rosen, J. (2019). ACTIVE BLOCK: THE BLOCKING PRACTICE IN CONTEMPORARY ISRAELI FINE ART PHOTOGRAPHY. Tarih Dergisi(69), 195-219.
AMA Rosen J. ACTIVE BLOCK: THE BLOCKING PRACTICE IN CONTEMPORARY ISRAELI FINE ART PHOTOGRAPHY. Tarih Dergisi. June 2019;(69):195-219.
Chicago Rosen, Jochai. “ACTIVE BLOCK: THE BLOCKING PRACTICE IN CONTEMPORARY ISRAELI FINE ART PHOTOGRAPHY”. Tarih Dergisi, no. 69 (June 2019): 195-219.
EndNote Rosen J (June 1, 2019) ACTIVE BLOCK: THE BLOCKING PRACTICE IN CONTEMPORARY ISRAELI FINE ART PHOTOGRAPHY. Tarih Dergisi 69 195–219.
IEEE J. Rosen, “ACTIVE BLOCK: THE BLOCKING PRACTICE IN CONTEMPORARY ISRAELI FINE ART PHOTOGRAPHY”, Tarih Dergisi, no. 69, pp. 195–219, June 2019.
ISNAD Rosen, Jochai. “ACTIVE BLOCK: THE BLOCKING PRACTICE IN CONTEMPORARY ISRAELI FINE ART PHOTOGRAPHY”. Tarih Dergisi 69 (June 2019), 195-219.
JAMA Rosen J. ACTIVE BLOCK: THE BLOCKING PRACTICE IN CONTEMPORARY ISRAELI FINE ART PHOTOGRAPHY. Tarih Dergisi. 2019;:195–219.
MLA Rosen, Jochai. “ACTIVE BLOCK: THE BLOCKING PRACTICE IN CONTEMPORARY ISRAELI FINE ART PHOTOGRAPHY”. Tarih Dergisi, no. 69, 2019, pp. 195-19.
Vancouver Rosen J. ACTIVE BLOCK: THE BLOCKING PRACTICE IN CONTEMPORARY ISRAELI FINE ART PHOTOGRAPHY. Tarih Dergisi. 2019(69):195-219.