Illuminating Identity: Two Visions of Israeli Cultural Politics at the 2011 Venice Biennale

At the 54th Venice Biennale in 2011, two internationally acclaimed Israeli artists, Sigalit Landau and Yael Bartana, representing Israel and Poland respectively, presented diverging expressions of their Israeli national identity whilst also engaging with the lasting impact of the Holocaust in Israeli collective memory. Bartana’s film trilogy And Europe Will Be Stunned (2007-2011) considers this history head-on, imagining an alternative present in which an activist movement sparks an exodus of Jews from Israel back to their pre-Holocaust home of Poland, in a revolutionary reversal of Zionist principles. Landau’s contribution also creates innovative solutions to questions of Israeli identity and politics. In One Man’s Floor is Another Man’s Feelings, Landau installed various environments using themes of water, land, and salt, referencing the natural border of the Dead Sea between Israel and Jordan. Her work considers the construction of a salt bridge between the two nations, and uses the motif of empty shoes as a reminder of the Holocaust. This paper delves specifically into the expression of national identity and the critique of nationalism that both artists presented at the Biennale, raising questions of transnationalism for future iterations of the exhibition.