Health

Hadas Kedar in a new solo exhibition about fathers (Herzl and her father), a continous loop between creation and activism, and the utopias that move between things that are here now - television, pop, consumer culture - and the high, spiritual, sublime.

With Herzl, the founder of the Israeli state, one relationship is in the family (her grandmother is Herzl's niece) and the other with the famous man who is perceived as a great father. Her father, Professor Kedar, on the axis between politics and research, developed peace plans, met with Arafat and heads of state etc. Opposite her symbolic and family fathers, Hadas Kedar places herself, her body, femininity that refuses to identify with the one and only source in front of the masculine, patriarchal, national-Zionist conception. The endless rotation and the utopian instincts, the refined voice and the ideological noise, beauty and forgery.

 

Excerpt from a conversation between Hadas Kedar and Eitan Buganim:

 

... How would you describe the state of mind of the exhibition?

The basis of the "Health" is really the litigation with the fathers, an attempt to give them a place and also for myself. Basically, trying to place myself in front of them and deal with those dominant voices with sounding an inner, subjective voice.

 

How do you relate to a mythological figure like Herzl, with a terribly strong voice from the past but also one that is already in doubt today?

I referred to a particular deliberation of Herzl between the aspiration to write a novel or establish a state - a move between art / creation and political activism. His dilemma was based on where he thought the impact would be more significant: writing a novel or being a leader. Hence the exhibition is not directed in the political direction I do not want to represent anything, but rather what matters to me are the significance of private motivations.

 

How are private motivations implemented in your video works and sculptures?

My ambition is to take intimate intentions out of a political-context and address them more emotionally. As a rule, I do not believe that there is a sublime, that is beyond what is here and now, and from the acceptance of this notion I act.

 

And what about art and activism?

The whole process of the exhibition basically started from the fact that in the last two years I have gradually transitioned from art to activism. In the end I found out that what I was interested in is neither this or that. Out of this controversy I came to my father figures (Herzl, Dad) who engaged creation in their leadership.

 

The exhibition will feature a number of videos and sculptures.