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The drawing in comic style shows an androgynous figure in profile on magenta background. She wears a bright frock, her left hand is raised. An eagle has just flown out of her hand

Yael Bartana
Redemp­tion Now

Exhibition

The Jewish Museum Berlin presented Yael Bartana – Redemption Now. This large-scale solo exhibition of the contemporary artist Yael Bartana investigated the power of imagination and art’s redemptive potential. For more than twenty years, Bartana has been inquiring into grand historical narratives that help to constitute national and other collective identities.

The show brought together more than fifty early and more recent works, including video installations, photographs, and neon works.

Past exhibition

Map with all buildings that belong to the Jewish Museum Berlin. The Old Building is marked in green

Where

Old Building, level 1
Lindenstraße 9–14, 10969 Berlin

Where, when, what?

All offers for the exhibition

The exhibition followed an eschatological topos – the recurring idea that a leader may bring salvation – and its deconstruction. At the core of the show was the commissioned video work Malka Germania (Hebrew for “Queen Germania”), which Bartana conceived for the Jewish Museum and produced at historically charged locations across Berlin.

An androgynous savior figure comes to the German capital. Her journey floods the city with scenes from an imagined collective unconscious; past and future merge in an alternative present. The installation’s theme of collective redemption addressed traumata, hopes of salvation, and the desire for change.

Yael Bartana’s works have been exhibited worldwide and form part of international collections. She is known for exploring the visual languages of identity and memory politics, nations, and social movements.

Portrait (bust) of a woman with black short hair. She wears a black jacket and a black and white cross-striped T-shirt and is just putting on dark sunglasses. In the background there is a wall clock showing 12 o'clock.

Yael Bartana, 2017; photo: Birgit Kaulfuss

Yael Bartana observes, documents, dissects, and reinvents public rituals, ceremonies, and social practices that are intended to build collective identities. Her art provokes an activist viewing – asking visitors to engage in the political act of reflecting on their responsibility in society.

Yael Bartana was born in Israel in 1970 and currently lives in Amsterdam and Berlin.

The drawing in comic style shows an androgynous figure in profile on magenta background. She wears a bright frock, her left hand is raised. An eagle has just flown out of her hand

Exhibition Yael Bartana – Redemption Now: Features & Programs

Exhibition Webpage
Current page: Yael Bartana – Redemption Now: 4 Jun to 21 Nov 2021
Publications
Yael Bartana. The Book of Malka Germania: English edition, 2021, with reading sample for download
Yael Bartana. Das Buch der Malka Germania: German edition, 2021, with reading sample for download
Digital Content
Exhibition opening: Video, 2021
Podcast series Malka, Who?: Four episodes, 2021, in English and German
Who is Malka Germania? Yael Bartana in conversation with Shelley Harten and Gregor H. Lersch, 2021
Artist Talk with Yael Bartana: Video recording, 2021
See also
Yael Bartana, Artist

Exhibition Topics

Degenerate Art Is Alive

Yael Bartana animates the figures from Otto Dix’s 1920 painting War Cripples into a crowded, squeaking and clomping procession. After the First World War, Dix made drawings of protesting veterans who were demanding state recognition of their service. During the Nazi era, Dix’s works were labeled as “degenerate” and banned. The painting War Cripples was destroyed and exists only in print. In Bartana’s animation, the old heroes come to life as surviving artworks. The work’s German title Entartete Kunst Lebt means “Degenerate Art Lives” and alludes to the slogan “The People of Israel Lives” ( עם ישראל חי, Am Israel Chai). The film calls upon viewers to join the procession, to transform strength into vulnerability, answers into questions, and convictions into art.

Yael Bartana, Entartete Kunst Lebt (“Degenerate Art Lives,” excerpt), 2010, animation, 16 mm film and sound, 5 min; courtesy of Annet Gelink Gallery, Amsterdam, and Sommer Contemporary Art, Tel Aviv

The World Turned Upside Down

Yael Bartana has been confounding her audience’s sense of what is real for over two decades. Indeed, the feeling of navigating a world that blurs the lines between reality and fiction fits the current climate to a tee. Particularly in her early, documentary works, Bartana observed social rituals that create order in people’s chaotic day-to-day lives. In the Jewish tradition, the era of redemption is preceded by a period of crisis and the initial “birth pangs of the Messiah.”

(4 items)

  • Yael Bartana, When Adar Enters (excerpt), 2003, one channel video and sound installation, 7 min; courtesy of Annet Gelink Gallery, Amsterdam, and Sommer Contemporary Art, Tel Aviv

    Read more

  • Yael Bartana, Ad de’lo Yoda (excerpt), 2003, one channel video installation, 3 min; courtesy of Annet Gelink Gallery, Amsterdam, and Sommer Contemporary Art, Tel Aviv

    Read more

  • Yael Bartana, Wild Seeds (excerpt), 2005, two channel video and sound installation, 6:40 min; courtesy of Annet Gelink Gallery, Amsterdam, and Sommer Contemporary Art, Tel Aviv

    Read more

  • Yael Bartana, Kings of the Hill (excerpt), 2003, one channel video and sound installation, 7:30 min; courtesy of Annet Gelink Gallery, Amsterdam, and Sommer Contemporary Art, Tel Aviv

    Read more

The End of the World Cycle

In uneasy times, the longing for redemption grows. Over and over in history, crises have been associated with apocalyptic moods and a feeling that salvation is imminent. In Jewish tradition alone, there have been several proclamations of the Messiah’s arrival, such as the cases of Bar Kochba (d. 135) and Shabbatai Zevi (1626–1676). The desire for leadership during difficult times can often be explained by a given time period’s political and historical contexts. 
Yael Bartana has explored the cyclical pronouncements that the world is ending in various works. Her most recent work on the subject, the installation Malka Germania (2021), is presented as the centerpiece in a later room of this exhibition. These works portray the plurality of messianic hopes as historical moments in which fiction and reality overlap.

(3 items)
  • World map, the center of which is the Old City of Jerusalem. All continents are visualized as white circles

    Yael Bartana, Waiting for the Messiah, 2014/2020, pigment print (originally 80 × 120 cm), wallpaper

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  • Circular lettering “Next Year in New Jerusalem” in neon

    Yael Bartana, Next Year in New Yerusalem, 2014, neon, 105 cm in diameter; courtesy of Galeria Raffaella Cortese, Milan

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  • Yael Bartana, Simone the Hermetic (excerpt), 2015, one channel sound installation, 15 min

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The Study Room

Notions of salvation can be dangerous, as they oversimplify things. The prospect of redemption promises a solution to all problems, an attitude diametrically opposed to the study of scripture and religious texts in Judaism with its process of incessant questioning. 
The study room is a place for rising above ignorance and stereotypes. The neon sculpture What if Women Ruled the World prompts visitors to contemplate imagination and questions of personal responsibility in society. Surrounded by Yael Bartana’s self-portraits in various personas, you are invited to read the exhibition publication, which adopts the polyphonic method of the Talmud, the core text of rabbinical Judaism. With Abracadabra, created during the pandemic, Bartana points to the relationships between science and superstition, modernity and mysticism. Memorials and performance projects by the artist are presented on tablets.

(3 items)
  • Half-length portrait of a bearded man with long, dark full beard and dark hair. He wears a suit and crosses his arms in front of his chest. The left half of the body is facing the viewer, the face can be seen in half profile.

    Yael Bartana, Herzl I, 2015, photograph series of 6 images total, color photograph, fine art print, 60 × 40 cm

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  • Half-length portrait of a bearded man with long, dark full beard and dark hair in profile. He wears a suit and crosses his arms in front of his chest. The left half of the body is facing the viewer.

    Yael Bartana, Herzl II, 2015, photograph series of 6 images total, color photograph, fine art print, 60 × 40 cm

    Read more
  • Half-length portrait of a bearded man with long, dark full beard and dark hair. He wears a suit and crosses his arms in front of his chest. The right half of the body is facing the viewer, the face can be seen in half profile.

    Yael Bartana, Herzl III, 2015, photograph series of 6 images total, color photograph, fine art print, 60 × 40 cm

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Malka Germania

The video work Malka Germania, commissioned by the Jewish Museum Berlin, investigates the longing for collective redemption as a response to an age of anxiety. An androgynous messianic figure, Malka Germania, arrives in Berlin and brings about a series of changes in the city: the past and future implode into an alternative present.

More on Malka Germania

Malka Germania is Hebrew for “Queen Germania.” The name makes reference to an unusual female designation for the Messiah: “Malka Meshichah,” or the “Annointed Queen.” The Messiah has come to Berlin and thus to the historic epicenter of Jewish, Israeli, and German collective memory. Instead of experiencing immediate redemption, as the exhibition’s title might imply, the city is haunted by its residents’ collective subconscious: their dreams, fears, and memories. The piece portrays subconscious elements, gray areas, and ambiguities of contemporary German-Jewish experience through the artistic medium. At the same time, it attempts to disrupt a fixed iconography and to deconstruct identities.

Bartana leaves the question of who is to be redeemed ambiguous. Perhaps it is people trying to shake off the Nazi past? Or others who want to move on from the trauma of the Holocaust? Or does she mean all humankind as the beneficiaries of a messianic age? The commissioned work shows how impossible it is to break away from personal or inherited pasts. At the same time, it preserves the tension of redemption, which is a core element of national myths and collective identities.

Beyond the video installation itself, Bartana adds another layer of public engagement with savior figures. A vitrine cabinet recessed in the video wall reveals a collection of statuettes of Malka Germania with an eagle. Resembling a museum storage facility, this display raises the prospect of Malka being historicized and commercialized as a cultural icon. The association between the savior figure and the national symbol combines religious expectations with political ones. The liberation of the eagle by the Messiah, as depicted on the exhibition poster, stands allegorically for the moment of redemption.

The video installation Malka Germania is a specially commissioned work and was made possible by the Friends of the Jewish Museum Berlin, the Mondriaan Fund and Jan Fischer (Light Art Space, LAS).

(20 items)
  • A white-clad, platinum blonde woman rides a donkey on a street. To her right and left are cars, traffic lights and trees of the Berlin Tiergarten. In the background the Berlin Victory Column rises into the sky

    Yael Bartana, Malka Germania (film still), 2021, three channel video and sound installation, 43 min

  • Close-up of the face of a platinum blonde woman with short hair against blue sky. In the background the upper part of the Berlin Victory Column can be seen, but is out of focus

    Yael Bartana, Malka Germania (film still), 2021, three channel video and sound installation, 43 min

  • Two aggressive-looking German shepherds, one of which bares its teeth. They are closely led or restrained by two people, of whom only the legs in uniform pants and combat boots can be seen

    Yael Bartana, Malka Germania (film still), 2021, three channel video and sound installation, 43 min

  • Four people in olive green uniforms with bulletproof vests, helmets and drinking bottles on the stairs of an underpass. You can see the men from behind, the stairs lead up to the Victory Column

    Yael Bartana, Malka Germania (film still), 2021, three channel video and sound installation, 43 min

  • A white-clad, platinum-blonde woman rides a donkey in partial shade on a sidewalk, with trees to her left and parked cars to her right. She puts her head back, her gaze goes up to the right

    Yael Bartana, Malka Germania (film still), 2021, three channel video and sound installation, 43 min

  • On the right is a short-haired platinum blonde woman riding a donkey, and on the left is a bearded man in a black suit and hat. The two are looking at each other

    Yael Bartana, Malka Germania (film still), 2021, three channel video and sound installation, 43 min

  • A man wearing a kippah mounts a street sign with a Hebrew street name. To his left, a woman in white robes stands in the frame of a bricked-up door that is part of the orange pedestal of a renovated old building, watching him

    Yael Bartana, Malka Germania (film still), 2021, three channel video and sound installation, 43 min

  • Bust portrait of a platinum blonde woman with short hair and white top in front of bright blue sky. She is photographed from diagonal below, on the right side of the picture you can see the upper part of Berlin Brandenburg Gate

    Yael Bartana, Malka Germania (film still), 2021, three channel video and sound installation, 43 min

  • Bust portrait of an androgynous looking platinum blonde person with short hair and white top. Behind her are the columns of the Berlin Brandenburg Gate against a blue sky

    Yael Bartana, Malka Germania (film still), 2021, three channel video and sound installation, 43 min

  • Upper body of an androyn looking person in front of bright blue sky. The cap of her cowl-like robe covers her head

    Yael Bartana, Malka Germania (film still), 2021, three channel video and sound installation, 43 min

  • The film still shows a person from behind, dressed in a white frock. The person follows railroad tracks that run dead straight through a forest

    Yael Bartana, Malka Germania (film still), 2021, three channel video and sound installation, 43 min

  • A pale woman with a strikingly red made-up mouth and is reading a book while standing. Around her are other people, they seem to be waiting, but do not make contact with each other. The facade in the background is reminiscent of an older train station

    Yael Bartana, Malka Germania (film still), 2021, three channel video and sound installation, 43 min

  • A larger group of people stands and sits in front of an old train station with a place name emblazoned on its facade in Hebrew script. In front of the waiting people, the railroad tracks and a camel following the tracks can be seen

    Yael Bartana, Malka Germania (film still), 2021, three channel video and sound installation, 43 min

  • In the front of the picture you can see the wet head of a swimmer in a lake. Diagonally behind him, a large metal Imperial Eagle is just emerging from the water. The cloudy sky and the water surface are gray in gray and look threatening

    Yael Bartana, Malka Germania (film still), 2021, three channel video and sound installation, 43 min

  • A small motorboat with three or four soldiers in combat gear and gun at the ready is heading head-on toward the camera. In the background, the House of the Wannsee Conference can be seen on the shore

    Yael Bartana, Malka Germania (film still), 2021, three channel video and sound installation, 43 min

  • A group of young men in white jerseys and black, very short pants jog in single file through a summer-green deciduous forest

    Yael Bartana, Malka Germania (film still), 2021, three channel video and sound installation, 43 min

  • Young women in white sleeveless summer dresses dance in a forest against the light. Their upper arms form a line with their shoulders, the forearms point upwards at right angles with clenched fists

    Yael Bartana, Malka Germania (film still), 2021, three channel video and sound installation, 43 min

  • Young women in white sleeveless summer dresses dance in a forest against the light. They stretch their arms show with clenched fists

    Yael Bartana, Malka Germania (film still), 2021, three channel video and sound installation, 43 min

  • Close-up of head and chest area of a soldier in combat gear in a foggy forest. He wears a helmet on his head and camouflage paint on his face. In the background more heavily armed soldiers can be seen

    Yael Bartana, Malka Germania (film still), 2021, three channel video and sound installation, 43 min

  • A man stands in a lake, his naked upper body and his head are visible. Behind him, a metal Imperial Eagle rises out of the water

    Yael Bartana, Malka Germania (film still), 2021, three channel video and sound installation, 43 min

The Pre-Enactment Method

Remembering the past and grappling with history play a significant role in the present-day formation of collective identities. In many of her works, Yael Bartana proposes future events that may become historical realities. She stages pseudo-historical situations, travels into the viewers’ collective memories, reflects upon their utopias, recalibrates historical forms of representation, and charts new paths into the future.

(6 items)

  • Yael Bartana, Low Relief II (excerpt), 2004, four channel video and sound installation, 5:40 min; courtesy of Annet Gelink Gallery, Amsterdam, and Sommer Contemporary Art, Tel Aviv

    Read more
  • Black and white photograph of a young woman in profile. She is picking a pomegranate from a tree. The pomegranate is at the top left of the picture, the woman is standing at the bottom right.

    Yael Bartana, The Missing Negatives of the Sonnenfeld Collection (after Herbert & Leni Sonnenfeld), 2008, black and white photograph series of 22 images

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  • Black and white photograph of a young man in shorts and shield cap. He is standing on a freshly plowed field. He is spreading seed from a zinc tub.

    Yael Bartana, The Missing Negatives of the Sonnenfeld Collection (after Herbert & Leni Sonnenfeld), 2008, black and white photograph series of 22 images

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  • Black and white photograph with young people in summer clothes. Two are sitting in front of a tree in the grass, two are standing under the tree, three are sitting in it. All of them look into the camera.

    Yael Bartana, The Missing Negatives of the Sonnenfeld Collection (after Herbert & Leni Sonnenfeld), 2008, black and white photograph series of 22 images

    Read more

  • Yael Bartana, The Undertaker (excerpt), 2019, one channel video and sound installation, 13 min; courtesy of Annet Gelink Gallery, Amsterdam, Sommer Contemporary Art, Tel Aviv, and Petzel Gallery, New York

    Read more

  • Yael Bartana, Trembling Time (excerpt), 2001, one channel video and sound installation, 6:20 min; courtesy of Annet Gelink Gallery, Amsterdam, and Sommer Contemporary Art, Tel Aviv

    Read more

The JRMiP Archive

The Jewish Renaissance Movement in Poland (JRMiP) is Bartana’s most famous complex of artworks. It consists of the video trilogy And Europe Will Be Stunned, which was Poland’s contribution to the 2011 Venice Biennale. In 2012, an international convention was held, the First Congress of the Jewish Renaissance Movement in Poland (JRMiP), as part of the Berlin Biennale. In addition, an abundance of objects, graphics and merchandise accompanied the project at various exhibition venues. The JRMiP seeks to encourage the return of Jews to Poland, applying an open-ended definition of Jewishness. This vividly demonstrates some of the ways Bartana probes the effects of reality and fiction, past and present, propaganda and art. The display of JRMiP memorabilia alongside the primary video art self-referentially stages the JRMiP as a museum exhibit, placing this imaginary political movement into a kind of reality.

Illuminated neon sign “And Europe will be Stunned” on a wall

Yael Bartana, And Europe Will Be Stunned, 2010, neon, 125 × 110 cm; courtesy of THE EKARD COLLECTION

(3 items)
  • Still from a film showing a close-up of the face of a talking man with short hair and black horn-rimmed glasses, with the subtitle “Jews!”

    Yael Bartana, And Europe Will Be Stunned – Mary Koszmary (Nightmares) (film still), 2007, one channel video and sound installation, 11 min; courtesy of Annet Gelink Gallery, Amsterdam and Foksal Gallery Foundation, Warsaw

    Read more

  • Yael Bartana, And Europe Will Be Stunned – Mur i wieza (Wall and Tower) (excerpt), 2009, one channel video and sound installation, 15 min; courtesy of Annet Gelink Gallery, Amsterdam, and Sommer Contemporary Art, Tel Aviv

    Read more

  • Yael Bartana, And Europe Will Be Stunned – Zamach (Assassination) (excerpt)​, 2011, one channel video and sound installation, 35 min; courtesy of Annet Gelink Gallery, Amsterdam, and Sommer Contemporary Art, Tel Aviv

    Read more

Curators: Dr. Shelley Harten and Dr. Gregor H. Lersch.

The exhibition is accompanied by the publication Yael Bartana. The Book of Malka Germania (details on the publication and reading samples). The volume is also available in German.

Yael Bartana. The Book of Malka Germania (trailer)

Yael Bartana − Redemption Now: Works in the Exhibition

Entartete Kunst Lebt, 2010 
Animation, 16 mm film and sound, 5 min 
Courtesy of Annet Gelink Gallery, Amsterdam, and Sommer Contemporary Art, Tel Aviv 
Animation: Hadar Landsberg 
Sound Design: Daniel Meir 
Production: Israel, the Netherlands 
Commissioned by the Center for Contemporary Art Tel Aviv (CCA)

When Adar Enters, 2003 
One channel video and sound installation, 7 min 
Courtesy of Annet Gelink Gallery, Amsterdam, and Sommer Contemporary Art, Tel Aviv 
Editor: Yael Bartana 
Sound Design: Daniel Meir 
Production: Israel, the Netherlands

Ad de’lo Yoda, 2003 
One channel video installation, 3 min 
Courtesy of Annet Gelink Gallery, Amsterdam, and Sommer Contemporary Art, Tel Aviv 
Camera and Editor: Yael Bartana 
Production: Israel, the Netherlands

Wild Seeds, 2005 
Two channel video and sound installation, 6:40 min 
Courtesy of Annet Gelink Gallery, Amsterdam, and Sommer Contemporary Art, Tel Aviv 
Producer: Ilil Bartana 
Camera: Yael Bartana, Itai Neeman 
Editor: Yael Bartana, Thalia Hoffman 
Sound Design: Daniel Meir 
Production: Israel, the Netherlands

Kings of the Hill, 2003 
One channel video and sound installation, 7:30 min 
Courtesy of Annet Gelink Gallery, Amsterdam, and Sommer Contemporary Art, Tel Aviv 
Camera and Editor: Yael Bartana 
Production: Israel, the Netherlands

Waiting for the Messiah, 2014/2020 
Pigment print (originally 80 x 120 cm) 
Research Assistant: Fabio Zuker 
Illustrator: Batia Kolton 
Graphic Design: Gila Kaplan, Oded Korach 
Supported by the 31st São Paulo Biennale, 2014

Next Year in New Jerusalem, 2014 
Neon, 105 cm in diameter 
Courtesy of Galeria Raffaella Cortese, Milan, and Sommer Contemporary Art, Tel Aviv 
Design: Guy Saggee

Simone the Hermetic, 2015 
One channel sound installation, 15 min 
Director: Yael Bartana 
Text: Noam Rotem 
Text Editor: Noa Shuval 
Sound Design: Daniel Meir 
Production: Israel, Niederlande 
Commissioned by Jerusalem Season of Culture 2015

Abracadabra, 2020 
Digital print, 84.1 x 59.4 cm 
Graphic Design: Avi Bohbot

What if Women Ruled the World, 2016 
Neon, 250 x 97.5 cm 
Courtesy of Collezione Carmela Sanguedolce

Herzl, 2015 
Photograph series of 6 images, color photograph, fine art print, 60 x 40 cm: Herzl (I–III); Jonathan; Daniel; Isaac 
Photographer: Daniel Sheriff 
Costume Designer: Yael Shenberger 
Make-Up: Omer Asaf

Resurrection II, 2020 
Color photograph, fine art print, 25 x 17 cm (without frame) 
Photographer: Marc Junghans

Public Art and Performances (referenced in the exhibition)

Memorial to the Homosexuals Persecuted Under Nazism, 2018 
Director and Editor: Yael Bartana 
Director of Photography: Mick van Rossum 
Producer: Naama Pyritz 
Post production supervisor: Eran Feller 
Color Correction: Ido Karela 
Research: Itamar Gov 
Still photographer: Birgit Kaulfuss 
Costume: Nadja Eller 
Make-Up: Inbal Sitin 
Participants: Agnesh Pakozdi, Mo Sun, Rebecca Ofek, Uri Gov 
All images used in the work courtesy of Schwules Museum Berlin

The Orphan Carousel, 2021 
Memorial to the Rescuing Kindertransports of 1938–39, Frankfurt 
Concept & Idea: Yael Bartana 
Architecture: Florian Stirnemann 
Construction: Noibau, Ertl und Zull 
Project Coordination: Anja Lindner 
Commissioned by the City of Frankfurt am Main (Head of Project: Kulturamt Frankfurt am Main, Dr. Jessica Beebone)

Monumento a la Ausencia, Denkmal der Abwesenden, Mexico City, 2018 
Concept: Yael Bartana 
The monument was created as part of the collective compensation ruled by the Victim Attention Executive Commission (CEAV), formed by the federal government, in collaboration with the Tlatelolco University Cultural Center, UNAM.

Two Minutes of Standstill, Cologne, 2013 
A collective performance by Yael Bartana 
Spatial Concept: Jackie Shemesh 
Graphic Design: Gila Kaplan, Oded Korach 
A project by Impulse Theater Biennale 2013, founded by the Academy of the World, Cologne. In collaboration with Theaterakademie Köln.

What if Women Ruled the World, 2017/2018 
Participants: Alix Wilton Regan (actor), Amy J. Nelson, Anat Saragusti (moderator), Anja Dalgaard-Nielsen, Anja Van der Hulst, Antke Engel, Anni Helena Routsala, Antje Stahl (moderator), Bana Gora, Beyza Unal, Birgitta Jónsdóttir, Camilla Tenna Nørup Sørensen, Carina Ann Meyn, Carmen Wunderlich, Christina von Braun, Christine Muttonen, Diani Barretto, Frances Raday, Galit Eilat, Heather Linebaugh, Holly Kilroy, Illa Ben Porat, Irena Sabic, Jelia Sane, Jo Martin (actor), Karin von Hippel, Kasha Nabagasera, Kate Raworth, Kübra Gümüşay, Leyla Hussein, Lina Khatib, Lisa Ling, Lone Træholt, Marion Koopmans, Mariam Ibrahim Yusuf, May Zeidani, Naila Bozo, Nancy Hollander, Natasha Walter, Noura Bittar Søborg, Olwen Foeuéré (actor), Or (Ori) Rabinowitz, Patricia Flor, Patricia Lewis, Paula Peters, Reem Fadda, Samira Saraya (actor), Sarai Aharoni, Seida Saric, Sharon Squassoni, Shogofa Sahar, Sophia Besch, Susan George, Tarja Cronberg, Ulrike von Pilar, Virginia Wangare Greiner, Xanthe Hall 
Concept, Script and Director: Yael Bartana 
Set Design: Saygel & Schreiber 
Lighting Design: Jackie Shemesh 
Sound Design: Daniel Meir 
Graphic Design: Avi Bohbot, Gila Kaplan 
Producers: Yael Bartana, Jo Paton Htay (MIF), Naama Pyritz (Ingenue Productions) 
Stills Photographer: Birgit Kaulfuss 
Studio Yael Bartana: Itamar Gov, Esper Postma, Saskia Wendland 
What if Women Ruled the World? is commissioned and produced by Manchester International Festival, European Capital of Culture Aarhus 2017 and Volksbühne Berlin. 
Supported by Mondriaan Fund

Die Schofar Schule, 2020 
Project by: Yael Bartana 
Participants: Annie Albagli, Harry Dukker, Thomas Lunderquist, Yarden Stern, Jeannine Dath, Gabriel Nahoum, Nikolay Karabinovych, Arthur Hirsch, David Bernstein, Solange Akierman, Katja Petrowskaja, Elisabeth Belisário 
Shofar teacher: Miriam Camerini 
Respondents: Wanda Nanibush, Banjamin Seroussi 
A project initiated and coproduced by Kunstenfestivaldesarts in the frame of The Diasporic Schools In collaboration with: Casa do Povo

Redemption Now, 2021 
Neon, 180 x 128 cm 
Courtesy of a private collection, Southern Germany

Malka Germania, 2021 
Three channel video and sound installation, 43 min 
Director and Editor: Yael Bartana 
Producers: Naama Pyritz, Martina Haubrich 
Actress: Gala Moody 
Director of Photography: David Stragmeister 
2nd Unit Camera: Mick van Rossum, Matan Radin 
Costume Designer: Yael Shenberger 
Art Director: Karin Betzler 
Choreography: Hagar Ophir 
Editor: Daphna Keenan 
Sound Design: Daniel Meir 
Research and story consultant: Itamar Gov 
Story Consultant: Sami Berdugo, Mille Haynes 
Additional Production: Anja Lindner 
Additional Camera: Marcus Pohlus, Itai Vinograd, Walter Solon 
Drone operators: Michael und Florian Basche 
Voice: Susanne Sachsse 
Storyboard & Illustration: Hadar Landsberg 
Make-Up: Monique Bredow 
Color Correction: Simon Veronig 
Special Effects: snowball studios 
Commissioned by the Jewish Museum Berlin and made possible by the Friends of the Jewish Museum Berlin, the Mondriaan Fund and Jan Fischer (Light Art Space, LAS)

Das Malka Depot, 2021 
Installation 
Styrofoam, polyuretan-foam (PU), plaster 
Sculptors: Gunnar Zimmer, Frants Rodvalt

Low Relief II, 2004 
Four channel video and sound installation, 5:40 min 
Courtesy of Annet Gelink Gallery, Amsterdam, and Sommer Contemporary Art, Tel Aviv 
Sound Design: Daniel Meir 
Production: Israel, the Netherlands

The Missing Negatives of the Sonnenfeld Collection (after Herbert & Leni Sonnenfeld), 2008 
Black and white photograph series of 22 images, paper: 48 x 32 cm, frame: 72.5 x 56.5 cm; paper: 32 x 48 cm, frame: 56.5 x 72.5 cm; size varies: 32 x 48 cm, 48 x 32 cm, 39 x 58.4 cm 
Photographers: Amit Israeli & Yael Bartana 
Commissioned by the Beit Hatfutsot – The Museum of The Jewish People, Tel Aviv

The Undertaker, 2019 
One channel video and sound installation, 13 min 
Courtesy of Annet Gelink Gallery, Amsterdam; Sommer Contemporary Art, Tel Aviv, and Petzel Gallery, New York

Bury Our Weapons, Not Our Bodies, 2018 
Series of 7 masks, silkscreen on aluminum, 63.3 x 51.2 cm; 63.3 x 377 cm; 63.1 x 53.4 cm; 63.2 x 50.9 cm 
Courtesy of the artist, Capitain Petzel Gallery, Berlin and Annet Gelink Gallery, Amsterdam

Trembling Time, 2001 
One channel video and sound installation, 6:20 min 
Courtesy of Annet Gelink Gallery, Amsterdam, and Sommer Contemporary Art, Tel Aviv 
Camera and Editor: Yael Bartana 
Sound Design: Tao G. Vrhovec Sambolec 
Production: Israel, the Netherlands

And Europe Will Be Stunned, 2010 
Neon, 125 x 110 cm 
Courtesy of THE EKARD COLLECTION

And Europe Will Be Stunned: Mary Koszmary (Nightmares), 2007 
One channel video and sound installation, 11 min 
Courtesy of Annet Gelink Gallery, Amsterdam and Foksal Gallery Foundation, Warsaw 
Actor: Sławomir Sierakowski 
Text: Sławomir Sierakowski & Kinga Dunin 
Producer: Naama Pyritz 
Director of Photography: Itai Neeman 
Editors: Yael Bartana, Daniel Meir, Anat Salomon 
Sound Design: Daniel Meir 
Color Correction: Yoav Raz 
Thanks to the school children of Szkoła Podstawowa nr 73, ul. Białostocka 10/18, Warsaw 
Supported by Annet Gelink Gallery, Amsterdam; The Fund for Video Art and Experimental Cinema, The Center for Contemporary Art, Tel Aviv Produced by Hermès, Paris, and Foksal Gallery Foundation, Warsaw

And Europe Will Be Stunned: Mur i Wieza (Wall and Tower), 2009 
One channel video and sound installation, 15 min 
Courtesy of Annet Gelink Gallery, Amsterdam, and Sommer Contemporary Art, Tel Aviv 
Director and Editor: Yael Bartana 
Producer: Naama Pyritz 
Director of Photography: Uri Ackerman 
Camera: Nicolas Villegas 
Sound Design: Daniel Meir 
Architect: Gilia Breger 
Assistant Editor: Daniel Meir 
Color Correction: Ido Karilla 
After Effects: Eran Feller 
Storyboard Illustration: Hadar Landsberg 
Produced with the support of the Ostrovsky Family Fund, New York; the Netherlands Foundation for Visual Arts, Design and Architecture (Fonds BKVB), Amsterdam; the Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw; the Institute Adam Mickiewicz, Warsaw; the Goethe Institute, Warsaw; POLIN – the Museum of the History of Polish Jews, Warsaw; Annet Gelink Gallery, Amsterdam; Sommer Contemporary Art, Tel Aviv

And Europe Will Be Stunned: Zamach (Assassination), 2011 
One channel video and sound installation, 35 min 
Courtesy of Annet Gelink Gallery, Amsterdam, and Sommer Contemporary Art, Tel Aviv 
Director and Editor: Yael Bartana 
Producer: Naama Pyritz 
Associate Producer: James Lingwood 
Director of Photography: Itai Neeman 
Camera: Uri Ackerman 
Co-Editors: Thalia Hoffman, Daniel Meir 
Art Director: Jacek Turewicz 
Costume Designer: Malgorzata Trzaskowska 
Actors: Sławomir Sierakowski, Susanne Sachsee, Alona Frankel, Yaron London, Anda Rottenberg, Dana Yahalomi, Salome Gersch, Marek Maj, Ewa Einhorn 
Writers: Gish Amit, Sebastian Cichocki, Michael Kessus Gedalyovich, Alona Frankel, Yaron London, Anda Rottenberg 
Text Editors: Illa Ben-Porat, Charles Esche, Marc Siegel 
Script Consultants: Gish Amit, Illa Ben-Porat, Sebastian Cichocki, Galit Eliat, Camilla Nielsson 
Colorist: Ido Karilla 
After Effects: Eran Feller 
Production Manager: Magdalena Nebelska 
Original Music: Maya Dunietz & Daniel Meir 
Lyrics: Noam Rotem 
Supported by Annet Gelink Gallery, Amsterdam; Sommer Contemporary Art, Tel Aviv; Ikon, Birmingham; Australia Centre for Contemporary Art, Southbank; Artis, New York; Polish Institute, Tel Aviv 
Produced by My-I Productions in association with Artangel, 2011

JRMiP Congress, 2012 
Producer: Anja Lindner 
Production Design and Lighting Design: Jackie Shemesh 
Camera: Krunoslav Vrabat, David Rych, Julia Lazarus 
Editor: Krunoslav Vrabat 
Sound Designer: Daniel Meir 
Production: the Netherlands, Germany 
Photographer: Ilya Rabinovich 
Commissioned by the 7th Berlin Biennal, 2012

We Shall Be Strong In Our Weakness, 2012 
Neon, 50 x 190 cm 
Courtesy of De Jong Groep, Amsterdam 
Design: Guy Saggee

The video installation Malka Germania is a specially commissioned work and was made possible by the Friends of the Jewish Museum Berlin, the Mondriaan Fund and Jan Fischer (Light Art Space, LAS).

Exhibition Information at a Glance

  • When 4 Jun to 21 Nov 2021
  • Where Old Building, level 1
    Lindenstraße 9–14, 10969 Berlin
    See Location on Map

Yael Bartana

Website of the artist presenting her projects as well as catalogues and other publications about her work
To Yael Bartana’s website

With the Support of

Logo Hauptstadtkulturfonds

Media Partners

Logos: monopol, tipBerlin, EXBERLINER, Missy Magazin

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