Our public and political lives have turned into a repository of lies and corruption, a cultural vacuum full of intrigues and political appointments.
The latest World Bank report claims that government corruption in Israel is one of the worst in the West. The rulers exhibit a low level of responsibility and accountability and there is hardly any law enforcement. On top of the existing ills of widespread bribery, squeezing taxpayers dry, keeping on good terms with organized crime, maintaining systematic give-and-take relations and criminal money-power connections – the infamous law of “Jobs for the Boys” has just been legislated.
A coveted “seat” has become the ideal that every self-seeking power hunter pursues.
The transparency of government activities is an integral part of its responsibilities towards the public. The government is the citizens’ trustee. Setting down norms of fairness, integrity and transparency of information is essential for control and supervision of its activities and provides a course for their improvement.
120 plastic vessels with a screw thread and filled with aluminum foil serve as a metaphor for 120 Knesset members and a symbol of other government agencies. They hang in the space at diverse heights in a never-ending kinetic motion projecting its shadow on the white screen.
The “ideal-of-every-power-craver” seats are exhibited in the space as a ritual icon. A three-dimensional construction comprising 5 mirrors projecting an overall view of the scene serves as a source of reflection of the vessels, while the seat in the mirror is nothing but an illusion. Every real seat in the space is reflected by the mirrors as an infinite number of virtual mirrors.
A critical view of what is happening in the socio-political arena concerning us all is expressed in this installation wherein is created a utopian dream of internal and external transparency in the closed, protected and controllable public domain.
The chairs were lent to the project by "Arba'a Nagarim" company, Tel-Aviv, Israel
http://www.arbaa-nagarim.co.il/indexH.html
The Jars were donated by "Amraz" Ltd., Rishon Le-Zion, Israel
