Calving Trouble

Ark photo­graph (H 68 x B 100 cm) Insur­ance price 1000 Euros Calving trouble 2 digi­tally hand­written texts in English and German, each: H 28 x B 100 cm Insur­ance price 2000 Euros

Calving trouble is composed of Ark a photo­graph of Swan Vesta match­boxes digi­tally altered to show, not one but two swans on the lids, repre­senting the two cherubim on the Ark of the Covenant; 2 digi­tally hand­written texts in English and German also tell the imag­ined story of the biblical Uri ben Hur, father of the artist Bezalel and son of Hur whom the Israelites murdered when, in the name of a monotheist God, he protested against their worship­ping of the golden calf. In this tale at the birth of a nation, Tanya Ury’s char­acter Uri ben Hur suspects that his son may have assisted Aaron, Moses’ brother, in the creation of the golden calf idol. Uri also points out the incon­sis­ten­cies in Moses’ Law when promoting the case for murder and acqui­si­tion of another’s prop­erty in the conquest of the Promised Land. He relates how the Israelites often complained of their nomad exis­tence with all its risks; even if their goal was a land of milk and honey, they would have preferred to return to bondage in Egypt where they had been at home for generations.

For the DVD version of Promised Land, several series of photographs taken with a drive camera func­tion are displayed within the space of a few seconds showing photo­graphic images of Bezalel lighting matches from a Swan Vesta matchbox, that present the Ark of the Covenant, as a Pandora’s tinderbox.

Calving trouble will even­tu­ally be composed of one or more bull calf stat­uettes of bronze (size undecided).


Promised Land




Infor­ma­tion

Concept, text, perfor­mance and voice over: Tanya Ury
Text editor: Amin Farzanefar
German trans­la­tion Gelobtes Land: Tanya Ury and Amin Farzanefar
Camera: David Janecek
Digital processing: Claudia Stasch
DVD edit: Rainer Nelissen
DVD image correc­tion Pixel2motion — crossmediadesign

Bibli­og­raphy

Moses and Monotheism, An Outline of Psycho-Analysis and Other Works, Sigmund Freud 1937 – 40, Vintage, The Hogarth Press UK, 2001 ISBN 0099426781

Precar­ious Life — The Powers of Mourning and Violence, Judith Butler, 2004 publ. Verso, ISBN 1 84467 005 8

Andreas Kilcher: The Moses of Sinai and the Moses of Egypt. Moses as Magi­cian in Jewish Liter­a­ture and Western Esoteri­cism. In: Aries. Journal for the Study of Western Esoteri­cism. Edited by Roland Edighoffer, Antoine Faivre and Wouter J. Hane­graaff. 4, Heft 2 (2004), S. 148 – 170. Leiden (NL)

New English Bible

Luther­bibel


Presen­ta­tion

2005 (2 – 18.12.) DVD Version, group exhi­bi­tion, Traum und Trauma — Zur Idee des Staates Israel in Film und Video, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin (Dream and Trauma — On the Idea of the State of Israel in Film and Video) (D)
2005 (7.12) Seminar & trailer, Confer­ence: Jüdische Frauen in Geschichte und Gegen­wart (Jewish Women in the Past and Present), Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, Wesseling nr. Bonn (D)
2006 (27.2) Peer Critique, trailer, Ben Uri Gallery, The London Jewish Museum (GB)
2006 (5.4.) Profes­sional Prac­tice Seminar with trailer, Fine Art Depart­ment, Sheffield Hallam Univer­sity (GB)
2006 (6.4) Trailer presented in Seminar within Cathy Gelbin’s PhD. Confer­ence course: Gender and Visual Arts, Holo­caust Studies, Royal Holloway, London (D)
2006 (6.5. – 18.6.) Jahre­sausstel­lung (Yearly exhi­bi­tion), Kunstverein Rosen­heim (D)
2006 (10.5) Körper­bilder (Body Images), seminar and video trailer, Kunstverein (Art Centre) Dort­mund (D)
2006 (14.8) Promises: DVD projec­tion, solo exhi­bi­tion, Ben Uri Gallery, The London Jewish Museum (GB)
2006 (29.8. – 31.8.) DVD projec­tion, group exhi­bi­tion, c.sides festival, Inter­na­tional Conven­tion Center, Jerusalem and projec­tion with discus­sion, Jerusalem Cine­math­eque, evening of 29.8. (IL)
2006 (6.10. – 27.10) Promised Land: 3 photographs: Beelze­bu­larin and 2 digi­tally hand­written texts in English and German, Virtual Resi­dency, Galeria Biala, Centrum Kultury, Lublin (PL)
2007 (23.3.) On the online Femi­nist Art Base: www​.brook​lyn​mu​seum​.org… audio extract (English) from Promised Land„ The Eliz­a­beth A. Sackler Center for Femi­nist Art, The Brooklyn Museum, New York (USA)
2007 (10.3.) Promised Land: Beelze­bu­larin awarded a commen­da­tion in the Inter­na­tional Jewish Artists of the Year Awards, Ben Uri Gallery, The London Jewish Museum of Art (GB)
2007 (11.3. – 9.4.) Group exhi­bi­tion, DVD projec­tion, Connected, opening 12 am, Jewish Cultural Days, Altes Museum im BIS-Zentrum (Old Museum in the BIS Centre), Moenchenglad­bach www​.connected​-mg​.de (D)
2007 (6.1116.12) Opening 5th November, ending 16th December, Promised Land DVD, group exhi­bi­tion Dias­pora and Trou­bles curated by Tanya Ury, Kunst­bunker Tumulka, Munich (D)
www.kunstbunker-tumulk…
www.kunstbunker-tumulk…
2008 (27.1) Screening with discus­sion, Anadoma Film/Video-Festival (25. – 27.1), Lot-Theater, Braun­schweig www​.anadoma​.de/ (D)
2009 (30.43.5) 17.30 hours — 1st May, screening of Promised Land (German version) with discus­sion, Limmud Festival, Werbellinsee, Jugen­der­hol­ungs- und Begeg­nungsstätte (Youth Relax­ation and Meeting Place) (D)


Publi­ca­tions & Press

2005 (12) Inter­view Isabella Herskovics, Saar­ländis­ches Radio (D)
2005 (4.12) Inter­view Dominik Rzepka, Radio Dom, Cologne (D)
2006 (5.2006) Image of Beelze­bu­larin in Jahre­sausstel­lung (yearly exhi­bi­tion) cata­logue, Kunstverein Rosen­heim (Art Centre), (D)
2006 (26.8) Inter­view with Aron Hadar and image: Promised Land: Beelze­bu­larin, Ha’aretz (IL)
2008 (9) Promised Land: 3 photographs: Beelze­bu­larin and 2 digi­tally hand­written texts in English and German, Virtual Resi­dency cata­logue ISBN 9783981220803 (D) www.virtual-residency.…
2008 (11) Beelze­bu­larin discussed in article on Tanya Ury (in German) by Hartmut Bomhoff with image of Beelze­bu­larin, Jüdische Zeitung (monthly), Berlin (D) article as PDF
www.j‑zeit.de/archiv/a…
2009 (1) Anadoma Film/Video-Festival, Braun­schweig cata­logue, discus­sion with Florian Krautkrämer on the video Promised Land (pdf) (D)
2009 (4) Image of Beelze­bu­larin in Zeek: A Jewish Journal of Thought and Culture (USA)

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