Department of Art History
Subject: Parafiction Art in Israel and Palestine
Supervisor: Dr Noam Gal
Abstract: My research examines the phenomenon of parafiction art in Israel and Palestine in the past two decades. Parafiction art was first defined in 2009 as works of art that imitate, make believe, fake or create fictive stories, events or people, which are then grounded in the world and are experienced as facts. I would like to offer that the unique parafictional aesthetic representation, and its relation to questions of truth and belief, should be examined in light of the specific geopolitical context of its creation. Focusing on the geopolitical context of Israel and Palestine will allow me to consider the definition of parafiction art critically, to examine its validity, and to offer a typology based on case studies. Case studies include works by Public Movement, Tamir Zadok, Khalil Rabah and Khaled Jarrar, among rest, and will be read using reception theories.
Bio: I hold an MA in Critical Writing in Art and Design from the Royal College of Art, London, and a BA in Interdisciplinary Program in the Arts and Psychology from Tel Aviv University. Currently, I am a PhD student at the Art History Department, where I research parafiction art in Israel and Palestine in the last two decades, supervised by Dr. Noam Gal. I am also an art writer and critic, and contribute regularly to various art magazines such as Erev Rav, ArtReview, Mousse, Frieze, art-agenda, ARTnews, and Art Monthly, as well as to various catalogues. I lead an art magazine reading group in Tel Aviv, and guide workshops in art writing and criticism in art schools, such as Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, Jerusalem, Shenkar College of Engineering and Design; Ramat Gan, Faculty of Arts – Hamidrasha, Beit Berl College and Minshar School of Art, Tel Aviv.
Publications:
2021 – (forthcoming, accepted) “From Unaware Participants to Aware Spectators: Parafiction Art in Israel and Palestine as Case Study” (tentative title), Walking with the Enemy: Reclaiming the Language of Power and Manipulation in the Post-Truth Era, eds. Gediminas Gasparavicius, Maia Toteva and Tom Williams.
2021 – (forthcoming, awaiting publication) “The Double, the Fictional and the Critical: On the (Im)Possibility of an Ontology for the Contemporary Work of Art” (Hebrew), Bezalel Journal of Visual and Material Culture, Issue no. 7: Philosophy and The Arts, ed. Adam Aboulafia.
2015 – “The Melting Pot: Parafiction Art in Israel and Palestine”, JAWS: Journal of Arts Writing by Students, Vol. 1 No. 1.
President Stipend 2018/19