Tamar Ettun Work | Artist Statement & CV | Return to Artist List
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Artist Statement
There is no word like Davka in English. The closest synonyms would be deliberately or purposefully.
There is no word like Awkward in Hebrew.
I see my work as lying between Davka and awkward, in the impossible – heroic – pathetic attempt to break limits and embrace reality.
Using the human body in combination with inanimate materials to stretch, take apart, assemble and transform meaning in absurd and desperate situations, I create installations, performances, videos and objects. I choreograph situations where these mediums are in dialogue, influence and contradict each other.
My work often starts with a physical ritualistic action such as walking from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv, New Haven to New York, or making an object a day. The narrative involves an absurd mechanism that causes a normal act to be disrupted or to continue in an unexpected direction, keeping the immediate in the making and complicating it with additional layers and ways of presentation. The objects are created from everyday, discarded, damaged materials, and the human form in the performances and videos is often dismantled and rearranged. I use this platform to reflect on empathy, pain and humor.
In “Empty is Also” (Performa 09 , in collaboration with Emily Coates), I explored my ongoing interest in the relationship between figures and objects, dance and theater, the audience and the performers in relation to sculpture. The installation was ever-changing during the three hours of the performance that the dancer took the installation apart and rebuilt it with my help. The audience moved as the installation was rearranged and had an open uncontrolled point of view.
Folding personal narrative into the text, my experience in the Israeli army as a paratrooper is deeply linked to my current projects “One Thing Leads To Another” that will be presented in Performa 11, and “Iksa’s Odyssey” for the Herzelia Biennial ATLV. After graduating from Yale MFA, I received the AKE fellowship by Robert Storr in 2010, that enabled me to travel around the US chasing and cataloguing hot air balloons. I befriended “Home-Builders” or working-class ballooning enthusiasts, who introduced me to this early form of air travel and aspects of American culture. In Texas, I was given a retired hot air balloon by one of my new acquaintances. The balloon, worn thin from use, can no longer fly but can be inflated. The materiality of the balloon and the parachute serve a physical and figurative anchor for these projects. The performative installations, using the given balloon and an Israeli parachute, explore movement and gravity, as they are reflected in these cultural symbols, the people that manipulate them and the audience’s participation.
There is no word like Davka in English. The closest synonyms would be deliberately or purposefully.
There is no word like Awkward in Hebrew.
I see my work as lying between Davka and awkward, in the impossible – heroic – pathetic attempt to break limits and embrace reality.
Using the human body in combination with inanimate materials to stretch, take apart, assemble and transform meaning in absurd and desperate situations, I create installations, performances, videos and objects. I choreograph situations where these mediums are in dialogue, influence and contradict each other.
My work often starts with a physical ritualistic action such as walking from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv, New Haven to New York, or making an object a day. The narrative involves an absurd mechanism that causes a normal act to be disrupted or to continue in an unexpected direction, keeping the immediate in the making and complicating it with additional layers and ways of presentation. The objects are created from everyday, discarded, damaged materials, and the human form in the performances and videos is often dismantled and rearranged. I use this platform to reflect on empathy, pain and humor.
In “Empty is Also” (Performa 09 , in collaboration with Emily Coates), I explored my ongoing interest in the relationship between figures and objects, dance and theater, the audience and the performers in relation to sculpture. The installation was ever-changing during the three hours of the performance that the dancer took the installation apart and rebuilt it with my help. The audience moved as the installation was rearranged and had an open uncontrolled point of view.
Folding personal narrative into the text, my experience in the Israeli army as a paratrooper is deeply linked to my current projects “One Thing Leads To Another” that will be presented in Performa 11, and “Iksa’s Odyssey” for the Herzelia Biennial ATLV. After graduating from Yale MFA, I received the AKE fellowship by Robert Storr in 2010, that enabled me to travel around the US chasing and cataloguing hot air balloons. I befriended “Home-Builders” or working-class ballooning enthusiasts, who introduced me to this early form of air travel and aspects of American culture. In Texas, I was given a retired hot air balloon by one of my new acquaintances. The balloon, worn thin from use, can no longer fly but can be inflated. The materiality of the balloon and the parachute serve a physical and figurative anchor for these projects. The performative installations, using the given balloon and an Israeli parachute, explore movement and gravity, as they are reflected in these cultural symbols, the people that manipulate them and the audience’s participation.
CV
Education:
2008 – 2010, Yale University School of Art, Sculpture department, MFA, New Haven
2004 – 2008, Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, BFA, Fine Art, Jerusalem, Israel
2007, The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, Fine Art, New York
2006 - 2008, Hebrew University Of Jerusalem, Art Education, Israel
Solo Shows:
Novembar 2011, Andrea Meislin Gallery, «Tamar Ettun», New York City.
November 2011, PERFORMA 11, «One Thing Leads To Another», presented by RECESS Activities, Redhook NY.
October 2011, The Herzelia Bienialle, ARTLV, «Odyssey Of Iksa» Curated by Ory Dassou, Israel.
Spring 2010, Yale School of Art, Edgewood Gallery, Thesis Exhibition, New Haven.
November 2009, «Empty is Also» Sculpture – Dance collaboration by Tamar Ettun and Emily Coates, Comissioned by RoseLee Goldenberg of PERFORMA 09 presented by the X-initiative, New York City.
Summer 2009, «Post Traumatic Trance Dance Disorder – Tamar Ettun», Curated by Sergio Edelstein, Center of Contemporary Art, Israel.
Group Shows:
Spring 2011, «Colored Cactus», Industry city, Brooklyn, Dershowitz center, a curatorial project by Tamar Ettun and Aimee Burg.
Spring 2011, «OPT – Working Title», White Flag Gallery, curated by Arthur Broom, Brooklyn, New York.
Spring 2011, “Israel from Within and from Without”, Boston University Rubin Frankel Gallery, group show, Boston.
Spring 2011, »Other Life Forms», Williamsburg Art and Historical Center, Brooklyn, New York.
Spring 2011, Time In Gala event, Haunch of Venison, New York City.
November 2010, «Video Wall Exhibition», Yale Alumni at Yale School of Art.
October 2010, «Hand Held History», Oueens Museum of Art, Video summit. Curatorial project of fifteen video pieces followed by a discussion lead by Thomas Keenan, the director of the Human Rights Project by Tamar Ettun and Katayoun Vaziri, New York, Queens.
October 2010, The America Israel Foundation gala event, Lincoln Jazz Center, New York City.
August 2010, «This is My Education», The supply group event, Art in General, New York City.
May 2010, Dawn Festival, at the California Academy of Sciences, screened in the Planetarium, San Francisco. Curetted by Maya Benton curator at the International Center of Photography, New York City.
March 2010, Jofa conference, Columbia University, New York City.
January 2010, Group show, Curated by Tzili Charney, 14Y, New York City.
September 2009, «Reinventing rituals, Rite Now: Sacred and Secular in video», The Jewish Museum, New York City.
Summer 2009, «Fusco», Video Festival, Lisbon, Portugal.
Spring 2009, "Laba Festival", Curated by Tzili Charney, New York City.
Spring 2009, Video and Performance night, Yale Art Gallery, New Haven.
Fall 2008, «Videozone», Herzelia Museum of Contemporary Art, Curated by Dalia Levin, Israel.
Summer 2008, Israel Museum, «Video screening», Israel.
Summer 2008, «Iluf Homarim», Darom gallery, Tel Aviv, Israel.
2008, Thesis exhibition, The Bezalel Academy of Art and Design, Jerusalem.
Spring 2007, International artists, Cooper Union The Great Hall Gallery, New York City.
Spring 2006, Israeli - German group Show, Barbur Gallery Jerusalem, Hamburg Art Gallery.
Curatorial Projects:
Spring 2011, «Colored Cactus», Industry city, Brooklyn, Dershowitz center, a curatorial project by Tamar Ettun and Aimee Burg. A collaborative installation of Israeli and American installation artists.
October 2010, Oueens Museum of Art, «Hand Held History», Video summit. Curatorial project of fifteen video pieces followed by a discussion lead by Thomas Keenan, the director of the Human Rights Project by Tamar Ettun and Katayoun Vaziri.
Awards and Honours:
2011, RECESS Activities.
2011, Artis, funding for project: «One Thing Leads To Another»
2010, The Alice English Kimball Fellowship, Yale University, School of Art, given by the director of the Sculpture Department Jessica Stockholder the dean of Yale School of Art, Robert Storr.
2010, Studio Residency at Industry City, Derschowitz Center, Brooklyn.
2010, PBN, Honorarism, Artist Book.
2009, WPP, The World Performance Project.
2009, Artis, Contemporary Israeli Art Fund.
2008-2009, America Israel Foundation, AICF.
2009-2010, America Israel Foundation, AICF.
2008, Award for excellent student, The Fine Art department, Bezalel Academy of Art and Design, Jerusalem.
2008, Award for excellent student, The History and Theory department, Bezalel Academy of Art and Design, Jerusalem.
2006-2008, 'Artist Teacher Program' Excellance fellowship for studies at Hebrew University, Israel.
Critical reviews, publications:
Roberta Smith, New York Times
http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/11/performa-09-dancing-with-sculpture/
Jerry Saltz, New York Magazine
http://nymag.com/arts/art/reviews/62028/
Art Forum online video
http://artforum.com/video/mode=large&id=24206&page_id=0
Art Daily Magazine
http://www.artdaily.com/index.asp?int_sec=11&int_new=31944&int_modo=1
Performa 09, Edited by Roselee Goldenbers,
The X Initiative Yearbook, Edited by Cecilia Alemani, Published by Mousse, Milan, 2010
http://www.moussemagazine.it/publishing.mm?id=48
2010, “365 Objects”, Tamar Ettun
http://www.blurb.com/books/1343763
2010, “This Is My Education” The Supply Group.
Education:
2008 – 2010, Yale University School of Art, Sculpture department, MFA, New Haven
2004 – 2008, Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, BFA, Fine Art, Jerusalem, Israel
2007, The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, Fine Art, New York
2006 - 2008, Hebrew University Of Jerusalem, Art Education, Israel
Solo Shows:
Novembar 2011, Andrea Meislin Gallery, «Tamar Ettun», New York City.
November 2011, PERFORMA 11, «One Thing Leads To Another», presented by RECESS Activities, Redhook NY.
October 2011, The Herzelia Bienialle, ARTLV, «Odyssey Of Iksa» Curated by Ory Dassou, Israel.
Spring 2010, Yale School of Art, Edgewood Gallery, Thesis Exhibition, New Haven.
November 2009, «Empty is Also» Sculpture – Dance collaboration by Tamar Ettun and Emily Coates, Comissioned by RoseLee Goldenberg of PERFORMA 09 presented by the X-initiative, New York City.
Summer 2009, «Post Traumatic Trance Dance Disorder – Tamar Ettun», Curated by Sergio Edelstein, Center of Contemporary Art, Israel.
Group Shows:
Spring 2011, «Colored Cactus», Industry city, Brooklyn, Dershowitz center, a curatorial project by Tamar Ettun and Aimee Burg.
Spring 2011, «OPT – Working Title», White Flag Gallery, curated by Arthur Broom, Brooklyn, New York.
Spring 2011, “Israel from Within and from Without”, Boston University Rubin Frankel Gallery, group show, Boston.
Spring 2011, »Other Life Forms», Williamsburg Art and Historical Center, Brooklyn, New York.
Spring 2011, Time In Gala event, Haunch of Venison, New York City.
November 2010, «Video Wall Exhibition», Yale Alumni at Yale School of Art.
October 2010, «Hand Held History», Oueens Museum of Art, Video summit. Curatorial project of fifteen video pieces followed by a discussion lead by Thomas Keenan, the director of the Human Rights Project by Tamar Ettun and Katayoun Vaziri, New York, Queens.
October 2010, The America Israel Foundation gala event, Lincoln Jazz Center, New York City.
August 2010, «This is My Education», The supply group event, Art in General, New York City.
May 2010, Dawn Festival, at the California Academy of Sciences, screened in the Planetarium, San Francisco. Curetted by Maya Benton curator at the International Center of Photography, New York City.
March 2010, Jofa conference, Columbia University, New York City.
January 2010, Group show, Curated by Tzili Charney, 14Y, New York City.
September 2009, «Reinventing rituals, Rite Now: Sacred and Secular in video», The Jewish Museum, New York City.
Summer 2009, «Fusco», Video Festival, Lisbon, Portugal.
Spring 2009, "Laba Festival", Curated by Tzili Charney, New York City.
Spring 2009, Video and Performance night, Yale Art Gallery, New Haven.
Fall 2008, «Videozone», Herzelia Museum of Contemporary Art, Curated by Dalia Levin, Israel.
Summer 2008, Israel Museum, «Video screening», Israel.
Summer 2008, «Iluf Homarim», Darom gallery, Tel Aviv, Israel.
2008, Thesis exhibition, The Bezalel Academy of Art and Design, Jerusalem.
Spring 2007, International artists, Cooper Union The Great Hall Gallery, New York City.
Spring 2006, Israeli - German group Show, Barbur Gallery Jerusalem, Hamburg Art Gallery.
Curatorial Projects:
Spring 2011, «Colored Cactus», Industry city, Brooklyn, Dershowitz center, a curatorial project by Tamar Ettun and Aimee Burg. A collaborative installation of Israeli and American installation artists.
October 2010, Oueens Museum of Art, «Hand Held History», Video summit. Curatorial project of fifteen video pieces followed by a discussion lead by Thomas Keenan, the director of the Human Rights Project by Tamar Ettun and Katayoun Vaziri.
Awards and Honours:
2011, RECESS Activities.
2011, Artis, funding for project: «One Thing Leads To Another»
2010, The Alice English Kimball Fellowship, Yale University, School of Art, given by the director of the Sculpture Department Jessica Stockholder the dean of Yale School of Art, Robert Storr.
2010, Studio Residency at Industry City, Derschowitz Center, Brooklyn.
2010, PBN, Honorarism, Artist Book.
2009, WPP, The World Performance Project.
2009, Artis, Contemporary Israeli Art Fund.
2008-2009, America Israel Foundation, AICF.
2009-2010, America Israel Foundation, AICF.
2008, Award for excellent student, The Fine Art department, Bezalel Academy of Art and Design, Jerusalem.
2008, Award for excellent student, The History and Theory department, Bezalel Academy of Art and Design, Jerusalem.
2006-2008, 'Artist Teacher Program' Excellance fellowship for studies at Hebrew University, Israel.
Critical reviews, publications:
Roberta Smith, New York Times
http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/11/performa-09-dancing-with-sculpture/
Jerry Saltz, New York Magazine
http://nymag.com/arts/art/reviews/62028/
Art Forum online video
http://artforum.com/video/mode=large&id=24206&page_id=0
Art Daily Magazine
http://www.artdaily.com/index.asp?int_sec=11&int_new=31944&int_modo=1
Performa 09, Edited by Roselee Goldenbers,
The X Initiative Yearbook, Edited by Cecilia Alemani, Published by Mousse, Milan, 2010
http://www.moussemagazine.it/publishing.mm?id=48
2010, “365 Objects”, Tamar Ettun
http://www.blurb.com/books/1343763
2010, “This Is My Education” The Supply Group.
“Walking in a field holding a hot air balloon” 2011
still image from 5 mins video
“Around the US chasing hot air balloons”2011
40x20x15 fit
given hot air balloon, found objects collected in a hot air balloon trip around the US, clay, tar, glass, lights, wooden box, ropes.
“Around the US chasing hot air balloons”Inside view
“Around the US chasing hot air balloons”Inside view
“Around the US chasing hot air balloons”Performance event.
Given balloon, ropes, parachute’s harness, wall, people.
“Around the US chasing hot air balloons”Performance event.
Iksa’s OdysseyWork in progress, before installment.
2011
30x15x10 fit
IDF parachute, hand saw without the knife, pulley, baskets, found supermarket trolley, cement, ropes, speakers, video projector.
Iksa’s OdysseyDetail
201030x30 x20 fit
Chinese parachute, lights, orange pipes, air compressor, tape, crutches, umbrella.
Empty is Alsoin collaboration with Emily Coates.
2009
Dimension varies.
Found doors, scaffolding, ropes, red fabric, wood, alarm clock.
A dancer, sculptor, musician.
3 hours performance
Empty is AlsoInstallation view
Empty is AlsoDetail
Empty is AlsoDetail
365 Objects2010
20x20x4 fit
Found objects
365 ObjectsDetail
365 ObjectsDetail
23 February 2010
365 ObjectsDetail
11 March 2010
Post Traumatic Trance Dance Disorder.2009
still image from 6 mins video performance.
Common ground2009
C - print. Walk from New Haven to New York.
Weathervane2008
Still image from 14 mins video