Stalag, 2014/2015

In Yael Bartana’s 'Stalag' the artist emphasizes her function as creator by putting herself in front of the camera for the first time. Dressed in identifiable different costumes: an Israeli soldier, an SS officer and a combination of both (while holding a camera) – the artist metamorphoses into other beings while playing with existing clichés and archetypes thus creating mutations that poetically juxtapose two diverse cultures, of past and present.

 

In this project, Bartana reflects on the responsibility of an individual towards the society and its components, questioning not only the role of the single soldier or civilian, but that of the artist as well.