Tomer Fruchter ~ The Image and the Artistic Act: a Path to Spiritual Survival

Thesis Supervisor: Mayra A. Rodríguez Castro

Thesis: The Image and the Artistic Act: a Path to Spiritual Survival

August 2024

Abstract

This book describes how distinctive living conditions in Israel produce an impossible moral stance for Israeli artists. Departing from the values prevalent in Western democracies, in Israel art presents itself as a pathway to spiritual survival. From the dead end of our current political reality through the depths of a national project of denial, the Israeli art community pin its hopes on the image and the artistic act, believing in their ability to forge a world political imagination fails to conceptualize.“:inwards” situates itself within the deep currents of a local art community over the past decade, a time in which a renewed artistic stance has emerged (much like Hebrew is a renewed rather than a new language). It is a stance that neither conforms to the roles the neoliberal nation-state assigns artists nor aligns with trends that weaponize art are an instrument in direct political struggles. At the heart of this document are public discussions and in-depth interviews drawn from a society that is turning inward. Today, the Israeli art community increasingly echoes the insular nature of Hatzer (Hasidic courts), gathering around the secret embedded in the 1 act of art. I offer the stories of a translator, an artist , and a spiritual-artistic leader to outline how artists are embracing art as a practical path to redemption.!

Author: Tomer Fruchter