Two weeks ago, 200 men and women gathered in the southern town of Arad to participate in a nude installation by American photographer Spencer Tunick. This is Tunick’s third installation in Israel, the only place in the Middle East where he works. Tunick, a good Jew, whose cousin opened a sushi restaurant in Netanya, loves Israel, even though Israel does not necessarily love him back. What he really wanted to do, he told me, was strip thousands of people on the beach in Tel Aviv, but that probably won’t happen. In a remote and empty place like the Dead Sea he could get away with it.
At Tunick’s large Dead Sea installation in 2011, 2,000 participants covered their bodies in the Dead Sea mud. Now they were covered in white body paint, which apparently was not part of the original plan as I discovered at an intimate event held in honor of Tunick at the home of art agent Keren Bar-Gil, who represents him in Israel. Tunick explained that the white paint was actually intended for another installation in Denmark, as part of the Biennale in which he participated, but the paint didn’t arrive on time. He felt that although the plan in Denmark had failed, the white paint could actually be relevant for the Dead Sea project, being the color of salt and also because of the story of Lot’s wife, who turned into a pillar of salt when she looked back on Sodom, her beloved destroyed city. . “A very disproportionate punishment,” according to Tunick, but when he asked the people at the Hart Museum in Copenhagen to transfer the paint cans to Israel for use in the Dead Sea installation, they did. This time the shipping arrived on time.
The dead sea museum
Tunick’s official goal, once again, is to raise awareness to the great danger threatening the Dead Sea. This time there was an additional motive – to ignite enthusiasm for a grand project to establish the Dead Sea Museum in Arad. This project, established by entrepreneur Ari Fruchter, will be dedicated to immersive art installations that correspond with the area and climatic issues. The participants who signed up for the installation did so for various reasons – not necessarily out of solidarity with the climate crisis. Some were enthusiastic about getting naked, some liked the idea of participating in an art installation by a famous artist, some did so to get out of their comfort zone and deal with body image issues. The truth is that the reasons are less important than the manifestation of the project.
The photographs were taken at a location overlooking the Dead Sea, designated by the enthusiastic mayor of Arad, Nissan Ben Hamo, for the construction of the museum. Architects Sharon Neumann and Yiftach Heiner have designed the building, with the Bilbao effect in mind. Since the construction of the Guggenheim Museum designed by Frank Gerry, Bilbao ,once a polluted industrial city, became a pulsating center of art.
Criticism
Since the Spencer Tunick event, there has been quite a bit of cynical criticism of the installation. Under the headline “200 buttocks will not be able to save it,” Moshe Gilad in the Haaretz newspaper mocks the idea of an artistic nude installation saving the Dead Sea. “The stupidity of saving the Dead Sea with the help of nude photos in Arad makes my blood boil” – was the article’s opening sentence. Stupid indeed, as nobody, not even the entrepreneur Ari Fruchter, who initiated the project, had that thought in mind.
Fruchter, who has known Tunick for many years is aware of the limitations of art. “I actually wanted to take the stage as part of a “Fuck up nights” event – where people talk about their failures – and talk about how the 2011 installation actually failed because the Dead Sea kept shrinking and despite the great awareness, nothing was done.” But this is not exactly the case. A record number of tourists came to the Dead Sea following the installation in 2011 and the Dead Sea was chosen as a UNESCO conservation site – this can also count as a success. By the way, the beach where Tunick shot in 2011 has since disappeared into a sinkhole.
Tunick is not the first artist to work at the Dead Sea. Sigalit Landau has been doing so for years and her salt works illustrate both the wonder of our unique sea and the fear of its deteriorating condition. The level of the Dead Sea drops at a rate of one meter per year and if this continues, it will disappear.
One of the problems with rehabilitating the Dead Sea is the lack of co-operation from settlements around it, that actually benefit from the abuse of this unique resource’ like Kibbutz Ein Gedi that bottles water the would otherwise make its way the sea. “People think that I’m a sucker but the people who live near the Dead Sea are the real suckers because the sea is evaporating in front of their eyes and they do nothing about it,” Fruchter told me. The government also seems indifferent to this climatic disaster.
What can be done?
What does one do when your leaders ignore issues that are close to your heart? In 2018, Greta Thunberg skipped school once a week to sit all by herself outside the Swedish parliament with a sign warning against climate crisis. Look how this individual protest has spread! In 2019 Thunberg was nominated for a Nobel Prize and was named one of the most influential people in the world by Time magazine. She has swept millions of children and adults into huge demonstrations around the world against global warming and has, in fact, forced governments to address the issue and discuss ways to stop the deterioration.
In Israel, too, there are examples of small activist groups doing fruitful work. For example, the Keshet environmental NGO in Mitzpe Ramon, has organized protests against the electricity pylons that have recently been placed inside the Ramon crater. This is another rare natural site that has remained unspoilt for millions of years. Thanks to Keshet, plans to construct a noisy amphitheater in the crater have been halted.
What I’m trying to say is that individual people CAN make a difference but it’s also true that”raising awareness” is not enough. More people need to join and make a stand, until issues seep upwards and reach the decision makers.
Ari Fruchter stood up and decided to take action but only comprehensive public pressure will save the Dead Sea, and he too is aware of it. As he himself says: “The Dead Sea is dead and I cannot save it, but I can maybe prolong its life.” The problem with us is cynicism. We are a society that, for the most part, prefer to sit in front of the screen and grumble. Cynicism and grumbling will certainly not bring about any change.
Will the Dead Sea Museum come to life? The answer to this question also depends on you. Any contribution to the crowdfunding campaign will advance the realization of the vision. Click here to reach the campaign page and contribute to its success.
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