Mother Report, Father Report, 2023
In 1973, the Tel Aviv Foundation commissioned the American artist George Segal to create a sculpture on the subject of the Binding of Isaac. The artist who came to Israel asked his friend, artist Menashe Kadishman and his son, Ben Kadishman, to serve as models for the father and son in the Binding story. In Segal's work, Isaac lies on rocky ground, looking up at Abraham. Abraham looks down at Isaac, with his hands clenched, one holding a butcher's knife.
The plaster sculpture had a wide base that made it difficult to store in the basement of the collection, so it was sawed in two. The two parts of the sculpture were kept side by side, with the standing figure of the father Menashe wrapped separately, lying next to them. Each time the sculpture was taken out of storage to the exhibition halls, the two sides were joined together and secured with a temporary solution covered by a thin layer of plaster, blurring the break line.
Mother Report, Father Report is a performance for the two halves of the sculpture, two dancers and an actress. The performance weaves together two stories centred on separation, disconnection, restoration and preservation. Reflecting on a year of profound change, the artist narrates the fracturing of the piece, centring around oath and parenthood, and the end of her marriage. By juxtaposing these two stories, the piece illuminates the poetic, theoretical, and political intersections of these institutions, traditionally regarded as “holding things together,” precisely at the moment when things fall apart.
With: Kerem Shemi, Tamir Friedrich, Itamar Skalka and Avigail Kochavy
Dramaturgy: Nitzan Cohen
Sound: Tamir Friedrich