[CPProt.net] Art theft shows Katif's culture crumble

[MSN CPPnet (Ton Cremers)]

Art theft shows Katif's culture crumble


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Talya Halkin, THE JERUSALEM POST  Aug. 1, 2005 

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When the exhibition that Zipi Luria and Avner Bar Hama curated at the Neve
Dekalim community center opened 10 days ago, both they and the 26 artists
participating in the exhibition were well aware of the fact that they were
abandoning the artworks there to an unknown fate. 

The exhibition had an opening date - July 20 - but no closing date. It would
be taken down or destroyed, the curators had decided in advance, by the same
security forces that would dismantle the material infrastructure of Gush
Katif. 

On Saturday evening, however, the community center's director of cultural
programs, Anat Ya'akov, discovered that one of the works was missing. When
she returned on Sunday morning, her coworkers reported to her that the
center's safe had also been stolen. 

Paradoxically, the stolen art was created by Naomi Shalev, a Tel Aviv artist
and curator who defines herself as "as far left as you can be on the Israeli
political map." The work contained an image, taken from a fashion magazine,
of what Shalev described as "a very sexy woman in an orange dress," which
the artist had slashed with a sarcastic and humorous sentence, reading: "I
will never disengage from my house in Neve Avivim," a reference to a
well-to-do Tel Aviv neighborhood. 

"There are two options," Shalev said, laughing, "either the criminals who
stole the work are right wingers who didn't like it because they felt it
made a left-wing statement, or perhaps they were left-wing criminals who
liked the work and were bothered by the fact that it was being displayed in
Gush Katif." 

"It makes us feel that we are being looted while we are still living here,
before we even left," Ya'akov said. 

According to Ya'akov, it seems there has been an increase in burglaries and
break-ins in the Gush Katif area. During a previous burglary attempt, she
said, her printer and computer were stolen from her office. 

"Our cars and houses have been open for twenty years," she said. "I don't
even have a key to the house." The police spokesperson's office for Gush
Katif told the Post that it is still unclear who was responsible for
breaking into the community center - or what their motives might have been -
and said that an investigation was underway. 

There had been no statistical indication of a rise in burglaries in the Gush
Katif area in recent weeks or days, the police said. 

Margot Dudkevitch contributed to this report.