TRANSISM

The works presented here operate within a field where spectacle, nationalism, sacrifice, and identity are no longer separable. Eurovision at a Time of Disaster does not address a music competition, but a mechanism: how culture, emotion, and collectivity organize themselves into spectacle—and how spectacle persists even as it collapses

“Ancient National Symphony” by an anonymous artist positions an imagined collective as a single resonant body. It is a symphony without an identifiable composer, without a singular origin, in which nationalism functions as an emotional and ritual force. The work is not nostalgic; it examines how national myth becomes a recurring mechanism of convergence, excitation, and compliance

“Made in Israel” by Oved Sarraf is a photograph that presents a polished image of visibility, body, and symbol—the image Israel produces and exports outward. The photograph is self-aware, suspended between authenticity and staging, between lived identity and national branding. Aesthetic seduction operates here alongside the exposure of its own conditions of production

“Frida’s Heart” by Rotem Reuven Arjuan presents Frida Kahlo as a conscious imitator, yet one who chooses a path opposite to that of the protagonist in Angel Heart. While Angel sells his soul to the devil in order to obtain music and participation, Frida offers her heart willingly—as a sacrifice in service of music itself. This is an image of giving rather than transaction, of desire that does not seek authorisation from an external power

“The Measurers” by Hanna Ashury is a new canvas-based work derived from two grotesque figures extracted from her 2018 solo exhibition Tziurkav, one of which is a self-portrait. These figures are the ones who measure, judge, and critique—each operating from within their own flaw. Beyond the painterly enactment of the adage “one judges others through one’s own defect,” the work exposes the quiet violence embedded in cultural critique

“Eurovision at a Time of Disaster” by Ilan Moyal stages a spectacle in which crowd, desire, sound, and destruction converge into a single image. This is a moment in which entertainment does not compensate for catastrophe, but exists within it. The work proposes a view of culture as a site where catastrophe does not negate spectacle, but feeds it.

The space presented here remains unresolved. An additional work is still in the process of becoming, and the situation remains open

Samdar Lomnitz joins the exhibition from a personal, exposed, and unequivocal position. Lomnitz holds a clear belief that Israel should participate in the exhibition, viewing participation itself—despite its complexities—as an act of agency rather than withdrawal. The site presents her 2017 painting, “Homage to My Older Self,” which depicts an ongoing struggle with the desire to sing alongside fears that have blocked her voice since childhood. In contrast, and for the first time in this context, Lomnitz presents a contemporary video work (48 seconds), created especially for the exhibition: a short humorous song she wrote, composed, and performed—“I am a donkey, I am a donkey, come on everyone, who’s joining me to bray?”. Moving between vulnerability and humour, confession and conscious performance, her presence in the exhibition articulates a commitment to participation even when it entails embarrassment, risk, and discomfort—an insistence on remaining within the discourse rather than stepping away from it