Haim Bresheeth » Gallery

Liminal Zones Conference, Nicosia November 2008

Haim Bresheeth — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 00:21:38 +0000

Conference session at the Goethe Institute, November 8th, 2008

organized by Socrates Stratis & Angela Melitopoulos

Any attempt to understand the rapid transformation of territories in the 21st century reveals shifting landscapes and moving boundaries, thus a continuous struggle for their redefinition through conflicts and exclusions. Different conditions of mobility and migration encouraged by the so-called ‘globalised world’ inscribe in material environments social and psychological borders. In this context Cyprus and its inherent division acts as one of the frontiers to the EU. The aim of this workshop is to explore such liminal spaces with a particular reference to Cyprus and the Middle East.

How are liminal spaces constructed and managed and how can one think them from an interdisciplinary perspective?
What dictates the organization and management of these liminal spaces? What facts on the ground challenge the actual negotiation of such “zones under construction”? How do liminal spaces relate to a larger genre of boundaries present in contemporary urban environments? How do continuous fragmentations and reconnections in liminal zones shape contemporary urban societies?

This seminar proposes to engage in several roundtable discussions as productive strategies and tactics encouraging engagement between publics fragmented by the limit. We would like to explore the interdisciplinary roles of visual culture and architecture as porous interfaces within such a territory.

The seminar will take place within the Department of Architecture (University of Cyprus) and the Goethe Institut Nicosia. It will bring together scholars and practitioners from Cyprus, France, Germany, Greece, Israel, Palestine, Turkey and the UK. “Liminal Zones” proposes the creation of a research platform that will be continued in the future as a model for exchange and production of diverse methodologies.

To see an enlarged picture, click on the thumbnail image. By clicking on the name you can find more details about the speaker and their topic.

Mete Hatay, who has led the tour through the Turkish side of Nicosia, and works for a Norwegian charity.

Conference session on November 6th, at the School of Architecture, Nicosia University

Socrates Stratis, of the School of Architecture, during the tour to the Turkish side of Nicosia

Angela Melitopoulos, one of the two organisers of the conference, delivering her paper on The Blast of the Possible installation

Ines Schaber speaking on the Working Archive, November 6th

Florian Schneider, speaking on November 6th, on Imaginary Property

Anna Grichting speaking on the Boundaryscapes: Recasting the Green Line of Cyprus, November 7th

Eyal Sivan, speaking on November 7th, on the Common Archive

John Palmesino, speaking on the Cyprus and the World Without Borders, November 5th

Eyal Weizman gave the keynote address, on Future Archaeology, on November 5th

Socrates Stratis, speaking on the Public Role of the Architect in Liminal Conditions, November 6th

Maria Loizidou speaking on November 6th, on the “Public Private Synergy Convoy” Project

Celine Condorelli spoke on Common Use/Support Structure, on November 5th

Rebecca Bryant, speaking at conference on The Spoils of History, November 7th

John Nassari speaking on Future Screens, on November 7th, on the right

Politics

Haim Bresheeth — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 00:04:50 +0000

By definition, political subjects are both excellent and difficult to photograph, as too many images of political action seem to be similar.

[photopress:Stalin.jpg,thumb,alignleft]	During this left-wing demo in Piazza Navona, Rome, I have noticed the most incredible range of people partaking, from manual workers to intellectuals, all hobnobbing together. This Stalin clone was too good to miss, as he worked so hard on his mustache
[photopress:passing_couple.jpg,thumb,alignleft]	Just as I tried in vain to frame this approaching demo in Rome, Cartier-Bresson’s spirit introduced this couple into the frame.
[photopress:Zurich_demo.jpg,thumb,alignleft]	In Zurich, this group of Irainian demonstrators had precious little interest from passing commuters in the chill of winter. They looked lost, dejected and hopeless.
[photopress:Swiss_racism.jpg,thumb,alignleft]	At the time I took the picture, the election in Switzerland were raking up much racism and anti-foreign, xenophobic sentiment. Billboards were covered in racist propaganda, which seemed to be incredible to us, as this could not (yet…) happen in Britain. This was a campaign poster of the left, which incidentally lost ground in the election.
[photopress:Bilbao_demo.jpg,thumb,alignleft]	In a beautiful park in Bilbao, we happened to see this small anti-globalisation demo, in front of one of the many commercial HQ buildings in this affluent Basque city

[photopress:Israel_watch_tower.jpg,thumb,alignleft]	For most Palestinians, this is what they see from their windows – a 100 foot surveiilance tower – you are never far enough from the watchful eye of the foucauldian state… this, together with unmanned drones, satellites, airplanes and army patrol, complete the picture of the occupying power and control.
[photopress:IMG_0321.jpg,thumb,gallery]	The anti-War demos have been getting smaller every year, after that amazing demo with 2 millions in London, which as we know made no difference. Still, millions everywhere continue to oppose this mad war, destructive for Iraq, the region and the world.
[photopress:IMG_0318.jpg,thumb,gallery]	During the 2004 demo, I noticed the huge number of surveillance cameras everywhere, photographing our very move.
[photopress:IMG_0323.jpg,thumb,alignleft]	It was a windy day, and bitterly cold, but still hundreds of thousands came out in protest against this disastrous government and its US partners.
[photopress:IMG_0333.jpg,thumb,alignleft]	Many of us have been toi this same sqaure in central London hundreds of times on demonstrations, and on the whole, we have little to show for it… Palestine? Iraq? Well, there is also South Africa, and now Ireland. Keep marching!

Objects

Haim Bresheeth — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 17:23:16 +0000

Objects are evidence; evidence of time, evidence of use, evidence of life and of the elements. They remain here when we are long gone, changing with time. Most images here were shot on film – either on 35mm or 60mm by 60mm, and all are connected to the sea. The sea always ages objects in the most unique way. Click ONCE to see the full image.

[photopress:bicycle_1.jpg,thumb,alignleft]	Another picture taken by Benny Bronstein and me on film years ago. This is the Jebalia beach, near Jaffa.
[photopress:woodtie_1.jpg,thumb,alignleft]	Norfolk beaches are teaming with objects which were licked by the waves and dried by the merciless north wind – wood especially benefits from this treatment.
[photopress:sandscrew_1.jpg,thumb,alignleft]	On the sandy Norfolk beach, this mysterious object was irresistible.
[photopress:Boat1_1.jpg,thumb,alignleft]	On the Norfolk broads, mornings and evening are magical. The gentle fog kills the faraway sounds, and gives a special depth to images, muting their colour palette.
[photopress:IMG_2820.jpg,thumb,alignleft]	A Hammam doorway in Marrakech, with the ever-present weapon of mass-destruction, the scooter.
[[photopress:IMG_0654.jpg,thumb,alignleft]	A Swiss barn-door in the Valais, showing all the signs of life and labour, and little different from the doors I photographed in the Third World.
[photopress:Morroco1_088.jpg,thumb,alignleft]	Another doorway in Marrakech, in the Mellah, the Jewish quarter. The reds of walls and doorways are of the same family of hues which is used to paint walls in Rome, and yet, so different. The colour is gentle, yet persistent and pervasive.
[photopress:Morroco1_073.jpg,thumb,alignleft]	In an antiquarian shop in the Medina, an old Hanukah lamp, genuine and no doubt looted from the Jewish population of the Mellah. There is an amazing range and variety of Judaica here, which makes you realise how integrated and large this Jewish community was.
[photopress:IMG_2705_1.jpg,thumb,alignleft]	Mysterious bundles of coloured twine abound all around Morrocan cities,especially in Marrakech. to begin with, one is lost when inquiring about. People would rather not tell you, but all around town, young men are weaving their balls of twine. It is a form of practical magic called Schur, designed to dispel the evil spirits or Jinns.
[photopress:IMG_2310.jpg,thumb,alignleft]	In the main street of Bern, Large colourful flag-bearing posts are dividing the street into sectors, diverting your gaze. Each is adorned with a different, striking face.
[photopress:IMG_0543.jpg,thumb,alignleft]	Certainly one of the largest and most intriguing objects anywhere, Louise Bourgeois’s metal spider towers over the visitors to the riverside Guggenheim Gallery in Bilbao.
[photopress:IMG_0517.jpg,thumb,alignleft]	The underside of the spider at Bilbao.

[photopress:IMG_2814.jpg,thumb,alignleft]	Could those long poles in a Marrakech street really be holding up the wall?
[photopress:IMG_2671.jpg,thumb,alignleft]	A scooter in Marrakech, attracting the voracious and capable denizens of the streets.
[photopress:Exiled_Art_053_1.jpg,thumb,alignleft]	The colossal bust of Rameses, now in the British Museum, has been there over 150 years, ever since it was ‘prospected’ by the great adventurer, Giovanni Battista Belzoni, who has used hundreds of Egyptian peasants in 1815, and recorded this feat of archaeological engineering in a famous coloured drawing.
[photopress:IMG_0199.jpg,thumb,alignleft]	One of the largest and most majestic objects of Ancient Egypt, the Sun Barque of the Pharaoh Khufu, was found disassembled, in a special covered trench by his pyramid and took 30 years to put together.
[photopress:IMG_2701.jpg,thumb,alignleft]	Walking slowly through the Marrakech Medina, one comes upon mysterious and magnificent views, as if turning in a dream towards a sight known from another life.

Places

Haim Bresheeth — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 16:59:56 +0000

Places mean more than their image gives away – they hide but also reveal – so one can see how people lived in them, loved them, or were frightened of them. Click ONCE to see the full image.

[photopress:green_hill_3_1_2.jpg,thumb,alignleft]	This hill in Tuscany has taken my fancy and I have spent some days on editing the picture into this hybrid.
[photopress:hof_1_2.jpg,thumb,alignleft]	The beach of my childhood, and one of my very first pictures, taken on an ancient Kodak Retina II, which always leaked light at a certain angle to the sun…
[photopress:jerusalem1_1_2_3.jpg,thumb,alignleft]	Jerusalem at sunset, some days after the beginning of the Al Aqsa Intifada, as if the landscape knew. There again, Jerusalem looks like this quite often. It must be all the blood in its history. I did not have to use filters here.
[photopress:Braver_1_2.jpg,thumb,alignleft]	A photograph of my mother, My uncle and a dear friend of the family, Dr. Braver, as well as three-year old me. This is on the beach, some 50 yards from our flat in Jebaliia (Jaffa), and in full view of one of the Palestinian boats which were left by the many who have fled away from the Israeli army as it entered Jaffa in 1948, during what is termed the Nakba (the great catastrophe). Many of them died at sea, trying to reach Gaza or Lebanon. The boats stayed on the beach for years after 1948, until destroyed by the winter storms.
[photopress:Bridge_1.jpg,thumb,alignleft]	A bridge in Norfolk. This is the kind of green you never see in the Mediterranean, and I did not even know it existed before coming to England.

[photopress:carrousel_1_2.jpg,thumb,alignleft]	A night in Rome, as one turns the corner, one is always surprised there.
[photopress:Salcombe_1_2_3.jpg,thumb,alignleft]	The pastels of the house fronts in Salcombe are musical to the eye.
[photopress:Salcombe_PO_1_2_3_4.jpg,thumb,alignleft]	The Post Office of Salcombe, one of many pictures I took of Post Offices all around Britain.
[photopress:trees_1_2_3.jpg,thumb,alignleft]	Those trees on the Pacific coast in California bear witness to the power of the wind which shaped them.
[photopress:Morroco1_070.jpg,thumb,alignleft]	One of the few surviving cinema buildings, though not active, in Marrakech. This is actually in the French part of the city, Gueliz, but seems to have closed some decades ago.

[photopress:IMG_2669.jpg,thumb,alignleft]	This cinema in the Medina in Marrakech was working, and showing many Bollywood films, of course.
[photopress:IMG_2081.jpg,thumb,alignleft]	This hotel balcony in Basle has a historical resonance. The hotel, the Three Kings, is the one Theodor Herzl stayed in during the first Zionist congress in 1896, and on the same balcony was taken his famous portrait. The congress took part across the road, in the municipal casino…

People

Haim Bresheeth — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 22:50:52 +0000

People are the most difficult, but also the most rewarding subject to photograph. The few examples here show thus clearly, I hope. Click ONCE to see the full image.

[photopress:baby_1_2.jpg,thumb,alignleft]

I saw this baby on his own, seemingly abandoned, sleeping very peacefully, the kind of sleep which only babies seem capable of.

[photopress:chess_players_1_2.jpg,thumb,alignleft]	On the beach in Dubrovnik, early evening is the time of the chess players. Every move is discussed and dissected by all present.
[photopress:Father___Daughter_1_2.jpg,thumb,alignleft]	In a piazza in San Diego, we saw this father and his daughter asleep, on a very hot day, totally oblivious to all and sundry.
[photopress:Harry_Potter1_1_2.jpg,thumb,alignleft]	On a summer’s day, in a Queens Wood cafe, I saw this young boy, Harry Potter-like and photographed him before I looked around. It was amazing to find out, immediately afterwards, that he is the son of an academic colleague, Prof. Rosie Thomas.
[photopress:Man_with_Radio_1_2.jpg,thumb,alignleft]	In a small town in Montenegro, this man crosses our path, carrying his large radio, playing to himself in the empty street. What is he listening to? Where is he going like this? Does he always carry his radio with him, like Radio Rahim in Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing?
[photopress:market1_1.jpg,thumb,alignleft]	In an East Jerusalem busy road, while the soldiers drive people to clear the road, for some unknown reason, this man is not giving up on finding a bargain.

[photopress:Red_Man1_1_2.jpg,thumb,alignleft]	In a park cafe in mid-summer, this man sat and looked miserable, totally alone in the middle of the hubbub, and after some time he could stand it no more, and started crying.
[photopress:sitting_death_1_2.jpg,thumb,alignleft]	This picture was taken many years ago, by me and Benny Bronstein in Tel Aviv. The man looked at me while I pressed the shutter with a gaze which was empty of life.
[photopress:woman___clothing2_1_2_3.jpg,thumb,alignleft]	A woman walking past me in East Jerusalem, when both Israelis and Palestinians had a reason to hope for some future together.
[photopress:Morroco2_053.jpg,thumb,alignleft]	A street scene in Marrakech – two women, two donkeys, and a lot of affection.

[photopress:IMG_2717.jpg,thumb,alignleft]	Night in the Medina in Marrakech, and the stall holders, all women, are still there, waiting in vain for one last customer… while waiting, they never rest, knitting more of their wooly hats
[photopress:IMG_2819.jpg,thumb,alignleft]	In a cafe near the Saadian tombs, East meets West
[photopress:IMG_2705.jpg,thumb,alignleft]	Mysterious bundles of coloured twine abound all around Morrocan cities,especially in Marrakech. to begin with, one is lost when inquiring about. People would rather not tell you.
[photopress:IMG_2667_1_2.jpg,thumb,alignleft]	This is one of the mysterious weavers of coloured twine balls, in action in small but perfect garden in the Medina. He refused to tell me what he was doing – a form of practical magic called Schur, which is designed to dispel the evil spirits or Jinns. All around town, young men are weaving their balls of twine.

gallery

Haim Bresheeth — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 19:37:32 +0000

The Gallery is still being constructed

[photopress:Cigogne_1_2.jpg,full,centered]

A selection of photographs by Haim Bresheeth can be seen in the different pages of the Gallery.

A Civilised Clash

Haim Bresheeth — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 22:52:56 +0000

In Progress – A Civilised Clash, 18 min. – a 16 screen drama-dance production, with Prof. Lizbeth Goodman and Bobby Byrne as the Dancers. Music by arrangement with Kila, Dublin.

The Production of A Civilised Clash

When writing the script for this production, I had some priorities in mind. I wanted a scene with two dancers, a man and a woman, and for both to move constantly between the two screens I originally planned for. Each new scene will start with the dancers changing screens in a clockwise fashion, creating some circularity and a cycle of action. The dancers were not to meet each other throughout the piece, and their only meeting is the cataclysm at the very end of the film. Halfway through planning, I decided to experiment with working on 16 screens, something I have not done before, and find out more about the potential of such work. This interest was fired by a wish to undermine the single image and its authority, and build a visual and sound structure which was ‘polyphonic’, breaking the dictate of the mater narrative, and suggesting a larger role for the viewer, who will have to decide on a continuous basis where to direct their gaze.The production was to be carried out using the new facilities of the Matrix East Research Lab, at the Docklands campus of the University of East London. The Lab is a unique facility, allowing artists to edit and display up to 36 video tracks in synchronism, and this was the first time the Lab was going to be used. I decided to use 16 tracks for this production, to be shot in the MERL Studio. This would allow me to project and display the 16 tracks in a surround mode, which is what I wanted – the audience would be totally surrounded by images and sounds, and able to make choices about their focus of viewing. Due to the enormity of the topic, I was looking for a configuration which will offer a totality of experience, and show the action from many points of view. The material for the 16 tracks was to be supplied by using at least five HDV cameras, shooting every single take of the seven scenes which I have written for the dancers. The 16 tracks will be created through editing the various takes on each of the cameras.

[photopress:Studio_ready_for_shooting_1.jpg,full,centered]

The studio ready for shooting

The MERL Studio

The MERL studio is a medium size production space with a floor space of 100 m2. I was planning to both shoot and present the final product within this space, on a screen configuration outlined below, with 14 flat-panel large LCD monitors suspended from the overhead grid, and two very large projection screens onto which high-quality video projectors will project a 12 M2 image. As the screens emit quite a lot of light, I decided on images which will be lit harshly, with jet black background, so as to keep the ‘spilled’ light to a minimum, and allow the images optimum effect in a studio which is basically a black hole.From the start, I wanted two of the cameras to be static, and take the wide picture of the scene without a break, while the other two cameras were to be handheld, and allowed close-up and fluid movement with the dancers; this was necessary in order to create a tension between the two types of materials, adding to the tension between the two large screens, which would include the key images of the male and female dancers, as they move from screen to screenPresentation screen arrangement for A Civilised Clashbetween scenes. The fifth camera, to be operated by me, was to get the overall image of the production, taking in not just the dancers, but also the studio, the cameras and camera-persons. This was necessary for the self-reflexive ending I had in mind.

The dancers, music and work on movement

I had wanted to select two dancers who have worked with each other beforehand, as they would be more likely to easily adapt to the necessary moves and will know how their partner moved even if they did not continuously see them. I was lucky enough to speak with Prof. Lizbeth Goodman about this, and she offered that Bobby Byrne and herself could do this, and performed together many times before. I have already seen Bobby perform before, and very much liked his energy and intensity.

[photopress:Lizbeth_Goodman_and_Bobby_Byrne.jpg,full,centered]

Lizbeth Goodman and Bobby Byrne

The fact that both dancers were differently disabled was also very important, as I was interested in contrasting the role and the dancer, and this offered very exciting potential. This also helped to choose the music, as both have performed before with the Irish Kila band, and an approach to the lead, Colm, has secured the use of their music which I already knew, and which was ideal for this kind of performance. Some of their pieces have clear Eastern references, such as Arabic, North African and Far Eastern musical character, and this served my purposes especially well.With experienced dancers of this calibre, working on the choreography, something I had little experience in, was relatively easy and most enjoyable. Each of the scenes had to be blocked first in terms of special relationship, and then the specific dance movements would be worked out with the music. The main choices in terms of dramatic developments were made at the pre-production stage, by the script and choice of musical section chosen for each scene, by editing quite a few of the Kila tracks. The movement overall is from birth in the first scene to death and destruction in the last two, so we needed to find the right moves and tempo for each scene, and also weave in some interludes, so that the movement from beginning to end became more elusive and complex, and less pre-destined. I have decided that the final conflict between the militarised west and Islam will be a conflict between a male and female, so as to move away from the standard male body of the Muslim ‘terrorist’, and to complicate the conflict by projecting it onto the gendered set of relationships developed in the scenes before, as man and woman play both their standard, stereotypical roles, as well as their opposites. By making the female body the site of Muslim resistance, I hoped to do away with some of the normalised meanings of the conflict, and give it a depth that it well deserves. This also allowed us to work on some ‘eastern’ elements in the movement, such as ‘arabesque’ hand movements, and belly-dancing movements which were woven in to gradually build the Arab and Islamic ‘other’ against the western style of movement in the other scenes.

[photopress:preparations_for_a_shoot.jpg,full,centered]

Preparations for a shoot

The work with intense and focussed lighting on HDV video was a very interesting experience, crucial for building the intensity of the scenes, and the relationship between the dancers, which, as they never meet on the screen, depended on the audience, which is placed between them, along the line of sight/gaze. The high contrast created by this type of lighting assisted the conflictual build-up and heightened the tension in all scenes.

[photopress:Bobby_Byrne_in_the_Objects_scene.jpg,full,centered]

Bobby Byrne in the Objects scene

Because of the lighting angles, movement of the camera-persons with handheld cameras was prescribed and especially difficult, and in need of choreographing together with the dancers, so as not to limit their movement, but still follow it very closely.

[photopress:Deverell_1.jpg,full,centered]

Deveril filming the dancers with handheld camera

[photopress:Robyn_1_2_3.jpg,full,centered]

Robin Faure filming the dancers with handheld camera

The short time that each scene lasts – between 80 seconds and 140 seconds – meant that the choice of clothing for each scene was the main and immediate way of signifying change. The changes also signify the developmental and historic aspects of the conflict, and help us to move swiftly through eons, and bring us to the present in the last two scenes. Dance moves are dictated or limited by the clothing, but I found this was a positive quality rather than a limitation, as it coloured the various scenes appropriately. I also wanted to avoid dialogue at all costs, partly due to the fact that there is never any meaningful dialogue between the two adversaries, so meaning was dependent mainly on gestus, rather than spoken words.

The use of nine-screen division

[photopress:multiscreen4.jpg,full,alignleft]The use of dividing the screen area into smaller images is offering a kaleidoscopic effect, somewhat like that in a hall of mirrors, and this was used extensively in one scene, Prayers. The mixture in the presentation space of single and multiple images created what I consider to be a self-reflexive, visual diegetic space, a critical space for the viewer, building new relationships from the picture elements around them, combining them on one single screen,Now that the A Civilised Clash project was shown a number of times in the Lab space, it will be edited into a single screen, as well as a two-screen version, for wider distribution purposes. The work done on the multi-screen version has a pioneering value, and will be presented in the Lab space, until other facilities with similar capabilities become available. Together with Sony Research engineers we are now designing the next stage of the project, which will allow us to travel with production through a lighter, mobile version of the system, so we will be able to show it at other venues of different natures. The experience collected through working on this and seven other multi-screen projects in the Lab space, has clearly shown that it is suitable not only for epic proportion projects, but also to the more intimate type. This knowledge is now used on the new productions currently in preparation.

[photopress:DSC_0288.jpg,full,centered]

Bobby Byrne in the last scene

[photopress:Liz9.jpg,full,alignleft]

Lizbeth Goodman in the last scene

The use of this ground breaking, cutting edge technology for what is a low technology performance piece has created a new, powerful hybrid, capable of dealing with the mythological and the political together, as it were. By projecting a multitude of moving images around the audience, we are enabling and activating them, forcing a Brechtian attitude, and requiring a more active, performative and participatory process of receiving and working out the images and sounds, rather than a passive consumption – a process more akin to this type of material. It is hoped that by further study of this new form/format of media presentation (what are we to call it?…) we may be able to develop the cinematic language which makes full use of the amazing potential of the technology and the setup described here, and bring it to larger and more mixed audiences.