Rebecca Arnold, Artist Lecture: Shimon Attie

Shimon Attie was our Artist Lecturer for Nov. 11th. Before I explain a little bit about this artist, I would like to point out that he wasn't my favorite - as he came off somewhat pompous. But I don't mean my comments to sound at all scathing, so sorry if they come off that way.

Attie, who is an artist from California, first showed the images he created fresh out of art school. "The Writing on the Wall" was a low-tech series based on Jewish life in Berlin, Germany. First of all, these photographs were gorgeous. This architectural photography project was interesting, as he projected images from the 1930's of Jewish residents in Berlin onto the same walls of the location where they were first taken. Wow confusing to explain. The strange compression of time leads the viewer to understand the memory and cultural identity pre and post WWII. This kind of stuff has always caught my interest (I'm kind of in love with the romanticism of WWII...is that weird?) so the way he utilized photo archives to find images of Jewish life was very cool to me. The imagery he used for this series made his images look like illustrations almost.

Another notable series Shimon Attie discussed with us was his Underwater Installation called "Portraits of Exile". These 9 portraits were of Danish Jews who were rescued in 1943 by the Swedish. These portraits were installed in (huge) light boxes. In the water, used as a medium to exhibit the ideas of transportation and memory, these portraits would shift according to the water's movement. I found this installation pretty innovative and interesting - probably just as interesting as he thinks it is. Hm..

The last work of Attie's that I enjoyed was his "Attraction of Onlookers" piece. I think what really made this work a success was its accessibility - how easy it was to relate. "The Attraction of Onlookers," shown in Whales, was based on the Village of Aberfan (which I had to look up afterwards) and deals with the coping of traumatic experiences. Attie explained that when we, as a general public, are affected by devastation our automatic response is to freeze up. This piece also explores the relationship between identity, memory and place.

Well, I was wrong - I didn't sound scathing at all. I guess I did like his work - it's just easier not to talk about him as a person and look at his artwork separately.