You are Like a Dream, mechanical music box, microphone, PA system, wood, 2024
The interactive work You are Like a Dream to Me, consists of a mechanical music box, which invites visitors to turn the crank and listen to the sounds emanating from it. The music, coming from the box, is an adaptation of the melody of the fan anthem "May Your Village Burn" in the guise of a lullaby. Identified with Beitar Jerusalem football club fans from La Familia organization, the song becomes the soundtrack accompanying the team's games, as drama on the field intensifies. In simple, direct language, the lyrics of the song express hatred towards any opponent, primarily those clubs identified with the political left, and more specifically—clubs hailing from Arab locales. The verbal violence concealed in the song, which includes curses and threats, makes it an effective tool to intimidate the opposing team and its fans. The racist song unites the fans in a community without inhibitions, conscience or morals, which regards victory as the one and only sacred goal, and virtually all means are legitimate to achieve that goal. When the music box is activated, the sounds are heard in the gallery space and in the garden of the Artists' House simultaneously. They rise from the garden, are disseminated to the public space, and from there to the street by means of a megaphone, which is used as a means of amplification and as a device calling for action. The innocent act of turning the crank is soon revealed as a misleading trick, which masks words dripping with venom and serving as a reminder of the rising violence pervading Israeli society in the streets, highways, schools and sports fields. The desire to surrender to the pleasant melody collides with the discomfort of being forced to join a violent and escalating discourse.
If you don’t jump now
You son of a bitch
You are Hapoel fan
The Eastern-Gate are crazy
From Teddy no one gets out alive
Welcome to hell
If you don’t jump you are Red
In the Eastern-Gate, everyone knows
There are a few Arab-lovers here
They went to seek reconciliation in Sakhnin
They don’t represent us
Now listen well you Arabs
We do not reconcile
And the song always stays the same
Let your village burn
Shuafat is on fire
written by Sally Haftel Naveh
The interactive work You are Like a Dream to Me, consists of a mechanical music box, which invites visitors to turn the crank and listen to the sounds emanating from it. The music, coming from the box, is an adaptation of the melody of the fan anthem "May Your Village Burn" in the guise of a lullaby. Identified with Beitar Jerusalem football club fans from La Familia organization, the song becomes the soundtrack accompanying the team's games, as drama on the field intensifies. In simple, direct language, the lyrics of the song express hatred towards any opponent, primarily those clubs identified with the political left, and more specifically—clubs hailing from Arab locales. The verbal violence concealed in the song, which includes curses and threats, makes it an effective tool to intimidate the opposing team and its fans. The racist song unites the fans in a community without inhibitions, conscience or morals, which regards victory as the one and only sacred goal, and virtually all means are legitimate to achieve that goal. When the music box is activated, the sounds are heard in the gallery space and in the garden of the Artists' House simultaneously. They rise from the garden, are disseminated to the public space, and from there to the street by means of a megaphone, which is used as a means of amplification and as a device calling for action. The innocent act of turning the crank is soon revealed as a misleading trick, which masks words dripping with venom and serving as a reminder of the rising violence pervading Israeli society in the streets, highways, schools and sports fields. The desire to surrender to the pleasant melody collides with the discomfort of being forced to join a violent and escalating discourse.
If you don’t jump now
You son of a bitch
You are Hapoel fan
The Eastern-Gate are crazy
From Teddy no one gets out alive
Welcome to hell
If you don’t jump you are Red
In the Eastern-Gate, everyone knows
There are a few Arab-lovers here
They went to seek reconciliation in Sakhnin
They don’t represent us
Now listen well you Arabs
We do not reconcile
And the song always stays the same
Let your village burn
Shuafat is on fire
written by Sally Haftel Naveh
