In The Dunes
During six months of communal engagement in Rishon leZion, we managed to create a fascinating collaboration between Ethiopian and Russian vocal choirs together with the workers of a local construction site. The choirs performed vividly in their mother’s tongue, while the workers and cranes continued their synchronized activity in the background. This multi-channel video projection was on display for several months in a community center in Rishon leZion attracting great excitement from the participants, their families and the wider public.
A collaboration with curator Sally Hatel Naveh
Video still
Video still
Video still
Video still
On set
On set
Installation view
Excerpt from Curator Sally Haftel Naveh Article:
Hirsch's working practice is generally concentrated on the community as an organism; gathering large groups of people working jointly in order to fulfill a mutual goal. Oftentimes the purpose is not entirely clear and the motivation is driven neither by ideology nor by self-interest, but for the sole pleasure derived from the communal act of "togetherness". By staging ambiguous situations, Hirsch investigates the existing dynamics within the group, the engrained tension between its individuals and the shared values that lay underneath their unification. Unlike his previous works, in which the particulars identities were unclear and their presence depended on the whole group, in this work another dimension of social specification is being developed.
In his new piece Hirsch captures a group of distinctive individuals with a homogeneous background which represents socio-economically challenged characteristics. He transforms his communal approach into a reflective process by discussing utopic social situations as well as establishing a critical platform based on Politics of Identity. Hirsch points out the expanding gap between marginal and cultural hegemony, past and present, ideology and reality. These frictions in Hirsch's work raise misgivings regarding the certainty of the Zionist dream in contemporary Israeli reality.