This position, described by the theorist Slavoj Žižek in his interpretation of the film Fight Club, is repeated in most of the video works in the exhibition. According to Žižek, in the asymmetrical balance of power in which the individual faces power from a regime – either political, general, or pertaining to gender – the most effective act of protest is to direct the attack against oneself. Such conduct, which runs counter to what is identified as “common sense,” paralyzes and neutralizes any external means of intimidation, thus the aggressor is driven to exhibit helplessness in the face of behavior that it identifies as irrational.

The artists participating in the exhibition adopt a similar tactic to cope with difficult and painful issues – they adopt for themselves the character of the idiot, village fool or yard clown, the crazy eccentric, or the circus freak. These fringe characters who do not adhere to the rules of the game, are perceived as non-threatening, entertaining or ridiculous, which is precisely why they are free to touch on painful, bleeding, forbidden topics. This artistic act of coping often takes place on a non-verbal level, using physical humor and casual, a-heroic, unnecessary and banal physical gestures that put the presenter or his or her representative into situations of danger, violence, humiliation, and ridiculing.

In the exhibition at the Herzliya Museum of Contemporary Art present young Russian and Israeli artists. The exhibition is a tribute to the Russian-Israeli artist Igor Guelman-Zack. Guelman-Zack was born in Moldova in 1983, immigrated to Israel in 1990 and graduated from the Ha-Midrasha School of Art at Beit Berl Academic College. Igor died in London in 2007.

Dalia Levin and Maya Shimoni

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