Curator: Joshua Simon
Sharon is an exhibition that aims to describe the Sharon region, home to the wealthiest population of Israel. Sharon is a strip of land on the coast of Israel, stretching from Mount Carmel in the North, to the Yarkon River in the South, Samaria in the East and the Mediterranean Sea in the West.
Sharon (69 km long and 20 km wide), represents military and economic power, hedonism, and �territorial gluttony�. The real-estate Kibbutzim - once a socialist project, have now become a capitalist enterprise: strip-malls, excessive road construction, interchanges and private beach condos. Under the name Sharon, plastic surgery in private clinics, colleges for bored rich kids, villas, road bumps, luxury shopping centers, huge interchanges, Ikea, outlet centers, patronage, the Separation Wall, local Yuppies, self indulgence, �quality-population� serving in the IDF Intelligence core, waste, excessive riches, massive wealth and power - all come together.
�The Sharon region has always been a luxurious area, thanks to its unique and �Overseas-like� feel. With half of the population originally from abroad, many of whom are new immigrants of Anglo-Saxon origin and with loads of foreign ambassadors - it has a unique atmosphere that attracts well established buyers who are looking for luxurious property as an investment as well as for lodging.� Orna Shnaid,�Optimistic Sharon�, from Luxury Apartments, vol. 7, June 2003
�There are rooms in my house I haven�t seen for two years� (former Parliament member and French renegade Shmuel Plato-Sharon on his 30 room villa)�. Yediot Ahronoth Daily, July 1 2003
The TV series Ramat Aviv Gimel (the first soap opera on Israel�s commercial Channel 2), was set in the affluent north Tel-Aviv suburb of Ramat Aviv Gimel. The series portrayed an Israeli Elite. Up-and-coming TV starlet Yael Bar-Zohar, then a young girl, played the role of Sharon � an icon of bored rich kids.
Ramat Aviv Gimel, the first �real-estate series�, was later followed by City Tower (a series located at the Tower where allegedly illegal transactions took place during the 2003 Likud primary elections).
�The Green Party: Sharon took over the Sidni-Ali beach in Herzeliya for her birthday party. The Green Party filed a complaint at the Glilot Police station against actress Sharon Ayalon, starlet of the reality show Take me, Sharon.� Globes Financial Daily, August 19 2003
January 28 2003, Election Day: an overloaded main sewage pump in Tel-Aviv blows up. For one month sewage was flushed to the sea.
�Rich women are less happy. Women living in luxurious neighborhoods are less content with their body. A new research reveals they suffer from eating disorders, depression, a reduced quality of life and they find quitting smoking more difficult.� Liat Mashat-Frisam, Yediot Ahronoth Daily, April 8 2002
The Sharon region has the biggest amount of Jeeps in Israel. That�s because they are the most efficient automobiles for road bumps.
Road bumps are the punctuation marks of the Sharon region.
Jeeps + a desert climate = Colonialism
�Minister of Agriculture, Israel Katz, wants to spray from the air a vaccination against rabies in the [Occupied] Territories. Minister Katz believes infected pets from the [Occupied] Territories spread rabies in the Sharon region�. Walla!News web site, January 28 2004
If Hebron is �The City of the Three Patriarchs�, Qfar Sava, an affluent town in the Sharon region, is �The City of the Parent�s Homes�.
January 23 2001: Moti Dayan and Etgar Zeituni, owners of �Yuppies� restaurant on Shenkin street in Tel-Aviv, drive to Tul Qarem (a Palestinian town near Qfar Sava) with Fawaz Abu-Hussain from Baqa Al Qarbia. The three are kidnapped by a Fatah Tanzim unit. Moti Dayan and Etgar Zeituni are murdered.
June 6 2001: IDF assassinates Ra�ad Al-Karmi, from Tul Qarem. Born 1974, Al-Karmi is claimed to have led and executed the kidnapping and murder. Moti Dayan and Etgar Zeituni went to Tul Qarem to buy clay vases to decorate their restaurant.
�Grand Operation in Gaza� (In Hebrew MIVTZA (�Operation�) can mean both a �special military assault� and a �special sale�).
Front page of Maariv Daily, Sukkot edition, October 10 2003
�The Indians love the Cadillac,� Omri Sharon, son of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon commenting upon seeing Sephardic Likud supporters running after his father�s car during the 2001 elections.
�Other than killing people, what else have you done!?� Hadas Ben-Eliahu to Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz, when he arrived to express his condolences for the death of her sister Tamar, who died in the bombing of bus no. 14 in Jerusalem, Channel 10 News, June 2003
�In this world you are allowed / to know nothing�.
Sarit Hadad, �A Bit Crazy�. Lyrics: Itay Silberstein. From her album Only Love Will Bring Love, 2003
�I shiver anyway / from Terror and Love.�
Shlomo Arzi �Under the Mediterranean Sky�, from his album July August Heat, 1988
�In a few years, each and every housing complex could become a magnificent neighborhood! Israel City Renewal Ltd. is the leading construction company in the field of urban development and reconstruction. [i.e. destroying old buildings inhabited by a weak population, and building new ones for a more powerful population.] The profits from the project are shared with the apartment owners. Dear internet surfers: Contact us ASAP if you feel it is possible to build a new housing complex in your old neighborhood.� From the Israel Cities Renewal, Ltd. Web site: www.icr-1.com
�Well burrowed, old mole!�
Karl Marx, The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Napoleon [1852], Trans: Saul K. Padover, www.marxists.org 1995