Yael Bartana

The fossilised weapons present a vision for an alternate historical telling. Ostensibly fossilised weapons are presented as historical artefacts. These sculptures were made in relation to Yael Bartana's performance in Philadelphia 'Bury our Weapons not our Bodies!' and her video 'The Undertaker'. The Undertaker explores a parallel reality in which the rallying cry to eliminate systemic violence and repression is met with action. Amplified by setting the film in Philadelphia, city of brotherly love and the birthplace of American democracy, the film’s “historical pre-enactment” – a methodology conceived by Bartana – lays bare the destructive, displacing current of violence than runs through our history and present.