Parisian art dealer Olivier Waltman has a rather talkative temperament. In mid-September, however, he was discreet in his skirmish called “Will His Voice Be Heard?” “. In the program of this flash exhibition, which will last three short days, some forty works by artists, mostly Israeli, will be put up for sale for the benefit of the families of Hamas hostages. “I wanted to go unnoticed to avoid problems”mutters the gallery owner, burned after having the mezuzah hanging in front of his gallery torn off last June.
That same month, the metal badge of his colleague Frank Elbaz, also of the Jewish faith, was scratched. The latter then expressed his concern to the professional committee of art galleries, of which he is a member, awaiting a public position from the union on the outbreak of anti-Semitic acts, which was denounced in its July bulletin. Frank Elbaz lived painfully on October 7, which shattered his relationship of complicity with two exhibition curators. Order your friends to balance their compassion and, for one of them, remove the tablet. “Stop genocide” From his Instagram profile, he was immediately criticized for turning a deaf ear to Palestinian suffering. Since then, these friends are no longer friends, they no longer speak to each other, they no longer understand each other. “Not even in my worst nightmares did I think this would happen.”laments Frank Elbaz.
Art for art’s sake, this utopia of a bubble of mutual understanding, is no longer an option since the massacre perpetrated on October 7, 2023 by Hamas. which left about 1,200 dead, and the bombings launched in retaliation by the Jewish State, which caused more than 41,000 deaths, according to Hamas’ count, transforming Gaza into a field of ruins. This sector that was considered a tolerant tower of Babel only resisted the madness of the Middle East for a few days. From October 19, an article published by the magazine art forum accuses Israel of “genocide” and demands the liberation of Palestine, without reference to Hamas atrocities or calls for the release of hostages. The text, which collected 8,000 signatures, immediately divided the art world into two sides, increasingly radicalized, leaving little room for moderate voices.
A year of excommunications
“Where are you talking about?” »We asked politicians in the 1960s who demanded absolute coherence between social status and convictions. Today’s political commissars repeat the same question. Returning only to their nationality, the Israeli creators are considered to be in solidarity with the government of Benyamin Netanyahu, although the majority of them fight politically, allegedly responsible for the deaths that accumulate in Gaza, while the majority campaign for a Palestinian State .
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