Buried in coal in Tel Aviv

December 22, 2010 - 5:39 PM by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Art, Politics 

Supermodel Bar Rafaeli buried in coal in photo protest

The thought of Israeli supermodel Bar Rafaeli covered up is enough to make many an Israeli – not to mention on and off boyfriend Leonardo DiCaprio – cry. But covered up in coal?

That’s the idea behind a new art exhibit opening next week at the Tel Aviv Cinematheque. Sponsored by Greenpeace, it’s called “Buried in Coal,” and features stark black and white photographs of celebrities up to their necks in what appear to be blackened briquettes.

The exhibit is intended “to illustrate the terrible danger of producing energy through burning coal,” says Greenpeace.

Coal is the secret polluter in much of the developed world. While most people think of the fumes discharged from cars and trucks, the coal plants that power the electricity grid are an equally noxious scourge. Israel relies on coal.

The Greenpeace show is in part a protest against a plan to build a new coal mill in Israel’s south. Greenpeace again: “The exhibit is meant to call on the prime minister to prevent the building of another mill in Israel, and promote clean energy alternatives.”

So he’s laying in the coal? In additon to Rafaeli, you can find Eurovision performers Mira Awad and Ahinoam Nini (known as Noa abroad), former education minister Yossi Sarid in a ghostly, chalky white pose, and Israel National Basketball Team coach Oded Katash.

The Jerusalem Post has more on the story along with a picture gallery.

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Dynamic duo Ahinoam Nini and Mira Awad

January 12, 2009 - 5:55 PM by · 2 Comments
Filed under: coexistence, General, Israeliness, Music, Pop Culture 

Mira Awad

Mira Awad

Ahinoam Nini

Ahinoam Nini

Even as we’re fighting for the lives of residents of the South, we Israelis are also keeping a close eye on how we’re being perceived by the rest of the world. I don’t mean the anti-Israel protests that have plagued European and Asian cities the last two weeks, but where it really counts – the entertainment world.

Perhaps that’s why the Israel Broadcasting Authority committee which choses Israel’s performer to represent the country at the annual pop schlock fest Eurovision Song Contest, has selected a Yemenite Jew and a Christian Arab – Ahinoam Nini and Mira Awad - to perform at the May 16th show in Moscow.

Although purported to have no political influences, the much derided song contest has always blown hot and cold with Israel – depending on whether we were the good little children of the Oslo era or the big bad guys who invaded Lebanon, the West Bank, Gaza, take your pick…

So what better antidote to the anti-Israel blues than to package a beautiful liberal singer with a beyond Israel’s borders reputation like Nini (known in the rest of the world as Noa) and a well regarded Israeli Arab singer and actress like Awad.

At least the two are highly regarded professionals, and a few notches above the Israel Idol caliber of our recent reps.

YouTube Preview ImageThe two have collaborated previously on a Middle-Easternized version of the The Beatles’ “We Can Work it Out”. Whatever song they end up choosing, the coexistence message that Nini and Awad will likely offer is bound to captivate the spangle and glitter polyanna crowd at Eurovision and the millions of bored Europeans and Asians who gather around the continent to view and vote.

Count this bored boy in.

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