By Chris Nafekh, Staff Writer

Published in print Feb. 25, 2015

Earlier this month, the Weatherspoon Art Museum opened a new exhibition concerning the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. “Zones of Contention: After the Green Line” is curated by Xandra Eden, and will be open to the public until May 3. It is the second in a series of projects in which Eden addresses international situations and their effects on local and regional communities. Through photography, video, vintage media and sculpture, seven featured artists discuss the social, cultural and personal complexities of life in the contested region. One of the seven, Michael Rakowitz, compares cultural ideals by chronicling the Six Day’s War in Israel beside the rise and fall of The Beatles.

As one of the world’s most influential rock bands, The Beatles quickly gained a strong international reputation in the fifties and sixties. At the same time, the Middle-East was quickly divided by the founding of Israel. In his installation “The Breakup,” Rakowitz conflates and compares the band’s separation to the Six Days War in 1967. While the political spectrum was divided in a complex international conflict, people around the world were enraptured with the mop-top musicians. In an artistic discussion of regional identity, these two concepts, though worlds apart, are brought together in a profound and moving medium.

“Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,” one of The Beatles’ most famous albums, was released days before the outbreak of war, and is often considered the soundtrack of the conflict that followed. Walking into the exhibit, one is greeted by the jovial sounds of the album. By contrast, the videos and visual works show the trials and tribulations of living in Palestine. On the walls hang encased documents; vintage newspapers from the ‘60’s show where The Beatles ended and war in Israel began.

Rakowitz is a Jewish-Iraqi artist whose creative focus is the Jewish population of Israel, many of whom migrated to the country after the Second World War. “The Breakup” began as a ten-part radio program commissioned by the Foundation of Contemporary Art in Jerusalem. In the broadcast, Rakowitz discusses the final days of The Beatles within context of the War in Israel. The radio show was recorded and is a part of the “Zones of Contention” exhibition.

In the reading room sat several comprehensive books on the Israel Palestine crisis, including a book titled “The Green Line,” which features work by Francis Alys. In this book are interviews with Israeli anthropologists, architects, filmmakers and historians. For anyone who would like to learn more about the Israeli-Palestine conflict, these books and the exhibition artwork provides brief insight. Although the various art installations seem to sympathize with the current state of Palestine, Eden notes that “this show should not be construed as anything but a contemporary art exhibition.”

On one wall of the exhibit hung a Libyan flag, a symbol of the nation’s pride, identity and hope. On the top and bottom, the flag is embroidered with a message to one of the last living Beatles. “Paul – You wanted to play in Tripoli in 1969. Inshallah (God willing) you will play in a free Libya soon!”