At the far end of the darkened room, a film is projected on continuous loop forming a five by three metre rectangle on an otherwise empty wall. There is no missing it. It commands the space.
The viewer may be intrigued and might pause to consider what is depicted there.
She will watch the unfolding of an aerial panorama, tracing the perimeter of a sandstone hill in the midst of a congested and sprawling urban landscape.
The outcrop stands in razor-wire sharp contrast in the cityscape. There is open space, notably missing from the surrounding city where every scrap of land has been devoured.
The eye is drawn to a huge golden dome built on what appears to be a vast flat plinth surrounded by castellated ramparts, seemingly from an earlier age.
Some will be familiar with the vista; some will revere it and others will view it as the holy of holies. They are gazing toward the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. If the World’s great religions had tectonic fault lines, this would be one of them. Currently held by Israel and policed by a Druze constabulary the site is contested by Jews, Muslims and, to a lesser extent, Christians. Eleven gates allow entry to Muslims, with a further gate admitting those who are not of an Islamic faith. Regulations prohibit visible prayer by those who do not adhere to Islam. For many, share and share alike has no meaning here.
On the wall the colour footage of the film is unexceptional. The skies are a bleached and tepid blue and the land is rendered as a monotonous shade of sandy-ochre that just yells mid-day, stop filming, find shade and a cooling drink.
The drone, for it is a drone that is being used to carry the camera, never flies in any closer in than a kilometre, following a circular path. There is a reason why it is unable to approach any closer to it’s subject. There will be no close ups or birdlike swoops and darts inwards here.
The flight path is traced outside of the edge of a red circle projected onto the floor. Two screens tucked to a side wall explain that all consumer drones produced by DJI (a major manufacturer) are pre-loaded with software that acts as a geo-fence and disables their ability to fly into prohibited areas. The artist’s assistant is filmed demonstrating how the invisible barrier cannot be penetrated and free flight is frustrated.
The red disc at our feet is a symbol of exclusion; a stark representation of power and control. An invisible concept has been conjured to take shape and form for those who look on at the magic circle. In the gallery we can even enter it without any charges of transgression being levelled but in Jerusalem there is no such freedom to be found.
Restricted Zone: Temple Mount. Hagit Keysar (Israel) co-created with Barak Brinker.
12 March 2020 ©Kevin Wood
Currently exhibited in ‘Visual Rights’. Open Eye Galley, Liverpool. 16 January – 22 March 2020).
