Sound Installation DISENGAGEMENT Project, Tel-Aviv Museum, 2006 Curator: Nili Goren From text by Nili Goren: Danny Lavie uses the megaphone as a musical instrument, and plays music that evokes a sense of mounting tension. The range of disturbances and noises drowns out the low whistling sound and charges the tense atmosphere with apocalyptic innuendos. The disquieting and monotonous noise creates a sense of tense alertness, and destabilizes the ability to distinguish between reality and illusion. It is unclear whether the sound hints at what is taking place, foretells what is to come, or calls up past memories -- and within this uncertainty there is also a gnawing sense of doubt concerning our powers of judgment and our ability to distinguish between an internal voice and external noise. In his composition, Lavie burns the wind. He expands upon the instructions received by security forces in advance of the disengagement, to treat the settlers "with determination and sensitivity," and projects it onto the environment and onto nature -- the arena from which he took a sample of the sound of wind. The tension that builds up as one listens to this wailing wind accumulates and creates a mounting anticipation of a climactic moment that fails to materialize. The megaphone hanging on the wall broadcasts fragments of sound that echo the wind and witness what is taking place, and which will forever keep echoing. Like reflected light burned into photographic film or onto a digital memory chip, which then passes on to the retina and to the viewer's consciousness, so the wailing wind is burned into the digital chip from which the soundtrack is transmitted to the eardrum and to the listener's consciousness -- with determination and sensitivity. ​ DETERMINATION, SENSITIVITY, AND THE SPIRIT On the Work of Danny Lavie Sound Installation, 2006, 13 minutes Tel Aviv Museum of Art Text by Curator Nili Goren ​ The work With Determination and Sensitivity is presented as part of the Disengagement exhibition at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art. This exhibition focuses on documenting critical contemporary events. At first glance, the exhibition addresses the events surrounding the separation between Israelis and Palestinians through the implementation of the disengagement plan, the evacuation of all Jewish settlements from the Gaza Strip, and four settlements in northern Samaria—an impactful event in Israel’s history and the crisis it endures. According to the curator Nili Goren, head of the Photography Department at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, the exhibition examines events tied to contemporary life, some of which will be marked in history, documented continuously by the media. These events are often overshadowed by the intensity of their unfolding and eventually find their place in archives, databases, and personal and collective memory reservoirs. Since the invention of photography, significant historical events have been accompanied by images that have become milestones in human history and icons in photography’s legacy. Many of these photos, even if they are not necessarily “shock images,” are rooted in natural disasters, wars, violent eruptions, and social upheavals. The curator emphasizes that the choice of situation, framing, and camera angle defines the relationship between the subject, photographer, and viewer, shaping the spatial dynamics between them. In times of public tension, when media impact is at its peak, it becomes difficult, if not impossible, to create an image that remains neutral. On a deeper level, the exhibition explores fundamental questions about the art world, questions raised in a digital world where news is generated to be visually appealing. Amid all this, a solitary megaphone hangs from a hook on a bare wall. The megaphone is a symbol—a tool for leadership, incitement, organization, disruption, control, intimidation, warning, and attention-grabbing. The megaphone serves as a single voice, one that seeks authority, aiming to gain the trust of an individual or the public, attempting to persuade, rally, or control. The hanging of Danny Lavie’s megaphone raises questions. It is unclear if it was hung there because it “finished its work” or because it is available in case of need. Regardless, the megaphone emits the sound of the wind. It feels as though the megaphone continues to broadcast the surrounding sounds it once transmitted. The wind’s whistle grows stronger, evoking a sense of openness and vastness, where freedom and supernatural forces intertwine. The wind sweeps across the sands, carrying grains of sand that lash against everything in its path. The wind whistles through openings and windows or flows through empty rooms. The sound heightens attention, a signal through the megaphone, suggesting that someone is about to speak. The megaphone slips into distortion and interference, and now the wind howls. Danny Lavie uses the megaphone as a musical instrument to evoke an accumulating sense of tension. All the "disturbances" and "noises" that elicit emotional associations affect us physically and emotionally. It is a kind of “phantom syndrome” that blurs the line between reality and illusion. Does this sound provoke feelings of unease and make us tense because it signals what is happening or what is about to happen, or does it activate "ancient memories" that create a pseudo-reality within us? In such realities, we are destined to remain tense, vulnerable, and alert—perpetually questioning whether what we hear is an external sound or our “inner ear.” Our ability to discern what is true and what is false remains uncertain. Danny Lavie captures the wind with determination and sensitivity. It is hard to ignore the dual meaning of the word “spirit.” Danny Lavie takes the Israeli police slogan “With Determination and Sensitivity”—intended to consider the feelings and emotional state of evacuees—and expands its boundaries to interpretations of living spaces and spheres of action, which, absurdly or not, are without any specific time or place. They are a “frame of mind.” A critical, traumatic event, broadcasted in real-time, turns into an arena where emotions and media presence converge, fixing its image in collective memory. Persuasion efforts clash or harmonize with ideological fervor. Danny Lavie’s winds, in their quiet course, their howl, or their storm, along with the megaphone signals, create sensations of tension and alertness, indicating something is about to happen, though it never materializes. The possibility that "everything fades with the wind" is always present. With Determination and Sensitivity is a creation of spirit. It is unclear where the megaphone recorded what it broadcasts into the museum space, but it feels as if the winds are echoes and witnesses to past events, lingering here and there before us and likely to return, blowing again and again, even after we are gone. Those wandering through the exhibition quickly realize that the sound from the megaphone follows them throughout. Thirteen minutes of looping audio fill the museum, while the wind echoes from the images, pondering documented truths and wondering where, to all winds, it will blow. ​ ​