Seder e-Tarbut

Virtual project, 2020
Artists:
Curators: Michelle Wajcman, Denise Lara Margules, Agustín Jais

A Zoom passover dinner, reimagined by 7 artists from the Río de la Plata.

Hitarbut (התערבות) means interruption, interference, intervention. Our lives have been interrupted by Coronavirus. The same is about to happen with our Sedarim LePesach.
Our lives are moving to digital. At the Río de la Plata, Communications Ministries have advised us to refrain from misuse of Internet due to saturated traffic. Everyone’s at home trying to connect with each other, and interference is the norm.
Of all those affected by the pandemic, two groups of people come to our hearts. One is artists. Mostly freelance and precarious workers, many artists find themselves (ourselves) deprived of a support system in the face of cancelled gigs, closed museums and suspended editorial projects. Particularly in Buenos Aires, most of them even fall outside the categories targeted for direct government support.
The second one is our elders. Those who have taught us our Jewish traditions are the most vulnerable to COVID-19 effects. Our grandparents are facing forced quarantine without even going outside to shop for groceries, and their communication with family members is restricted to technologies they are not familiar with.
Seder means “order”, but everything seems out of order now; we have no orders but one: stay home. We propose to give ourselves the order to intervene (”Lehitareb”) in this disorder. Hitarbut becomes e-Tarbut: interference becomes an irruption of digital culture, coming to help us communicate, share and give new meaning to Jewishness through art.
How to reproduce the nuances of a family meeting? The small talk in the kitchen, wine spilled on the table, kids eager to start eating… A group of artists is planning to offset what a virtual meeting can’t provide by creating a tangible, meaningful Seder intended to give some comfort and support to both affected groups, tapping into a human endless skill: creativity.
-Agustin Jais