Naama Arad’s 'Mount Scopus' Recast in Ein Harod Exhibition

A new version of Naama Arad’s large-scale work, "Mount Scopus," is on view in the exhibition "Before Whom," curated by Yedidya Gazbar. The piece was first shown in 2010 at Bezalel, and the current display is at Ein Harod.

In the work, Arad places a pinkish silk curtain between the viewer and an image of Mount Rushmore, creating a soft veil that blocks direct access to one of the best-known symbols of American culture. Behind the curtain is the monument commemorating the U.S. founding fathers, but the act of covering it unsettles the monument’s expected solidity and certainty.

The title points elsewhere, however, to Mount Scopus, where the work was first presented on Bezalel’s former campus. That contrast between the name and the image creates a tension between two places and two historically charged symbols.

Set within an exhibition about a parochet, revelation, and concealment, Arad’s curtain does not only hide the image, it also exposes how national symbols, monuments, and landscapes acquire meaning. The work turns from a first impression of an American monument into a broader meditation on power, memory, and how viewers assign significance to what they see.