Overview

Malki Tesler

In this work, Malki Tesler uses her body to block access to a playground slide, thus preventing children from playing on it. When she refuses the request of baffled parents to move away, they immediately resort to physical and verbal violence. This work gives rise to ambivalent feelings: on the one hand, one can easily identify with the parents, who are attempting to protect their children's "right" to use the slide; at the same time, their quick recourse to violence provokes a sense of discomfort - a sensation that grows stronger in the second part of the work, when the children imitate their parents' aggressive and invasive behavior while seemingly engaging in play. This work thus points to the automatic use of violence as a default reaction, which arises even in the absence of a serious existential threat.

Born on Kibbutz Yavne, Israel, 1984; lives and works in Tel Aviv