The exhibition You’re in Charge explores leadership through the figure of the leader, and the ways in which leadership, authority, and power are manifested in material culture (archival footage, photographs, documentary materials, etc.) and in art. States of crisis require leaders, and leadership is tested primarily in times of crisis. How a leader responds to a crisis has a decisive impact on how that crisis is confronted and on the ability to overcome it. But what if the leadership itself is the cause of the crisis? What will crisis management look like when the leader is the one at the eye of the storm?
The perception of leadership has changed over the course of history: from a single sovereign, whose authority was deemed absolute, at times even sacred, to a view that emphasizes the relationships between the leader and the public, and the role of the subjects being led in creating and preserving the leader’s power.
The works on view [will] trace these changes, while also looking to the present, where images are disseminated rapidly through the media and social networks and used to foster identification, exalt leaders, mark opponents [as enemies], and undermine democratic institutions.
Alongside artworks and other exhibits, the exhibition will feature conversations with scholars in the fields of sociology, anthropology, political science, psychology, and religion, thus introducing diverse perspectives on leadership and the affinities between power, public image, and crisis.
Participating artists: David Reeb | Micha Bar-Am | Hadas Kedar | Yael Bartana | Dani Gal | Amir Yatziv
