Yael Bartana 'And Europe Will Be Stunned' @ Hornsey Town Hall

Yesterday I discovered the new show by Israeli artist Yael Bartana, ‘And Europe Will Be Stunned‘, set inside the magnificent modernist deco Hornsey Town Hall in North London.

Commissioned by Artangel, visitors entering the glass-walled reception area are greeted by a huge red neon sign proclaiming ‘And Europe Will Be Stunned’. Up on the first floor the exhibition starts with the first of a trilogy of films made between 2007 and 2011 in Warsaw, Poland. At the end of a long wood-pannelled corridor ‘Mary Koszmary (Nightmares)’ plays. Styled in the fashion of the Nuremberg rallies but set in Warsaw’s derelict Decennial stadium, in a reversal of the Nazi era speeches a young dictator calls on a massed audience for the return of 3.3 million Jews to Poland. In a room next door you’ll find an archive of images set beneath glass-topped tables that show many of the locations used during filming.

In the sleek art deco council chamber across the vestibule, lit only by the dirty skylights in the roof, the other two films play. ‘Mur I Wieza’ (wall and tower), created in 2009, documents the construction of a temporary kibbutz in a park in Warsaw where the construction of a Jewish museum is planned. The simple wooden buildings seen in the film incorporate barbed-wire topped fences and a guard tower, complete with a searchlight. According to the film-maker these recollect the early Jewish settlements in the new Israel, but I couldn’t help drawing parallels between this small group of buildings and the concentration camps which were constructed all over Poland. The final film ‘Zamach’ (assassination) shows the lying in state of the leader of the ‘Jewish Renaissance Movement in Poland’ (whose symbol is the Polish eagle married with a star of David) and stirring speeches by his followers at his burial. Some of the speakers in this fake documentary are actually Holocaust survivors…

I found ‘And Europe Will Be Stunned’ profoundly affecting, not least because of the setting – Hornsey Town Hall, designed by Reginald Uren between 1933 and 1935 is the first major building in the UK to be built in the sleek modernist style – it is truly breathtaking both inside and out. It’s a perfect complement to a series of films that reflect on the period of European history that immediately followed its construction. Be in no doubt – visiting the show is a harrowing emotional experience. Even though it doesn’t directly address the Holocaust itself, the inferences to this terrible period of history couldn’t be more profound.

‘And Europe Will Be Stunned’ runs until 1 July and is open to visitors from 1pm until 8pm on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, 1pm until 9pm on Thursdays and Fridays, and 12pm until 6pm on Saturdays and Sundays. Admission is free.

If you go along, do take note of Hornsey’s other notable features while you’re in the area. It’s clock tower, built in 1895, is a very unusual feature for a London suburb – you’ll find it just down the street from Hornsey Town Hall. Down at the bottom of the hill towards Finsbury Park you’ll also find the Old Diary – now an atmospheric gastropub (and a rather good one at that – apart from the food they have lots of Belgian and craft beers) it still carries the etchings that show the life cycle of the milking process on its exterior, from grazing to bottling. You might well need a stiff drink after visiting Yael Bartana’s new show…