Anila Rubiku, Effacing memory, Installation view, exhibition ‘Under Erasure’ at Tel Aviv Museum, Israel, 2014 – 2015© Copyright 2020 
Anila Rubiku, Effacing memory, Installation view, exhibition ‘Under Erasure’ at Tel Aviv Museum, Israel, 2014 – 2015© Copyright 2020 Anila Rubiku, Effacing memory, Installation view, exhibition ‘Under Erasure’ at Tel Aviv Museum, Israel, 2014 – 2015© Copyright 2020 
Anila Rubiku, Effacing memory, Installation view. Exhibition Under Erasure at Tel Aviv Museum, Israel, 2014 – 2015© Copyright 2020 
Anila Rubiku Effacing Memory film(Excerpt), 2013© Copyright 2020 
Anila Rubiku, Effacing memory, Installation view. Exhibition Under Erasure at Tel Aviv Museum, Israel, 2014 – 2015© Copyright 2020 
Anila Rubiku, Effacing memory, Installation view, exhibition ‘Under Erasure’ at Tel Aviv Museum, Israel, 2014 – 2015© Copyright 2020 
Anila Rubiku, Under Erasure,AP, 2014, installation view at Tel Aviv Museum© Copyright 2020 
Anila Rubiku, Anila Rubiku, Effacing Memory #10 AP, 2013, cm. 66 x 47 etching on arches paper then erased © Copyright 2020 
Anila Rubiku, Effacing Memory #8 AP, 2013, cm. 66 x 47 etching on arches paper then erased © Copyright 2020 
Anila Rubiku, Effacing Memory #3 AP, 2013, cm. 66 x 47 etching on arches paper then erased © Copyright 2020 
Anila Rubiku, Effacing Memory #9 AP, 2013, cm. 66 x 47 etching on arches paper then erased © Copyright 2020 
Anila Rubiku, Effacing Memory #5 AP, 2013, cm. 66 x 47 etching on arches paper then erased © Copyright 2020 
Anila Rubiku, Effacing Memory #6 AP, 2013, cm. 66 x 47 etching on arches paper then erased © Copyright 2020 
Anila Rubiku, Effacing Memory AP., 2014, cm. 66 x 47, etching on arches paper then erased © Copyright 2020
13.12.2014 – 18.04.2015
Under erasure, Tel Aviv Museum of Art.
Curated by Irith Hadar
Participating artists: Larry Abramson; Allora & Calzadilla; Yair Barak; Keren Benbenisty; Deganit Berest; Hans-Peter Feldmann; Meir Gal; Gary Goldstein; Jonathan Hirschfeld; Emilio Isgrò; Idris Khan; Joseph Kosuth; Moshe Kupferman; Joshua Neustein; Paul Pfeiffer; Anila Rubiku; Anri Sala; Mario García Torre
Effacing Memory is composed of twelve erased etchings and video of 12 minutes. You do not have to be a genius to recognise the folly of political action and how we have managed to fuck this up for so long and in such a consistent manner.
In this work, my research showed that almost all violent dictators also collected ne art. ey all seemed to need to show that they had artistic sensibilities and weren’t simply murdering psychopaths. Hitler, Stalin, Hoxha the list of dictatorial collectors is endless.
My conclusion was that collecting great art – usually stealing it – was an attempt by these men to present their so er, cultivated and sensitive side to their people. e message was that “I’m not a murdering psychopath but someone with taste”.
The work is an attempt for art to fight back; to erase and e ace these madmen and their vile actions by rubbing them out. I chose to erase etchings because it is so hard to get rid of them – etchings are made to last – showing that the madness will remain with us forever as will the memory of them for the survivors but not, it seems, the lessons that we ought to have drawn. e residue of the eraser rests at the bottom of the work.
Tel Aviv Museum of Art
Tel Aviv, Israel.