Gay artists seek Arabs to fall in love with
Two Israelis invite Arab men to become their 'lover' as part of exhibition called 'Sleeping with the Enemy'; we are frustrated with the Middle East political situation, they say
By Reuters
Two gay Israeli men have installed a huge double bed in a New York art gallery and are inviting Arab men to become their "lover" as part of an exhibition called "Sleeping with the Enemy."
The artists, who like to be known simply as Gil and Moti, talk about the project in romantic terms, and say it's about "falling in love" rather than sex.
Gil said visitors should not come to the show expecting to see pornography.
"The bed is there for us to live in," he said. "We try to actually open up a dialogue and debate which is about more important issues than just sexual matters and if there's sex, OK, but it's not something we're interested in discussing."
Courting an Arab lover
The sales pitch for the show in which the two live and work in the gallery surrounded by their art reads, "Israeli artists Gil and Moti
are gay, married and in love. For 5 weeks, they court an Arab lover."
Gil and Moti, aged 37 and 33 respectively, who met 11 years ago at art school in Israel, have made contact online with as many as 300 Arab men from across the Middle East since 2002.
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"We felt frustrated with the political situation in the Middle East," said Gil. "As Israelis, we grew up with Arabs but we were encouraged by the education system to hate and abuse them so we thought we must do something about it."
"So we decided to fall in love with one of them," he said.
Still searching for Mr. Right
Moti is coy when asked whether the bed might actually be put to use if they meet an Arab man they like.
"We want people to think about sex when they enter the show because we have a bed in the front," he said, "and it's clear that we are living here, but we're not interested in showing that."
Gil said they had not invited anybody to join them yet but one local Arab man had invited them to his home.