Epiphany on Vacation /  Video / 2010

Room 117 in Basel’s “The Three Kings” Hotel is the room in which Herzl was lodged during the night of the first Zionist Congress. He slept in this bed, hung his clothes in this closet, reviewed his appearance in this bathroom mirror as he prepared for the performance of his life on the Congress stage, and this was the balcony on which Ephraim Moses Lilien shot his famous portrait of Herzl as he gazed over the banks of the Rhine and into the future.

The man who entered that room was Herzl the pamphlet writer, child of bourgeois liberalism, man of theatre and Viennese bohemianism. The man who left it was a man of action, harbinger of the socialist gospel, utopian messiah of modern-day Jewish existence.

Just as Herzl’s portrait remained untouched, so has the room stayed unchanged. The heavy wood furniture, the striped drapes. A minibar has been added, as well as Wi-Fi and a solitary plaque on the wall, notifying temporary occupants of the room’s significance: you are in the presence of a historical ghost.

Easy to understand why this room became one of two heroes personified in “Epiphany on Vacation” by Effi and Amir. The second hero is an enigmatic woman in formal clothing carrying a small briefcase. When she opens it, we see a glimpse of a blue passport and the hilt of a gun. She pulls out an audible earphone, inserts it in her ear, and listens. She is a secret agent, examining the space as a crime scene, receiving orders on the comm system, looking for signs. She moves from the bed to the bedside table, inspecting every item in the room, maybe searching for surveillance devices. Occasionally, the phone rings but she does not answer. When her inspection is complete, she is left without purpose. Awaiting orders. She is an armed and enlisted agent, but also isolated, alone, and helpless when faced with the ghost of the myth. A representative of realized fantasy returning to the point of source.