Pettek suggested the use of the national Israeli elections as a public platform, through which concepts about the interactivity between society, politics, culture, consumerism, mass media and art could be conveyed.

For this purpose it was necessary to register Pettek as a party for the Israeli parliamentary elections. It turned out that we were a bit naive as far as civil rights in Israel and Israeli democracy are concerned, and that one can only be a part of politics and be engaged in the process of decision making if one has strong financial backing. The Pettek initiators found out that it would take at least $20,000 to register Pettek as a party.
As the situation in Israel is unstable, and dramatic news are breaking on a daily basis, a small political crisis lead to the decision of holding the elections almost a year earlier than planned, and limiting the time for registration to two weeks, thus leaving the Pettek project unprepared and without the money for the registration.

As creative people who are interested in maintaining the art process under any situation and finding positive solutions to problems as well as dealing with the social process, we came up with the idea of the Alternative Election System. If those who have a positive vision for the future of the country but lack the financial backing cannot participate, then this democracy should be challenged, and the Pettek project, created by social aware artists is here to challenge it!

The Alternative elections system was conceived as the creative answer. The Alternative elections system is a protest, it is also art, and it is also a platform for creativity for anyone who wishes to express their ideas and concepts. Basically it is a project about social responsibility and the role of art within this process.

During the next two months until the elections day, January 28, 2003, the Alternative elections system will register any party, for free and without censorship. Anyone can propose their own agenda. The Alternative elections system will find public platforms to expose itself and the newly registered alternative parties. On election day there will be 5 teams mobilizing alternative elections ballots all over Israel, from Eilat in the south to Kiryat shmona in the north.
The work of the Alternative elections system, the Pettek campaign, the public events and the mobile elections teams will be documented and filmed. A video work of the whole process will be produced shortly after the elections.

Funding for the whole project is needed in order to launch the various actions and campaign, please consider entering the Alternative elections system and contribute for the success of this important experiment.

see the Alternative Parties

write to us and register your own party