Mixed-media Installation
What is the magnitude of impact of Jewish ancient literature on modern Jewish identities worldwide? Exposure of the absence of women and misogynistic tendencies within Rabbinic literature and ritual is achieved in a multi-faceted collaborative installation, incorporating poetry, sculpture, painting, and sound, all elements alluding to the Talmud (500 CE), a foundational text in Jewish cultural life, deeply ingrained in contemporary Jewish thought worldwide. It serves as a formal guideline for the Rabbinic and Israeli legal systems, which are characterised by male supremacy and sexism. The installation takes on the responsibility of repositioning the narrative by displaying and deconstructing an original copy of tractate Sotah of the Women's Order, which describes one of the most brutal rituals in Rabbinic literature. Using a technique titled Erasure Poetry it effaces and reinterprets the standard version and reshapes the discourse. Primarily it layers diverse perspectives of thinkers and creators of different backgrounds, generations, and fields, such as Y. Wallach's poetry on the walls and R. Neis's reflective contribution, critically examining the construction and regulation of gender in the tradition as in current times.
Created in the frame of “Broken”, LABA Berlin fellowship program final exhibition, in CLB Berlin, 2022
Interactive AR sculpture, collaboration with comparative literature Prof. A.E. Torres, Yiddishland pavilion
"Quasi-Territory" is a term that embodies a nation's meta-space defined by language and literature, transcending physical borders. The interactive AR motion sculpture is inspired by this concept. It comprises three languages, representing their interconnected evolution over time. It was created as a soft intervention in the German pavilion and stands for the cultural exchange with Germany, serving as a poignant reminder of the historical Jewish presence there. Curated by M. Veits and Y. Fiks, the Yiddishland pavilion challenges conventional national divisions at the Venice Art Biennale.
Lime paint on glass, Klingspor Museum & City Library
A window can be both a conduit for light and knowledge, as well as a means of surveillance or control. It serves as a transparent barrier, allowing one to observe and perceive the outside world while maintaining separation. A site-specific ephemeral intervention allowing glimpses into an alternative perspective, utilising the Hebrew poem "Black Magic" authored by the contemporary Israeli poet Adi Keissar, who delves into pertinent matters surrounding ethnic inequality in the Israeli context.
A part of ChaiOF
In collaboration with Klingspor Museum & Stadtbibliothek Offenbach am Main
Day Figures
Limewash paint on glass
Curation: José Délano, Lianne Mol, Yael Sherill
For the duration of a long afternoon on Saturday July 11th, we pushed the pause button. The walls, windows, gardens, streets and parks of Berlin-Kreuzberg were occupied through a series of public interventions in which artists, thinkers and other players opened up their private thinking to the public.
My participation involved inscripting the poem "Querschnitt / Cross Section'' of Polish philosopher and poet Deborah Vogel (1902 – 1942) on a prominent street-facing display. It is part of her 1930 Yiddish collection "Day Figures" and serves to accentuate Vogel's experimental poetic inclination, characterised by a radical and austere demeanour reflective of the prevailing artistic tendencies of the era. Beyond the customary themes of contemporaneous Yiddish poetry, Vogel intentionally defies convention, particularly evident through her use of the Yiddish language and avant-garde aesthetic, thereby situating herself beyond the confines of the Polish literary canon. Her central poetic experimentation centres on the concept of 'white words,' an innovative technique aimed at generating a unique mode of urban-informed lyricism. This approach seeks to create a fresh form of lyrical expression that responds to the exigencies of the urban landscape, yielding abstract imagery depicting static urban scenarios.
Ink & fluorescent light on mulberry paper , Literaturhaus, Berlin
In the frame of “Verquere Verortungen”, Festival Jüdischer Literaturen
A vast cultural diversity of Jewish diasporic narratives weaves a rich tapestry in Berlin's cultural space. Verquere Verortungen Festival showcases and explores Jewish literature in the German context. A collaborative multilingual (German, Hebrew, Arabic) visual poetry installation integrates poems by Max Czollek (Berlin) and Zehava Khalfa (Israel, Libyan origin). The installation is structured as a labyrinth that consists of 20 unequal parts. It utilises the ambient light in the space behaving in response: during the day, only certain sections are visible, while at night, the entire poems are revealed. This technique highlights the concealed messages within the juxtaposed poetry.
The Poetry
In each poem, M. Czollek and Z. Khalfa employ distinct perspectives to delineate a ghostcharacter with an elusive, spectral identity. During the process of rewriting these poems, I engaged in the reduction of their textual content to its typographic essence. This abstraction involved extracting the essential, minimal letter forms that effectively reveal and discern their cultural identity and language, thereby yielding a distinct textual texture.
Wall paint on wall, Zeit Zone Galerie
The exhibition “The Blue-Inked Quill - Berliner Grandfathers” featured artworks rooted in Berlin-associated Yiddish poetry. The central installation is "My Paper Bridge," a piece inspired by a 1930’s poem authored by Kadia Molodowsky (1894 - 1975). This artwork translates the poem into ancient Hebrew glyphs dating back to 600 BCE, employing a primary colour palette.
Al-Quds (القدس)
Oil paint on concrete ground, 10x10 m
Part of The Jerusalem Biennale of Art, 2019. Hebrew and Arabic hybrid calligraphy mural on the ground of the first railway station in Jerusalem.
The station was built in 1892 as the area was ruled by the Ottoman empire. Since, it has changed its function many times, as the city was conquered and changed its authorities over and over. Al-Quds is the official name of Jerusalem in the arabic world. The simple action of spelling it in Hebrew letters is considered as wildly unreasonable, illogical and inappropriate by most of the city's residents. It evoked public discussions and debates regarding the historical and contemporary role of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel as of Palestine.
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ISRAELI ARTISTS OUT OF CONTEXT
A Group Exhibition in Alten Rathaus Marzahn, Berlin
Opening: September 22nd, 2017, 18 :00
Closing: January 10th , 2018
ORDER - Solo Exhibition
Hybrid Identity Through Language and Calligraphy
المخزن / אלמסן /Almacén Gallery
Tel Aviv Jaffa
ORDER is a series of ink on paper, hand cut and woven objects.
The objects are the outcome of a life in a state of roaming. They were created through various stages of my continuous transition from Tel Aviv to Berlin.
I was born in Moscow, immigrated to Israel in 1991 (as part of a massive immigration wave from former Soviet Union to Israel), grew up in Jerusalem and moved to Berlin in 2016. As far as I know, none of my ancestors lived for more than a generation in one place. My family history is full of constant movement. In these conditions the task of self-definition, both as an individual and as a community, becomes complexed. ORDER reflects this complexity and undermines the demand for cultural uniformity.
The exhibition explorers and re-defines identity, my own as well as others. Human nature requires cultural uniformity, stiffness and unequivocal. However, a unified identity is rare; it is fluid, flexible and multifaceted.
Language and typography are defining elements of a culture. By using strict set of rules, they indicate the undisputed nature of it, both by content and visual form. ORDER is a contradiction to this concept. It is using diverse typography styles in different languages to create a hybrid outcome: the co-existence of multiple identities in a unified object.
Maktub
Traditional and Contemporary Calligraphy between East and West
Curator: Sharon Laor-Sirak
The exhibition showcases traditional works of art alongside contemporary ones, most of them making use of calligraphy on paper. The traditional works present various uses of paper in Islamic lands, and reflect the importance of calligraphy in Islamic culture. These include calligraphic pages and calligrapher’s tools, Qurans, amulets, illustrated books, album pages as well as early printed materials, such as a Quran from the seventeenth century printed in Europe. The contemporary works on display offer new interpretations of traditional and stylized writing, and were created by the artists: Farid Abu-Shakra, Kutluǧ Ataman, Liron Lavi Turkenich, Kazuo Ishii, Shirin Neshat and Ella Ponizovsky Bergelson.
I am Who I am (2016)
Ink on woven cellulose paper, 100x1000 cm
Center installation
The bilingual (Hebrew, Arabic) object is created to reflect on the relationship between the two sister languages. It is lying on the gap between interference and harmony; the readability is almost disabled due to the weaving technique and yet the result is visually homogenic. The creation process was an examination of the meditative state of repetitive writing by using an ancient writing technique.
Lo último en lo que pensé es en lo primero que me pasó
Mesones 86
Over 20 artists participated in the Zyanya International Residence Program Exhibition, Centro Histórico de la Cdad. de México, CDMX, Mexico | 2020
Curator: Roberto Shimizu, Antique Toy Museum Mexico, Museo del Juguete Antiguo México
Production and assistance by @z_y.a.n.y_a
Light Drawing Installation at the Jerusalem Design Week
Illuminated contemporary model of Jerusalem, used for architectural planning and decision making. The model is hosted at the City Hall, Jerusalem Municipality. During the Jerusalem design week, the model was illuminated, focusing on the diversity and complexity of the city.
The Jerusalem multi-religious demographic landscape is expressed by creating a contrast texture of light and shadow.
Collaboration with LiCHTPiRATEN.
Music by eplex.
Produced by Eyal Vexler and Koby Even-Haim.
Tech. Equipment: Doron Screens LTD.
