The AFTER FLOODING exhibition was inspired by the ecological crises and the corona epidemic that have plagued our world in recent years. A reality saturated with intense fluctuations, which provokes a rethinking of the interrelationships between the individual and the collective and between man and the environment and nature. The term “after the flood” refers to a continuous time dimension, linking the phenomenon of the flood itself, which is experienced in its full force, and the new situation, which exists after the flood. Floods in nature cause damage or substantial changes in their environment.
Emotional flooding is a response of our system to the existing load in it and it has consequences and influences about the way we think and act. The artists relate to the theme of the exhibition in different aspects and work in various types of media. Some even share an art project shared.
Avivit Blas Baranes and Reuven Zahavi present a joint painting installation, called “Tectonia”. Blas Baranes focuses on natural phenomena such as: sinkholes, tsunamis and landscapes that have collapse and chaos. Reuven Zahavi focuses on researching ignorance, changes and shocks that happen above and below natural ground surfaces, which were burned with traces of a fire, which broke out near the mental health center – Eitanim in the forests of Jerusalem. Aryeh Ofir deals with the concept of “interference”, the client from the world of physics. When two waves (water, sound, electromagnetic waves) smashing one against the other, a third wave is formed. In the jug works and his digital works, Ofir creates interferences between cultures, urban landscapes with nature and photographs of nature, as an integral part of Jars. Klil Wexler in her work “Remains”, presents an installation that includes: charcoal drawings and objects such as a coat, a sooty book and fossils soaked in polyester tar and latex. It refers to the oil spill, which contaminated the Ervat Evrona Reserve in the southern Negev, on the fourth of December 2014.
It was an ecological disaster, one of the most serious in Israel. Revital Arbel and Friedeman Derschmidt, artists and a couple in life, share a multimedia work called “Connected”. They reveal and document a video meeting, conversations, situations, thoughts and emotional outpourings, in their daily life since the time of the Corona epidemic until today. The physical distance between Vienna – Derschmidt’s place of residence and Jerusalem – Arbel’s place of residence and the ongoing time plays a significant and essential role in their video work.
Uzi Varon, a photography artist, who lives and works in Helsinki, refers in his panoramic work “Feel me, hear me”, 2021-2022 to the difficult feeling of loneliness, isolation and lack of contact that characterize the difficult days of quarantine during the Corona period. Veron presents a collage photographs consisting of two parts including portraits of forty subjects (family members and friends) taken in Renaissance style in his studio. Dana Melman Shaked in the work “They see us as we see them”, focuses on the study of the brain and the sensations, thoughts and emotions that flood the brain. She particularly refers to the connections between the parts of the brain as they are visually expressed in an MRI scan represented as a matrix. The autistic spectrum. Yonatan Eyal presents a floor work called “From the inside to the outside” in which a photographed image of a sewer cover appears and a caption refers to his criticism of social and moral censorship, which concerns the freedom of human rights and gender. Sima Liebster in “Remains” places objects made of porcelain, which cast their image on the wall using lighting fixtures. The objects are reminiscent of fragile fossils or crystals taken from the sea, a kind of remnants that herald about natural systems that began or a life that was interrupted. Paper artist Ziva Wagner Epstein presents objects made of hand-woven paper and linen threads called “Escape Path”, they seem to be evidence of extinct life forms. The paper artist Sefi Gal also refers to water flooding. She shows a paper relief called “Crack” and a temporary structure – “untitled”, partially torn, made of absorbent paper and adhesives, using the two-and-a-half method. Paper artist Alex Schneider presents a series of works called “The Weight of the Spirit”, made of different types of paper, acrylic paints and wood.
It marks the path of the wind, inspired by storms, ships and ships.
Shirley Musholum, Curator
