Constant Variable

Liat Danieli and Hadas Douchan

Curator: Hadassa Cohen

18.02.22-26.03.22

Constant Variable

Since the outbreak of the pandemic, a sense of uncertainty has been present in our lives on a daily basis. Economic, institutional and social systems have been destabilized, suspended or shut down. Yet the earth’s orbit around the sun has continued, the seasons of the year have changed, the sun continues to rise above us and shine, and the moon has persisted in revolving around us each month, in a regular cycle. 

In the exhibition Constant Variable, Liat Danieli and Hadas Douchan utilize constant variables in nature, and cooperate with them to create a space of certainty within the existing reality. In their collaborative work, they bring the earth, the sun and the moon into the gallery space, channel them, process them, and with their help grow potatoes that metamorphose into a sustainable, biodegradable material. 

The exhibition consists of installation works through which Danieli and Douchan pause to ponder the different stages of the metamorphosis:  from the blossoming of a potato sprout until its transformation into a bioplastic material.

About the artists

Liat Danieli, born 1983, is a multidisciplinary artist who bridges between art, biology, science and technology. She lives and works in Tel Aviv. Her works are characterized by movement and variability and creating an active connection with the space in which she creates. They are motivated by an enchantment with the constant and delicate change inherent in all living things. Member of the Alfred Gallery Group.

Hadas Douchan, born 1988, is a multidisciplinary artist who lives and works in Jerusalem and Haifa. She holds a BFA from the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, Department of Fine Arts (2015). She focuses on biological, physical and chemical phenomena and examines the connection, influence and tension between them and the mental constitution of humankind and society.

Exhibition Season: Present Continuous

Constant Variable is the seventh exhibition of the 2021 exhibition season, dedicated to the theme: Present Continuous. This year’s exhibition season will focus on our sense of reality, which was upended in the beginning of 2020, when competing forces of slowdown and momentum began acting simultaneously, distorting our sense of space and time. Since we were rendered incapable of comprehending the present or planning the future, we were compelled to exercise resilience, to develop coping mechanisms and to break free from old habits and paradigms – to learn to move continuously in the present continuous tense.

 The members of the Alfred Cooperative have invited artists to propose exhibitions which address the theme “Present Continuous”, either through artistic interpretation or through physical acts that echo into the future. The objective is to present artistic endeavours centered around uncertainty as a guiding principle - ideas that make use of rules and internal logic which impact on the progression and meaning of the exhibition; exhibitions that address issues of uncertainty with respect to the exhibition space or the timeframe of the exhibition and encourage live events held simultaneously in both the physical space of the gallery and the virtual space.