Country, City

Erez Uzan / Hagar Zeevi / Mor Peled

Curator: Maya Zehavi

08.07.21-06.08.21

Exhibition Documentation: Maya Zehavi

Country, City 

The exhibition Country, City brings together three bodies of work created in three different local spaces during the protracted lockdowns and quarantines of 2020 – 2021. When the present becomes a continuous time period, during which it is hard to gather insights from the past, yet the future seems even more chaotic than ever, the meaning of time becomes unsettled, jumbled and drawn-out. Only that which surrounds us here and now, in our immediate domestic space, remains.

The artists in the exhibition Country, City mark out new territories for action within a limited space. They endeavor to sketch out a new logic, and to create balance out of the disorder and suspense that has cumulated between the interior (the home), and the exterior which is virtually frozen, as if someone has pressed the pause button. Parts of the home – balcony, entrance, playroom – take on new meaning as time passes between the rooms.

The works shown in the exhibition were born out of presence and prolonged observation, which enabled the artist to embark on a journey inwards. The exhibition was inspired by Japanese gardens: gardens which create an oasis of peace and domesticated nature which stands in contrast to the busy routine and excess outside, and provides an escape. The stagnation of the lockdowns, which was forced upon us from the outside, forced us to stop and look within ourselves, to return to the basics, to our immediate surroundings, and to use the limitations to formulate a new kind of movement which enables us to cope with the chaotic present.

Erez Uzan exhibits a series of small paintings which depict nearly abstract vegetation, the result of his daily practice during the lockdowns and quarantines. Hagar Zeevi exhibits an installation comprised of three-dimensional drawings in space, inspired by the local vegetation surrounding her home. Mor Peled exhibits motorized sculptural objects made of plastic, metal and her son’s broken toys.

About the artists:

Erez Uzan (b. 1988), sculptor and painter. Lives in Kibbutz Ein Shemer. Manages the sculpture and ceramics studio at the Faculty of Arts – Hamidrasha at Beit Berl. Holds a B.Ed.F.A. from the Faculty of Arts – Hamidrasha at Beit Berl (2016), and an MFA from the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design (2021).

Hagar Zeevi (b. 1991), sculptor, specializes in molds and materials. Lives in Karmi Yosef. Holds a B.Ed.F.A. from the Faculty of Arts – Hamidrasha at Beit Berl.

Mor Peled (b. 1990), works in sculpture, video, sound and technology. Lives in Ramat Gan. Holds a B.Ed.F.A. from the Faculty of Arts – Hamidrasha. Manages the media and computer studio at the Faculty of Arts – Hamidrasha at Beit Berl.

Exhibition Season: Present Continuous

Country, City is the second 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.