The Dvir (inner sanctum)
Fatma Shanan Dery / Michel Platnic
Curator: Yoav Shavit
08.09.2016 - 07.10.2016
On Thursday September 8, 2016, Alfred – A Cooperative Institute for Arts and Culture, will open a double exhibition titled ‘The Dvir’, which will feature the works of Fatma Shanan Dery and Michel Platnic.
This exhibition will be the seventh in the annual theme of 2016 – The Humane. The annual series will be divided into two sequences of exhibitions that attempt to examine the possible content of "the humane" as it is perceived today: 'the relations between the human and the divine' and 'the relations between the personal and the general'. Both sequences attempt to stress the concept of The Humane. All of the exhibitions stand alone, artistic and curatorial, but share a common concept.
The Dvir
Fatma Shanan Dery and Michel Platnic, both widely recognized and appreciated in the art world, are collaborating outside the commercial art scene and will exhibit new works which refer differently to their most fundamental contents.
Shanan Dery will exhibit a new series of paintings, which examines the relationship between the symbol and sexuality. The rug, a distinctive motif of Shanan Dery's paintings, is replaced with embroidered fabrics, and in some cases completely abandoned. In addition, the figure of the woman/ child will take a more central role in her paintings. This figure is always depicted from her waist down. The tension between the character and the traditional symbols strengthens as they are embroidered on the figure's leggings, or become a shadow she casts upon her surroundings.
Platnic will exhibit a video installation titled Well-Tempered. Each television screen will show edited historical events, juxtaposed to images of self-documentation in the spirit of the contemporary "selfie" culture. In addition, the videos will contain distorted segments from Plato writings. The screens represent the notes of a musical composition; thus the installation 'plays' Bach's The Well Tempered Clavier. The work relates to the connection between the good temperament of the civilized man, and the ability to control, suppress and do evil.