The Silent World
Mai Omer
Curator: Dina Yakerson
17.11.2016 - 16.12.2016
On Thursday November 17, 2016, Alfred – A Cooperative Institute for Arts and Culture, will open a solo exhibition titled ‘The Silent World’, which will feature the works of Mai Omer.
This exhibition will be the ninth in the annual theme of 2016 – The Humane. The annual series is 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 Silent World
The exhibition The Silent World concludes a four year working process in which artist Mai Omer had researched the story of the Dolphinarium compound in Tel Aviv. At the heart of the exhibition are three video works made by Omer during the years 2012-2015. One of those videos is based on an interview Omer had conducted in 2013 with the Dolphinarium's founder, the late architect Nahum Zolotov.
The Dolphinarium compound was built in the late 70s. It is located on the coast of Tel Aviv-Jaffa, adjacent to Charles Clore Park. The park itself was established on top of the ruins of the former Manshiya neighborhood, which had linked both physically and symbolically' between Jaffa and Tel Aviv.
The Dolphinarium was initially intended to be a place of leisure and amusement, but today it is mainly associated with tragedies such as the death of dolphins, the discovery of a dead body in the compound, and above all the 2001 suicide bombing in the Dolphitech Club, A bombing painfully recalled by Israeli society as one of most horrific outcomes of the second intifada. These tragedies may be the reason why the Dolphinarium became a white elephant - abandoned and neglected for more than twenty years, despite its central location, large scale and unique story.
The exhibition creates a route which gradually exposes the viewers to the various narratives of the Dolphinarium complex.
Mai Omer is an artist and curator at the Israeli Center for Digital Art, Holon, graduate of hamidrasha faculty of the arts 2009.
During the exhibition a number of related events will be held:
Friday, December 2nd at 12:00 pm, a tour in Charles Clore Park which focuses on the history of Manshiya area and the Dolphinarium compound followed by a gallery talk in Alfred Gallery (14:00) with artist Mai Omar and Dr. Yael Allweil, about the Dolphinarium area and architectural possibilities of civil action.
Wednesday, December 14th at 19:00, "The tomorrow of Yesterday" -a guided screening program with artist Ori Levin, who will present the concept of time in futuristic movies from the 20th century to the present.