A Generation

Curator: Avi Feldman

25/03/2010 -

26/06/2010

A Generation

The international exhibition “A Generation” explores the notion of truth in relation to illusion, fiction, and the perception of reality. It focuses on the work of artists who address private as well as global historical events, ostensibly stamped by an imprint of “truth,” even if they do not purport to document reality. It explores the grounding of these events, which seem to be rooted in the notion of “truth” and therefore need not be proved, while posing the concepts of “testimony” and “witnessing” at its core.
Witnessing as a practice intended to “capture the truth” is manifested in many different fields, such as history, law, literature, science, psychology, and art. In the technologically-saturated, media-dominated digital era, testimony has become a readily accessible source, often accompanied by images, whose prevalence only reinforces the questions of “truth” and “authenticity” associated with this charged concept.
The exhibition strives to propose a new perception of the “witness” in the artistic context, by exploring the status of the artist as a witness. It delves into this state of lack in-between being and nonbeing, reality and fiction, while introducing the work of art not as a testimony, but as a potential, a means to draw nearer to the inconceivable, to that which may only be imagined.
Many of the participating artists revive past events, introducing them for reconsideration. Thus, the artist’s work, precisely by virtue of his capacity as a “fictive witness” external to the event, makes for a fresh view of reality. The existence of artistic work beyond the boundaries of censorship and the immediate ethical restrictions enables the shattering of conventions and preconceptions, thus expanding the possibilities of exploring human knowledge and existence
Featuring artists from Israel, Germany and the Netherlands, the exhibition spans works in diverse media: cinema, video, sound, photography, and animation.
With the participation of th Goethe Institut, Tel Aviv

A Generation
Aernout Mik, Refraction, 2004, Video installation

Courtesy of carlier | gebauer, Berlin

A Generation
Frédéric Moser and Philippe Schwinger, Acting Facts, 2003, Digital video on DVD, 9:40 min, loop

Courtesy Frédéric Moser, Philippe Schwinger, and Galerie Koch Oberhuber Wolff, Berlin

A Generation
Martin Dammann, Soldier Studies / Röckchen 2 (Little Skirts 2), 2008, Digital image on photographic paper

Courtesy Galerie Barbara Thumm, Berlin

A Generation
Ohad Fishof, The Founder from HOON - (Episode One: The Sauna), 2010, Installation
A Generation
Rosa Barba, Western Round Table, 2007, 16mm films, projectors, optical sound, loop

Courtesy the artist and carlier | gebauer, Berlin

A Generation
Sirah Foighel Brutmann, Eitan Efrat, Stragedy, 2008, Video, 12 min
A Generation
Sirah Foighel Brutmann, Eitan Efrat, Daniel Mann, Complex, 2008, Video, 9 min
A Generation
Yael Bartana, Entartete Kunst Lebt (Degenerate Art Lives), 2010, Stop motion animation, loop

Courtesy of Annet Gelink Gallery, Amsterdam and Sommer Contemporary Art, Tel Aviv

Based on Otto Dix’s painting, War Cripples (Kriegskrüppel), 1920

Produced with the support of: Petach Tikva Museum of Art, Israel, and The Fund for
Video Art and Experimental Cinema of the Center for Contemporary