Ohad Meromi
Resort
Center for Contemporary Art
2 Tsadok Hacohen St. (near Kalisher St.)
Tel Aviv
www.cca.org.il
15.10.2015 - 12.12.2016
Resort is an interactive, performative project for which Ohad Meromi has transformed the CCA’s lower gallery into a “black box” in which various events take place that use theatre, dance, music and performance works. Many of these events, some of which are participatory, are open to the public.
In order to contextualize these, Meromi has written a “learning play” in five scenes, with five sculptures related to the settings of each one presented in the CCA’s upper gallery. The settings are familiar places of transition: an airplane, a terminal, a hotel room, a beach, and an archeological site. Such sites are often associated with vacations as well as immigration and forced exile.
Since Postmodern theory predominated the field of visual art, the main artistic methodologies that have defined the avant-garde have become worn out. However, the past few years have seen the rise of artists whose work is participatory and who use community engagement as a means of expanding the work of art and the artist’s role in society.
Participatory practices expand the work of art, redefine it as a platform for interpersonal collaboration (as opposed to the expression of a single individual artist), and place the artist in the role of producer, director, choreographer, and activist. The new paradigms are based on the blurring or even the cancellation of authorship and of the artwork as the product of one individual responsible for its every detail.
Meromi’s practice is located on the seam between the collective and the individual. The collectively authored work of art – even when initiated by one individual artist – aims to inspire social change and cultural awareness amongst its viewers and participants.
Since the 1990s, Meromi has found inspiration in the Russian avant-garde of a century ago, in terms of both content and form. The Russian Constructivists sought to transform workers into creative producers with wide cultural breadth, just as the Communist Revolution originally envisioned. Formally, Meromi uses sculpture, drawing, and video with an aesthetic language comprised of the geometric shapes and primary colors that were typical of Russian Constructivism. Another important influence on Meromi’s practice is the work of playwright Berthold Brecht (1898-1956). In fact, Brecht’s “epic theatre” laid the foundation for art through which the audience processed social ideas rather than empathized emotionally with the characters.
Resort
Center for Contemporary Art
2 Tsadok Hacohen St. (near Kalisher St.)
Tel Aviv
www.cca.org.il
15.10.2015 - 12.12.2016
Resort is an interactive, performative project for which Ohad Meromi has transformed the CCA’s lower gallery into a “black box” in which various events take place that use theatre, dance, music and performance works. Many of these events, some of which are participatory, are open to the public.
In order to contextualize these, Meromi has written a “learning play” in five scenes, with five sculptures related to the settings of each one presented in the CCA’s upper gallery. The settings are familiar places of transition: an airplane, a terminal, a hotel room, a beach, and an archeological site. Such sites are often associated with vacations as well as immigration and forced exile.
Since Postmodern theory predominated the field of visual art, the main artistic methodologies that have defined the avant-garde have become worn out. However, the past few years have seen the rise of artists whose work is participatory and who use community engagement as a means of expanding the work of art and the artist’s role in society.
Participatory practices expand the work of art, redefine it as a platform for interpersonal collaboration (as opposed to the expression of a single individual artist), and place the artist in the role of producer, director, choreographer, and activist. The new paradigms are based on the blurring or even the cancellation of authorship and of the artwork as the product of one individual responsible for its every detail.
Meromi’s practice is located on the seam between the collective and the individual. The collectively authored work of art – even when initiated by one individual artist – aims to inspire social change and cultural awareness amongst its viewers and participants.
Since the 1990s, Meromi has found inspiration in the Russian avant-garde of a century ago, in terms of both content and form. The Russian Constructivists sought to transform workers into creative producers with wide cultural breadth, just as the Communist Revolution originally envisioned. Formally, Meromi uses sculpture, drawing, and video with an aesthetic language comprised of the geometric shapes and primary colors that were typical of Russian Constructivism. Another important influence on Meromi’s practice is the work of playwright Berthold Brecht (1898-1956). In fact, Brecht’s “epic theatre” laid the foundation for art through which the audience processed social ideas rather than empathized emotionally with the characters.