As part of the exhibition Returning to Nature – a contemporary art show initiated by the Botanical Garden in Jerusalem, in collaboration with Outset Contemporary Art Fund – 16 sculptures by leading Israeli artists have been installed throughout the gardens. Among the works on display are iconic sculptures by artists like Menashe Kadishman and Dani Karavan, works by established artists such as Tsibi Geva, Yehudit Sasportas and Sigalit Landau, and works by younger artists such as Ella Littwitz, Yaara Zach, Moshe Roas and Saher Miari.
In addition, the exhibition includes two works which have been produced especially for the garden and the context of the show, with the support of Outset Contemporary Art Fund. One is a sound installation by Maya Dunietz, which responds to the murmurs and voices of the garden. The other is the first presentation in Israel of a chapter from the Liquid Desert project by Yehudit Sasportas, a different part of which was shown in Germany in January 2019.
The different works are spread throughout the garden at numerous spots, some of which are more visible while others are hidden from sight. Their manner of installation calls on visitors to follow a circular path; as they tread through it, they can discover both the greenery they are surrounded by and the art. Some of the sculptures appear to respond to the shrubbery around them, conducting a dialogue with it that is at once formal, material and narrative. Other works seem to stand out from their surroundings, thereby insisting to maintain their foreignness within the natural space. Thus, the exhibition combines between vertical, monumental, sculpture and horizontal sculpture, that sprawls throughout the garden and responds to its features instead of breaching its confines. Together, the various works reflect a rich and layered range of local sculptural work.
The title of the exhibition attests to the return to the outside after a long period of closure due to the outbreak of the coronavirus, but also to a dimension of returning to nature present in the local sculptural language. In this context, the exhibition sheds light on the constant pendulum swing between works that rely on the use of defined outlines and heavy materials like iron or bronze, and works that use synthetic materials like rubber, latex or polyester as well as softened and rounded forms.
Curator: Hadas Maor
Artists: Eitan Ben Moshe, Yaacov Dorchin, Maya Dunietz, Tsibi Geva, Eli Gur Arie, Menashe Kadishman, Dani Karavan, Sigalit Landau, Ella Littwitz, Saher Miari, Moshe Roas, Yehudit Sasportas, Yaara Zach, Guy Zagursky