The history of modernism is intimately framed by that space; or rather the history of modern art can be correlated with changes in that space and in the way we see it. We have now reached a point where we see not the art but the space first. […] An image comes to mind of a white, ideal space that, more than any single picture, may be the archetypal image of twentieth-century art.

Brian O'Doherty, Inside the White Cube: The Ideology of the Gallery Space, 1976.

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The exhibition Specific Site joins two artists for whom the architecture of space is a major preoccupation. Both tear the structure down to its basic architectural elements – wall and floor – as a contemporary manifestation of the modernist installation, and at the same time use material manipulations that subvert the modernistic pursuit of material truth. Each artist uses a different strategy to collapse expectations: while Weizmann attempts to undermine the viewer’s basic assumptions, Alpern creates a conflict between material and architecture. They now meet in the space of the Almacén gallery to explore the parallel methods of their artistic creation.

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An ambivalence toward the white cube is the rationale behind Adi Weizmann’s works in the exhibition. The sandstone brick wall hidden behind the plasterboard stands at the center of one of the two works, and a small, hidden eyepiece that allows the viewer to peek into the depths of the wall at the other. Michal Alpern creates flat, large-scale sculptures made from layers of cast aggregated materials.

​​The silicon cast Alpern created for the exhibition lies on the gallery’s cement floor, with which it forms an ambivalent relationship – playing with its colors and textures while trying hopelessly to rise from it. Above all, it turns to the viewer whose gaze it tries to capture to create a moment of pause and of discovery for this overlooked foundation. 

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Exhibition Credits:

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Curator: Yael Sloma

Graphic Design: Avihai Mizrahi

Photography: Tal Nisim

Text Editing: Gal Kusturica

English Translation: Sivan Raveh

Print: A.R. Printing Ltd

Production: Yaniv Lachman