Time & Again

“Time & Again” was inspired by the architectural structure of the Museum of Islamic and Near Eastern Cultures, which serves as the exhibition’s point of departure.

It focuses on the visual and musical expression of patterns and repetitive elements in art, while exploring their various meanings – ranging from an affiliation with mysticism and the conception of infinity in Eastern culture, to rational and structural representations in Western culture.

In Islamic and Near Eastern cultures, repetition gives expression to divine wholeness. Complex geometric forms such as the Mashrabiya (carved latticework) are characterized by symmetry and mathematical order. These forms reflect an a-temporal logic identified with God, and are compatible with the prohibition against representing human figures in a religious context.

In Western culture, Geometric and mathematical forms are also part of creative processes. During the Renaissance, for instance, recurrent patterns highlighted harmony and order, expressing a new and rational perception of the world. By the late 19th century, the rise of Western modernism had led to the desire to represent innovation and simplicity and to the marginalization of ornamentalism. However, over the first two decades of the 21st century, decorative trends have reemerged due to technologies that innovatively weave together decorative and functional elements.

Repetition and multiplicity may also be examined in a social context: a recurrent presence underscores the existence of the individual in relation to the collective, while blurring their singularity when the group invests the individual with meaning as part of a larger whole. In Near Eastern cultures, ornamental patterns lacking a central focal point, such as the arabesque, represent the equal contribution to the whole made by a variety of individual elements. By contrast, modern Western culture focuses on individualism and celebrates the singularity of the individual and their freedom to exceed conventions.

The works in the exhibition present recurrent patterns whose expressive range is shaped by the numerous practices and themes pursued by the participating artists: tradition and its impact on identity, horror vacui (fear of empty space), which solicits compulsive action, architectural processes of construction and destruction, spiritual dimensions of the creative process, the relations between the individual and the group, gender, and the capacity of objects to carry a cultural charge.

“Time & Again” invites viewers to explore the repetitive actions and motifs in the featured works, employing their unique gaze to add an interpretive layer of their own.

Tal Bechler, Exhibition Curator

Participating artists:

Nadine Bar-Noy, Miriam Cabessa,

Danielle Feldhaker, Layla Klinger, Talia Mukmel,

Ronen Sharabani, Rami Tareef,

Amir Tomashov, Aviad Zinemanas