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June 26, 2009
Imbuing art with humanity
Israeli Michal Rovner exhibits collection for Montreal's DHC/Art.
JEANIE KEOGH
Israeli artist Michal Rovner probes deep into the cultural vortex with Particles of Reality, which exhibits in Montreal this summer, promising to imbibe Canadian gallery-goers with a reflection on her cryptic, choreographed portrayal of what it means to be human.
On display at DHC/ART in Old Montreal until Sept. 27, Particles of Reality is the first solo exhibition of the artist's work in Canada. The collection features a culmination of work from Rovner's artistic journey spanning nine years: "Border," "Time Left," "Data Zone," "Order," "More," "Culture Plate #7," "In Stone," "Stones" and The Making of Makom.
With an approach that hinges upon clinical, "Data Zone" uses video to project images on petri dishes showing clusters of miniature human forms in motion, or, "a culture within a culture." The work presents humanity in a way that inspires a scientific disassociation from ourselves as human creatures, allowing us to witness the world as we might if we were from another planet, or from outside the realm of what Rovner describes as repetitive, automatic chain reactions going on in our lives.
Formerly a dancer, Rovner is very specific about the movement arrangement she creates but doesn't like using dancers as models because their movement carries a message and is stylized. She said she prefers using regular people to preserve the gestures in their basic and primitive form.
"Sometimes, it's good to look at patterns of order and disorder that we are participating in and to ask ourselves if we are fully conscious about it or feeling good about it at this moment," she said in an interview. "We're always looking at the problem from nearby, from the inside of it, not even a problem, a situation. Sometimes it's good to step away."
Humble about her investigative process, Rovner said the completed work takes on a life of its own. Her intention, she said, is not to draw conclusions about the state of humanity or the world, but to open the way for people to see what they want to see. "It's to take reality and stretch it a little bit, to amplify it."
It isn't surprising that her work has caught the attention of the scientific community. She has been asked to create a sculpture for the newly minted Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, one of her many upcoming projects.
One of Rovner's admitted favorite pieces is "Makom," made of 60 tons of stones from dismantled or ruined Israeli and Palestinian houses from different time periods. It is a structure that was built by a team of Israelis and Palestinians in what Rovner described as a very moving experience. The stones, each with their own archeology, bring together a collage of different realities and experiences. "Makom" creates a new place that puts people together and shows an example of "what is possible," said Rovner.
When the project started, there was suspicion from both sides, she explained. Most of the workers just came to do their jobs and didn't want to interact. In time – and through dialogue – they came to understand what they were taking part in and formed a sort of family, she said.
"If you look at the stones as particles, human particles, then they are very different from each other, yet you can still see that they can be put together and work together."
Some of the "Makom" workers' wives found out what the project was about and crossed the border, which Rovner cannot pass, to bring her food they cooked.
"Makom" was moved to a New York gallery, where it is on permanent display, but those who visit the Montreal gallery can see the video installation called The Making of Makom.
Not a stranger to working within the context of geopolitical cultural conflict, Rovner's curiosity about art and the army and their similarities of creation and destruction led her to the border between Israel and Lebanon in 1996. It was here she entered into dialogue with the general in charge of the frontier and created a suspenseful film, Border.
Shot as a "kind of opera," rather than a documentary, Border delves into finding clarity about borders amid the confusion of a war zone, but also brings into question the implications of borders within a larger context.
"It's sometimes very vague. It could be any border between reality and fiction and between what you know and what you don't want to know, what you're allowed to know and not allowed to know, between life and death, between a man and a woman," said Rovner.
"I think the most important role as an artist is to give someone a new viewpoint about life, about humanity and to remind them that, as themselves, they can try to execute their ability to see things differently," she said.
Rovner said she hopes the exhibit will remind people how fragile humanity is and maybe to care about it a little bit more.
Jeanie Keogh is a freelance writer living in Vancouver.
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