Dot Dash Dot

Dot Line Dot

Yuval Danieli – Yossi Vassid

Yuval Danieli and Yossi Vassid, artists and members of Kibbutz HaMa'apil, present in this exhibition works produced through a process examining two perspectives on the kibbutz. The first, nostalgic and lyrical in nature, looks back longingly at situations and places that characterized a kibbutz landscape that no longer exists. The second is practical and demanding, seeking to awaken the kibbutz to discussion and dialogue about its future. Both perspectives contain a clear critique: on the one hand, of the renewed kibbutz's lack of awareness regarding the preservation and documentation of the disappearing values of the past; and on the other, of the indifference toward the need to adapt the physical planning of the space to a changing political and social reality.

This exhibition represents another step in a process that began with the exhibition “Dot,” presented at the Kibbutz Gallery in Tel Aviv several months earlier (curator: Yael Kaini). “Dot Line Dot” moves geographically closer to the environment in which Danieli and Vassid live and work, sharpening the questions raised in the urban gallery space. It presents key works from the first exhibition, such as “Kibbutz Skyscraper,” a collaborative work, alongside new works. Some of these, including Yuval Danieli's “Scaffolding of Partnership,” were created especially for the Peace Gallery space, with reference to the concept of partnership between Jewish and Arab society that characterizes Givat Haviva.

Through his ongoing engagement with the cypress and the avenue, the sabra cactus and the field guard, emptiness and fullness, and the relationships between space and color formed in the landscape, Danieli seemingly invites Vassid into the local, the private, the individual – back to the source. After a long period in which Vassid focused on depictions of the destruction of global spaces, he returns to the place where he grew up and creates both the beginnings and endings of things: from “The Children's House” and “The Mulberry Tree by the Chicken Coops” to “The First Tree” and “The Summit of Masada.”

Vassid and Danieli choose to use utopian thinking as a tool for exploring the concrete questions that preoccupy them. They do not attempt to propose clear solutions or tangible plans. Art frees them to engage in “irresponsible” thinking, capable of reaching further than all their years of activity as members of their kibbutz planning committee.

Anat Lideror, Curator