Between Memory and Retelling: 2019

IR MiKLaT City of Refuge
[Epistemic מקום MaKOM in MaKOM] 1986
2x - wood, bronze, 200 x 72 x 200 cm.

I have placed two identical objects, (i.e., two identical footnotes),

at two different locations in Amsterdam.

1. The first object was placed in the bedroom of Gert Meijerink,

art historian and curator - to be identified as a Private Space.

2. The second object was placed in - Arti et Amicitiae, Amsterdam -

to be identified as a Public Space.

King James Bible, Numbers 35:28 'Because he (the one who kills a person accidentally and unintentionally) should have remained in the city of his refuge until the death of the high priest: but after the death of the high priest the slayer shall return into the land of his possession."

In this context, then, the invisible 'City of Refuge/Shelter',

which I have constructed between the two identical objects, is again a certain movement between the Private and the Public spaces - but whereas the childhood memory of a public entrance of a bomb shelter is still driven by the effect of fear - the constructed 'City of Refuge/Shelter' is driven by the influence of a changing physical locations, and so it should be considered as a "Public Confession".

Please note:

this "Public Confession" has been essentially a symbol of sorrow;

my sincere request for forgiveness -

that is, the eternal theme of the 'poetry' of the soldier -

the War and the veil of its smell.

Thus gradually, the world of the soldier merges with the world of death,

and this is the soldier's memory of the act of killing.

It is not, however, until the end of the war,

that the opposition between the significance of life and the intolerable burden of being a soldier becomes apparent.

What remains, is not a memory, but simply a "Public Confession".

A soldier / kisses / a bird / on a garden path.

Still a soldier / even though all around / is a diadem / of birds.

Their shadow / is a bride / And one bird / kisses his mouth (A false promise)

An image / a portrait / of a soldier / I saw him /

A man swollen up

One died /

He left the land/

We are all bound by the law(s) of the Private and the Public Space, in the sense that we are always already residing in a system of possibilities and limits within which we evolve our own spatial memory. But at the same time, we are also busy deciding, what the Guest's condition should be.

Consequently, by placing a recognizable object in the Public Space, and calling it an artwork, we are reinforcing its invisible element -

the MaKOM in MaKOM which is at once a constraining framework and a system of possibilities to be exploited by the public. True, the Public Space and the Private Space are social design, a physical entities that transform different areas of everyday life into the act of Reading while Writing.

In these terms, then, we can observe that the form of the Private Space is a kept secret,

and it remains a connecting KaV ( i.e., line, cord, string, outline),

even if sometimes the KaV seems to be a Public knowledge.

In the end, by imposing the Private Writing on the Publicness of Reading, one could keep out of sight, and sometime if needed, one could reveal his own authentic Name.

The form of the artworks is based on a childhood memory of a public entrance of a bomb shelter, in Tel-Aviv, Israel.

Please note;

between the two objects, (that is to say, between the Private Space and the Public Space) I have designated an invisible square - an invisible territory - a frame of mind - a spatial space - a void, to remind us of the idea of the 'City of Refuge/Shelter';

(IR MIKLaT); https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cities_of_Refuge

All of the unintentional man slayers went into עיר מקלט - CITY OF REFUGE - they were forced to leave their home, for a long staying in GaLUT (Diaspora); this is GaLUT within the Holy Land!

..."To begin with, גלות GaLUT is not an Exile, neither Diaspora, nor an existing Place; GaLUT is simply a disciplined activity, an intensive vision, and it is what GaLUT proceeds to do - to transform each and every temporary מקום MaKOM of shelter, into a perpetual search for a Hand Full of Soil. At this point, one can say that the depiction of MaKOM in MaKOM in GaLUT is an idea of a constant doubling; That is to say, that the depiction of MaKOM in GaLUT, is nothing but a double mirror-image of itself by itself. But behind all these, there is another reality, that is of an absolute Reading, to be defined in terms of the enduring action of Writing. And in return, one can say that there is one single universal Reading, - a singular universal object - and this is the TeMUNaH (an image of a picture) of a human גולגולת GULGOLeT, (Skull); The primary element of sanctity which continues to re-assume its lucidity by the act of Reading while Writing. Here, then, the action of measuring in GaLUT, is a way to define אופק OFeK, ( Horizon, Restraining ) - the KaV, (line, cord, string, streak, outline) which separate the Doubling of MaKOM from the absence of MaKOM. But soon, everything would be a measurement, a measurement in the public sphere, a limited and primitive gesture of a (certain) memory, of a constant Doubling - and this is precisely the significance of the Promise which has been initiated and established in GaLUT. And GaLUT is the world, the lay-out of a double mirror-image of the world thrown across.
Remember, this is the logical predicament of GaLUT's subversive system; we shall call it, 'Reading while Writing', for it is a gesture which displays itself exclusively in maximizing the act of Measurement in MOED, (appointed time, specific date, commemorative date,).

Joseph Semah: The Doubling of מקום MaKOM.

In this context, then, the invisible 'City of Refuge/Shelter', which I have constructed between the two identical objects, is again a certain movement between the Private and the Public spaces - but whereas the childhood memory, namely, my private memory of a public entrance of a bomb shelter is still driven by the effect of fear; the constructed 'City of Refuge', is driven by the influence of a changing physical locations, and so it should be considered as a Public Confession.

King James Bible, Numbers 35:28

Because he (the one who kills a person accidentally and unintentionally) should have remained in the city of his refuge until the death of the high priest: but after the death of the high priest the slayer shall return into the land of his possession.

But at the same time, we are always busy deciding, what the Other's condition should be.

Consequently, by placing a recognizable object in the Public Space, and calling it an artwork, we are reinforcing as it were, its invisible element - the void which is at once a constraining framework and a system of possibilities to be exploited by the public.

True, the Public Space and the Private Space are social design, a physical entities that transform different areas of everyday life into the act of Reading while Writing.

In these terms, then, we can observe that the form of the Private Space is a kept secret, and it remains a connecting KaV ( i.e., line, cord, string, outline), even if sometimes the KaV seems to be a Public knowledge.

In the end, by imposing the Private Writing on the Publicness of Reading, one could keep out of sight, or even reveal his status, as needed.