White Chair

source: museudeartedorioorgbr

Yael Davids (1968 Kibbutz Tzuba, Israel) mora em Amsterdã. Estudou na Academia Gerrit Rietveld (Amsterdã), fez estudos de escultura no Pratt Institute (Nova Iorque) e cursou pedagogia da dança na Academia Remscheid (Alemanha).

Performances solo recentes em Kunstverein Harburger Bahnhof, Hamburg (por vir); Gallery at RedCat, Calarts, Los Angeles (por vir); Galerie Diana stigter, Amsterdã (2013); Museu M, Leuven (2012); Circus Gallery, Berlim (2012); Kunsthalle Basel (2011); Picture This, Bristol (2010); If I Can’t Dance Tonight, Frascati Theatre, Amsterdã (2009); Project Mechelen, organizado por MuHKA Antwerp como parte do All that is Solid, Mechelen (2008); Objectif Exhibitions, Antuérpia (2008); Laura Bartlett Gallery, Londres (2008). Ela também tem se apresentado em exposições coletivas, como: Fisicismos, Universidad di Tella, Buenos Aires (2013); Kunsthaus Dresden (2012), If I Can’t Dance, I Don’t Want To Be Part Of Your Revolution, em Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven (2010); The 2nd Herzliya Biennial, Herzliya, Tel Aviv (2009); Cittadellarte Fondazione Pistoletto, Biella (Itália) (2009); Tate Modern, Londres (2008); ICA, Londres (2007).
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source: contemporary-magazines

Davids has been experimenting with the relationships between the body and inert matter – mostly familiar objects like chairs, tables and mattresses – by creating an interdependency between the two. All of which has resulted in this oddly convincing installation of the works she has developed since 1994.

She invites participants to crawl in, under, or through the everyday objects, creating somewhat hilarious conditions as the participants strain to get into position. For where the objects are of a disarming simplicity, she seems to demand a dexterity and flexibility from the participants in her installations that is unattainable to most. In Nobody at Home Chair (1996) she has a naked person curl-up in the space under a chair, buttocks sticking through the seating, for a minimum of five minutes. In another work, Aquarium (1997) a person stands with their head sticking through the bottom of a full glass water tank. As the water slowly leaks through the opening at the bottom, it eventually reaches the point at which the person can breathe again (that is if he or she can hold out that long).

The participant’s physical discomfort becomes palpable and every second this position endures is as harrowing for the viewer as it must be for the performer. Davids’ aim is to incorporate the objects into an awareness of dureé, the French philosopher Henry Bergson’s notion of the consciousness of time passing. Objects always have a stubbornly defiant aura in relationship to time, they stand there, inert and oblivious to human consciousness. It is fascinating, therefore, to see how they are infused with temporal consciousness as the participants occupy them and take them up into a maelstrom of human consciousness. It is in this that Davids is most convincing. Albeit a little silly at the same time.
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source: redcatorg

Yael Davids (born in Kibbutz Tzuba, Israel, 1968), based in Amsterdam, studied Fine Arts at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy, sculpture studies at the Pratt Institute (New York) and dance pedagogy at the Remscheid Academy (Germany). Her work will be shown in an upcoming exhibition at Kunstverein Harburger Bahnhof, Hamburg. Recent solo shows include Ficisismos, Universidad di Tella, Buenos Aires, Argentina (2013); Galerie Diana Stigter, Amsterdam (2013); M – Museum, Leuven (2012); Circus Gallery, Berlin (2012); Kunsthalle Basel (2011); Picture This, Bristol (2010); If I Can’t Dance Tonight, Frascati Theatre, Amsterdam (2009); Project Mechelen, organized by MuHKA Antwerp as part of All that is Solid, Mechelen (2008); Objectif Exhibitions, Antwerp (2008); and Laura Bartlett Gallery, London (2008). She has also shown in group exhibitions such as: Fisicismos, Universidad di Tella, Buenos Aires (2013); Kunsthaus Dresden (2012); If I Can’t Dance, I Don’t Want To Be Part Of Your Revolution, Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven (2010); The 2nd Herzliya Biennial, Herzliya, Tel Aviv (2009); Cittadellarte Fondazione Pistoletto, Biella, Italy (2009); Tate Modern, London (2008); ICA, London (2007).