An archeological mound – “tell” – is an artificial hill that was created from several layers of ancient ruins. Sharan Elran’s and Shay Zilberman’s duo exhibition at Hakubia gallery presents a contemporary-artistic interpretation of a “tell.” Elran, a computer science researcher and digital ceramicist, and Zilberman, a collage artist, joins together for a mutual exploration of local archeological findings. Three local ancient vases dated between the tenth and seventh centuries BCE, serve the artists as fertile ground for deconstructing and reassembling forms and lines carrying prior, ancient knowledge. 

The ancient vases are not physically present in the exhibition. Their spirit––ghosts of the past––is embodied in the various interpretations offered by the artists, the result of an ongoing research, a layered process of trial and error.

The timescale is stretched throughout the exhibition as an implicit, delicate line. The surface level reveals the new, shiny, framed, clean and protected. A more nuanced and attentive examination would slowly lead the viewer/archeologist to what is underneath the surface: the scanning and cutting lines, the history of the artistic action, and the quiet drama of the historical image buried deep beneath the “tell.”

Curator: Dan Ormian

Exhibition Text by Noga Bernstein and Dan Ormian [Pdf Hebrew]