Salt Crystals In The Gallery

The man stood and watched in a video projected on the wide white wall, in great concentration and insight. The silent film and the heavy breaths of the three other viewers who were in the room filled the space. His eyes stared at a string of five hundred and thirty-two watermelons next to each other clinging to a huge spiral. 

The man's upright legs were in the sentry position as if he was standing in front of Buckingham  Palace. Ten or twenty watermelons cracked and their red juice added tension to a scene that takes place in the Dead Sea in the early morning when the sea is smooth as a mirror.  

 The man's neck, with wrinkles adorning his forehead, leaned in tension toward the look that mesmerized him. Perhaps he expected to see who is the brave and naked woman who weaved herself among the watermelons in the spiral. Slowly, slowly, the naked woman, her skin white as a white lily, was drawn toward the shore. Her blond hair floats on the water like Venus' hair rising from the sea in Bottelli's painting.

 The hands of "Venus from the Dead Sea " were gripped by someone whose hand had disappeared from the man's eyes, approaching the shore slowly. The woman's legs drove the remaining watermelons in a spiral that unraveled like a tuber of threads  .

Slowly , slowly the last watermelons reached the shore and the arteries of the man's neck filled up. He seemed to inflate his lungs in the still air present in the gallery.When the video by artist Sigalit Landau Dead Sea ended, the wonder fell on the man's face .

I watched the tall man, dressed in dark, heavy Levi's jeans. His stability and expression made him say, "I am from another place." Suddenly, a short, stocky woman in a red shirt emerged, with Armani sunglasses on her mane of curls. The woman reached out in an attempt to move the man from his spot he whispered to her. "I am staying here". 

I wrote this short story in my viewing diary. I usually go to galleries and follow the way people experience the artwork. I am interested in their body and hand postures, their facial expressions. I document the conversations of couples or friends who chat about the piece and evoke flashes of memory. Sometimes questions arise: How? Why ? and what does that mean? And why is it art? These questions and discussions  charge me with ideas for authentic activities in front of the works.

On Saturday morning I invited the curator of the exhibition, Anat, to join my upcoming course: Teaching , Learning and Curating the interdisciplinary approach. We stood under the salt flower of artist Sigalit Landau and enjoyed watching the crystals that crystallized on metal construction  for a lampshade.

 Imagine that each visitor would share a personal, verbal or photographic work, made during the visit. The works of these critics would become  the grains of salt that will crystallize "

"Sounds fantastic!" Anat answered

"And who will keep the works of all the critics?" she asked

"I'll teach you that in my course" I answered.

"I figured it out! " "My visitors' outcomes  would become a treasure!  The sweet memory to keep in the Meta Gallery"