Contemporary Art Center, Ramla – CACR Reflection

The Media Line Staff

06/13/2022

Sunday evening, June 19, 2022, at 7:30 pm Israel Daylight Time (UTC+3)

A video and sound installation by Dor Zlekha Levy in the Pool of the Arches, Ramla

Curator: Dr. Smadar Sheffi

Festive Opening in the presence of Ramla’s mayor, Michael Vidal

A unique event – the first video and sound installation to be exhibited in the historical Pool of the Arches, Ramla. Dor Zlekha Levy created the site-specific artwork with the support of the Ramla Municipality, Ramla Foundation, and Contemporary Art Center, Ramla – CACR

Visitors are invited to experience a unique cultural journey of ideas in which the splendid interior of the Pool of the Arches is revealed in its entirety.

“In his artwork REFLECTION, Zlekha Levy transforms this bubble of reality into a place of introspection and opening up,” said Dr. Smadar Sheffi, Chief Curator of the CACR. “Visitors, on the pier or rowing through the space in boats, are surrounded by images, music, and sounds. The artwork touches upon multiple layers of associations, emotions, and memories, moving between past and present. REFLECTION bridges different eras and cultures as it engages in attentive listening, the ability to hear the less familiar, creating amazing moments.”

The artwork focuses on liturgical musical selections sung simultaneously in Hebrew and Arabic, heard through eight amplifiers hung from the ceiling of the pool. Circular images are projected on the walls, the images based on ancient musical instruments photographed while being played: taut drumskins, a decorated opening of an oud resonance box, and more. The installation emphasizes the pool of the Arches’ unique aesthetics and the movement in space – rowing through the water, creating moving ripples – while visitors listen to the different musical selections. REFLECTION is based on popular Arabic songs to whose melodies Jewish payyetanim [liturgical poets] set Hebrew words, creating piyyutim expressing love of God and yearning for the Redemption. The Arabic love songs are identified with popular singers, such as Fairuz or Sabah Fakhri. The melody is the same, thus hearing the piyyutim and the songs simultaneously, creates complex harmonic relationships between the Arabic and the Hebrew voices.

Dor Zlekha Levy is a video and sound artist whose work engages in preserving and processing personal and collective memories. Forgotten voices are revived in his works, to be heard anew.

Zlekha Levy is the recipient of the Zoom Prize for a Young Israeli Artist (2016); the Ministry of Culture Award for a Young Artist (2017); and an Artport Residency (2020). He is currently a lecturer at the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design, Jerusalem, as well as engaging in education in various community settings. REFLECTION will host community and educational activities, including meetings with the artist and curator with students from high schools and junior high schools, with many additional and varied audiences.

Mr. Michael Vidal, mayor of Ramla: “We are proud to be hosting Dor Zlekha Levy’s sound and video installation Reflection in one of Israel’s most beautiful historical structures. This project is one more layer in the Contemporary Art Center, Ramla-CACR’s wonderful activities led by Dr. Smadar Sheffi. The CACR has been active in the city since its founding about three years ago, with the full support and assistance of City Hall. As the Mayor, I consider it highly important to promote and nurture culture and art in the city as a focal point for community life of mutual respect. I invite all of Ramla’s residents and everyone living in Israel, all those who love culture and art, to visit the Pool of the Arches as well as other culture and heritage sites in Ramla and enjoy the city’s impressive projects.”

The Pool of the Arches was inaugurated in the year 789 under the Muslim rule of the region as part of the water supply system. It was the setting for one of the scenes of legendary film Hasamba and the Deserted Youth (1971). Pool of the Arches is currently a leading tourism site, where a new Visitors’ Center will soon open. It took about a year to mount Reflection in this historical site, since there were tremendous technical challenges involved.

The Contemporary Art Center, Ramla-CACR opened in 2019, an initiative of the Ramla Municipality and the Ramla Foundation. Headed by Director Ron Peled and Chief Curator Dr. Smadar Sheffi, the CACR hosts temporary exhibitions and is a place for discussions of present and future challenges.

Generous support from the Pais Council for Culture and Art, Outset Contemporary Art Fund, Art Lane Fund, and Artport Tel Aviv Art Center made this exhibition possible.

Reflection
A video and sound installation, 2021-2022
by Dor Zlekha Levy
Musical Arrangements & Director: Yaniv Raba
Vocals: Yahala Lachmish, Dema Kablan, Gil Rabi
Oud: Yaniv Raba
Percussion: Roei Friedman
Mix, Additional Production: Aviad Zinemanas
Cinematography: Nadav Porat-Chomsky
Installation photos: Ron Peled

Length: approx. 20 min.

Contemporary Art Center, Ramla-CACR

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