Breathe In
Gilad Grinberg & Lieke van der Made
07.04.22-06.05.22
Breath In
Gilad Grinberg & Lieke van der Made’s collaborative exhibition Breathe In is an immersive multimedia installation experience which examines the concepts of meditation, breathing techniques and spirituality in an overflowing, capitalistic world. It combines diverse techniques: video projection, light sculptures, large-scale inflatable textile sculptures and ceramic bowls connected to fog machines. All elements are synced through a computerized system, tuned to the rhythm of the video work.
We are flooded on a daily basis with a constant stream of information. The media and the internet are infinitely available. We scroll through our mobile phones, watching dozens of video clips every day. We work long hours just to make sure we don’t miss out on anything. In our constant search for stimulation, our generation no longer knows how to tune out. This has led to a renewed interest – or need for – meditation and breathwork. Yet we expect mindfulness to be convenient and fit into our busy schedules. More and more calming applications have popped up in the app store, and meditation is increasingly susceptible to commercial exploitation.
A large, inflatable, Obelisk-shaped textile sculpture welcomes visitors at the gallery entrance. It slowly inflates and deflates, inhales and exhales. In the gallery, like spirits emerging from the mist, little clouds of fog emanate from scattered ceramic bowls. Plexiglass light sculptures in the form of praying hands peek out from among the clouds. They flicker, mimicking the praying hand GIFs which are omnipresent in a progressively digitized world. Imagery inspired by meditation videos (such as a calming ocean alternating with kaleidoscopic effects) is screened on thin fabric sheets in an intimate room in the gallery space. Gradually, these video fragments become more and more chaotic and psychedelic. The accompanying audio is ambient, comipled from found footage of voice- fragments from meditation videos, in which various voices repeat the words “breathe in, breathe out”. Throughout the video the words overlap, speed their pace and are jumbled and interrupted. The video addresses breathing in, inhaling, and digesting an overflow of information, in which overload can sometimes cause a complete breakdown.
About the artists:
Lieke van der Made and Gilad Grinberg are partners in life and in art.
Lieke van der Made - b. Doetinchem, NL (1992), is a visual artist, editorial writer and art researcher. She lives and works in Tel Aviv. She is a graduate of the masters program in Artistic Research at the UvA University of Amsterdam (2018), and a graduate of the Fine Arts Department at HKU School of the Arts, Utrecht (2015). Her works are mostly research-based, using various media: video, installation, ceramics, textile, (digital) drawing, poetry and writing.
Gilad Grinberg –b. Jerusalem (1988), is a visual artist, new media artist and developer, currently based in Tel Aviv. Grinberg previously lived and worked in Amsterdam. He studied in the Department of Fine Arts at the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design. His works have been exhibited in various art spaces in the Netherlands and Israel. Gilad creates interactive installations using a wide variety of media, often combining new media and electronic art with more traditional media like sculpture and textile.
Exhibition Season: flooded
Breathe In is the first exhibition of the 2022-2023 exhibition season, dedicated to the theme: Flooded.
We live in an era that is flooded and flooding. The world is overflowing like a river. While we must flow with the current, we actually have trouble keeping our heads above water, especially with FOMO hovering above us. Boundaries melt in the spheres of the psychological/consciousness and the physical/corporeal/geographical. There are too many possibilities and choosing between them is confusing.
Through the exhibition series “Flooded”, Alfred Gallery strives to anchor islands in the unending flow of events, images, talks and words. Although the flooding is uncontrollable, it is not passive. It is a conflict arena, an upheaval that threatens to spill over, it is movement, struggle and conciliation. We have asked artists for proposals and ideas for exhibitions and events that flood or are flooded, and consider different aspects of this exhibition season’s title.