Descending The Mountain
"Descending the mountain" embodies the transition from a familiar historical reality to a new one, to a "promised" one. The exhibition is a visual document in photographs: a farewell poem to the building of the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design on the Mt. Scopus campus. its home from 1989 through 2022. Shooting began in late July 2022 after the close of the graduates' exhibition. The process was an attempt to trace the massive work of packing up all professional equipment used by the various departments for over three decades and vacating the building. A close look at the emptying spaces reveals the history of instruction at the Academy- the layers of patina that accumulated in the various spaces which can be identified only in workspaces themselves, voided of their essence and emptied out of the numerous objects that used to fill the storerooms. Their mute presence indicates the teaching and learning methodologies employed by instructors and students throughout the years of Bezalel's operation on Mt. Scopus. This unique point in time and the use of 4x5" view cameras, which require time and contemplation while making the photograph, enabled to make in-depth observations, and seriously contemplate the significance of this historical point in time for the students as well as for all those who studied there before them. The various photographs reveal the moments in which the Academy peels off its aura and stands exposed before the camera and in front of its students, who bid farewell and descend the mountain down to the city.
