Born, Never Asked

Exhibition in the 22nd Nidbach series

From “anti-hero” stance, Shir Handelsman construe aesthetic manifestations: meticulous, precise, even ostentatious. They envelop the question of realism or anti-realism and sustain it. Shir’s “aesthetic” is the bacterial environment in which his “anti-hero” can transpire in an eternal object/subject state. This “aesthetic” is the crutch used by Shir; it is the apparatus.

In his works in the exhibition Handelsman introduces a parallel apparatus. The mechanized sculpture Stress Fractures comprises a 200-kg limestone, adorned with five hammers that constantly hack at it. Each hammer hits it once every 10 seconds. The hewing is insignificant, and barely damages the object, but it certainly tries its utmost.

The video piece Who Owns the Sun? Handelsman’s home becomes the scene of action for his entire world: miraculous natural phenomena take place in his living room, bedroom, and bathroom. He harnesses the natural forces deliberately and precisely in the shadow of a pandemic in which solitude and isolation are supposed to ensure our existence.