"CHAT" deals with the body image, the obsession to worship the body, its perfection, unisex, exploitation and commercialism as well as inter-personal communications.
Our deepest need for communication through conversation is losing its most basic priority due to changes in modern life style. The semi real, semi imposter anonymous internet "chat" is taking over the face-to-face interactions.
These changes, deemed by many as inevitable progress, evoke fear and curiosity for the uncertain future. People walking on the edge of abyss in a violent and merciless society looking for alternating fashions.
We like to find out where are we standing vis-à-vis our attitude to body, family, country etc.
The Installation: "To The Event" that is a part of this exhibition, addresses to the viewers' imagination. There is no written text or explanation. This is a shell of white and black colors, sounds of music and heartbeats and the viewer should try to use his set of experiences.
Words of Curator Noa Tal
"I have spent my whole life walking on the brink of a bottomless abyss, skipping from cliff to cliff.Sometimes I do leave my narrow path to join the mainstream of life flowing by, but I then find myself drawn back mercilessly toward the edge of the crevice which I shall continue pacing until the day when I eventually tumble down the precipice. For, as far back as I can remember, I have always had a deep sense of horror to which I have tried to give expression in my art; without the horror and the sickness I would undoubtedly have become like a rudderless ship." - Edvard Munch.
“The change, or crisis, called ‘postmodernism’ occurred in the 20th century, in the wake of the Second World War. Postmodern man has become a ‘tactical animal’ moving through the tranquil pasture lands of malls and supermarkets where the language of cinema, television and glossy billboards are akin to artifacts, and newsstands – to libraries… In this world of post-modernity, man does not regard himself as successor of the humanist subject, man of the Enlightenment and Haskala, nor does he optimistically believe in the existence of a single, redeeming political solution. Language is not perceived as a vehicle of re-presentation, but rather as a tool of presentation. Post-modern culture and art emphasize the need to break free from hegemonic, hierarchical thought; instead they focus on difference, otherness, rejection of the tyranny of identity or the one and only ‘Truth.’ It is an inclination toward heterogeneity versus veneration of a homogenous synthesis of sorts." - David Gurevitz, Post Modernism: Culture and Literature of the 20th Century.
These views have spawned new modes of life and communication. The 21st century has introduced new communication channels whereby conversations are held via computer, with no contact, no acquaintance, nor any personal relation with the other. The physical proximity in a computer-aided conversation does not necessarily lead to personal-emotional conversation. The text or image is the gist, not the person behind it (presentation rather than representation).
All these themes are addressed by Karmela Berg in the current exhibition, in her own unique way. With cold or warm colors, various markings, angles and locations signified by means of color, stain, or various forms of contact, personal identity is articulated. Everything is fused together and defined based on predetermined rules and frames, so that it can become a statistic and allow for quantification in a computer presentation.
The content of the conversation is unknown. The important thing is that a conversation has been registered. The point of departure for the conversation, as for everything else, is from the outside in, from the shell into the nucleus. The viewer observing the contoured figures does not know whether there is also a kernel, or only a shell. The traces of the nucleus are its shell or casing. The shell is a color stain that changes in keeping with the setting in which it happens to be at a given moment, so that it can be documented and enter the statistic. The figure’s location is a part of the occurrence, and vice versa. The figures conspicuously lack faces, hands, legs, and other organs associated with sensory functioning. They are tantamount to a “present absence.”
Unlike her previous exhibitions, "Drawers" and "You can't miss it", Berg’s current exhibition does not incorporate works portraying a circle or a center, nor a drawer containing traces of what had happened. The show focuses on otherness, difference, and reproduction; non-hierarchical relationships between figures, and between past and present.
As in a futuristic science fiction movie, conversations take place between figures dissociated from any human emotion or contact. Their inter-personal communication is obtained through conversations consisting of dramatic external delineations in colors, blots, letters, and loci. It is a language comprising word-plays or quotations; a language of metaphors and images that functions in a different manner from the accepted quality of an ordinary conversation. The works are reminiscent of 1960s manifestations of Pop Art in the United States, England, Italy, and France.
Is this a personal defiance on behalf of Berg, a cry of pain, or merely the statement of a fact? Or maybe this is an attempt to visualize a reality visible from the cave Plato describes in his "Parable of the Cave".
We have come to realize that our belief in the full capability of the mind is not just the result of human pride in the development of language, but rather that it is that which made its emergence and development possible.
The installation incorporated in the show, "To the Event", likewise expresses only the wrapping or the shell within and around which the event transpired. The space’s delineation, the color, and the traces of music and sounds of heartbeat – are all used for presentation rather than representation. There is no accompanying text. The viewer must use his imagination and invent the text linked with the reservoir of experiences triggered by this wrapping.
In the highly compact world of media, art and communication, Karmela Berg takes a familiar path that embarks from Pop Art, presenting the combinations, texts and images that best convey her personality. Toying with difference and otherness, figures devoid of organs and reproduction, and employing original plays on words and forms, Berg has created a unique vocabulary, a language of artistic communication all her own.
Exhibited at Pais-Eshkolot, Ramat Gan, Israel (2004)
Words of Curator Noa Tal
"I have spent my whole life walking on the brink of a bottomless abyss, skipping from cliff to cliff.Sometimes I do leave my narrow path to join the mainstream of life flowing by, but I then find myself drawn back mercilessly toward the edge of the crevice which I shall continue pacing until the day when I eventually tumble down the precipice. For, as far back as I can remember, I have always had a deep sense of horror to which I have tried to give expression in my art; without the horror and the sickness I would undoubtedly have become like a rudderless ship." - Edvard Munch.
“The change, or crisis, called ‘postmodernism’ occurred in the 20th century, in the wake of the Second World War. Postmodern man has become a ‘tactical animal’ moving through the tranquil pasture lands of malls and supermarkets where the language of cinema, television and glossy billboards are akin to artifacts, and newsstands – to libraries… In this world of post-modernity, man does not regard himself as successor of the humanist subject, man of the Enlightenment and Haskala, nor does he optimistically believe in the existence of a single, redeeming political solution. Language is not perceived as a vehicle of re-presentation, but rather as a tool of presentation. Post-modern culture and art emphasize the need to break free from hegemonic, hierarchical thought; instead they focus on difference, otherness, rejection of the tyranny of identity or the one and only ‘Truth.’ It is an inclination toward heterogeneity versus veneration of a homogenous synthesis of sorts." - David Gurevitz, Post Modernism: Culture and Literature of the 20th Century.
These views have spawned new modes of life and communication. The 21st century has introduced new communication channels whereby conversations are held via computer, with no contact, no acquaintance, nor any personal relation with the other. The physical proximity in a computer-aided conversation does not necessarily lead to personal-emotional conversation. The text or image is the gist, not the person behind it (presentation rather than representation).
All these themes are addressed by Karmela Berg in the current exhibition, in her own unique way. With cold or warm colors, various markings, angles and locations signified by means of color, stain, or various forms of contact, personal identity is articulated. Everything is fused together and defined based on predetermined rules and frames, so that it can become a statistic and allow for quantification in a computer presentation.
The content of the conversation is unknown. The important thing is that a conversation has been registered. The point of departure for the conversation, as for everything else, is from the outside in, from the shell into the nucleus. The viewer observing the contoured figures does not know whether there is also a kernel, or only a shell. The traces of the nucleus are its shell or casing. The shell is a color stain that changes in keeping with the setting in which it happens to be at a given moment, so that it can be documented and enter the statistic. The figure’s location is a part of the occurrence, and vice versa. The figures conspicuously lack faces, hands, legs, and other organs associated with sensory functioning. They are tantamount to a “present absence.”
Unlike her previous exhibitions, "Drawers" and "You can't miss it", Berg’s current exhibition does not incorporate works portraying a circle or a center, nor a drawer containing traces of what had happened. The show focuses on otherness, difference, and reproduction; non-hierarchical relationships between figures, and between past and present.
As in a futuristic science fiction movie, conversations take place between figures dissociated from any human emotion or contact. Their inter-personal communication is obtained through conversations consisting of dramatic external delineations in colors, blots, letters, and loci. It is a language comprising word-plays or quotations; a language of metaphors and images that functions in a different manner from the accepted quality of an ordinary conversation. The works are reminiscent of 1960s manifestations of Pop Art in the United States, England, Italy, and France.
Is this a personal defiance on behalf of Berg, a cry of pain, or merely the statement of a fact? Or maybe this is an attempt to visualize a reality visible from the cave Plato describes in his "Parable of the Cave".
We have come to realize that our belief in the full capability of the mind is not just the result of human pride in the development of language, but rather that it is that which made its emergence and development possible.
The installation incorporated in the show, "To the Event", likewise expresses only the wrapping or the shell within and around which the event transpired. The space’s delineation, the color, and the traces of music and sounds of heartbeat – are all used for presentation rather than representation. There is no accompanying text. The viewer must use his imagination and invent the text linked with the reservoir of experiences triggered by this wrapping.
In the highly compact world of media, art and communication, Karmela Berg takes a familiar path that embarks from Pop Art, presenting the combinations, texts and images that best convey her personality. Toying with difference and otherness, figures devoid of organs and reproduction, and employing original plays on words and forms, Berg has created a unique vocabulary, a language of artistic communication all her own.
Exhibited at Pais-Eshkolot, Ramat Gan, Israel (2004)
Exhibited at The Tokyo Municipal Museum, Japan (2004).
Awarded the Gold Medal.
IAC's annual fine arts exhibition Kobe 2006 was held at the Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art in Kobe, one of the best international cities in Japan, from 6 to 11 June 2006, showing over 250 works sent from all over the world.
Among the participating countries, there are Japan, France, China, Israel, Spain, USA, Denmark, Germany, and so on. Kobe 2006's artistic styles ranging from oil painting to Japanese-style painting, passing through block print, craft, 3D work, calligraphy, photography and others, present its international point of view and capacity as a general art exhibition. Many works especially foreign quality pieces attracted much attention among the visitors.
The Award ceremony was organized on 8 June 2006 in the presence of special guests and
artists: Mr. Shigeo Omae, Member of the House of Representatives and Advisor of
International Art Council, Mr. George Martakis, First secretary of the Honorary Consulate
general of Greece, Ms. Tiet, Vice-Consul of the Consulate general of Germany, Mr.
Kiyoshi Matsubara, Director of the "All Japan Art" newspaper, Mr. Kazuhiko Adachi, Kobe
City council member, Mr. Ogino, brother of Mr. Tsurutaro Kataoka, actor-painter who
received the prize of the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, etc.
Exhibited at The International Art Exchange Exhibition in Kobe, Japan (2006).
Awarded the Fine Arts Prize.
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