The Bubble – Press Release

After presenting their joint private lives at Quebec’s Language Plus center Canada, the two artists, Bella Novitzki and Evyatar Stern, will be making a presentation in the Modern Art Museum in Singapore. The exhibition will open on February 22nd, 2005. The two artists are husband and wife, who live with their two children – a 20-year-old daughter and a 14-year-old son. The four of them will close themselves up in a bubble-shaped structure, which will be transparent from the outside but opaque from the inside, and live in it for the duration of the exhibition. The viewers in the exhibition hall, who will be outside of the “bubble,” will be able to see everything that happens within the structure. However, the family living within the “bubble” will not be able to see the outside world. Their structure from the family is visible, but the outside world is invisible to them. The four family members will reside within the “bubble,” completely cut off from the external environment. The “bubble” will be laid out like a home with interior decoration and furniture such as beds, tables, a video and computers. The four will interact with one another and delve into their mutual relationships. Bella and Evyatar have created movies about life outside of the home, which will be screened outside the “bubble.” The work expresses the current universally shared experience. The family that is supposedly enclosed and protected is actually fragile, and the supposedly stable boundaries between the interior, the home, the family and the outer world with all its dangers can easily collapse. The family members will wear a protective suit when they leave the “bubble” for basic needs, such as using the facilities, so that they will continue to be “isolated” from the harms of external reality. However, inside the bubble, life will not be simple; it will involve the family unit, with all its complexities. During the entire exhibition, the family members will be occupied with organizing photographs from the family’s past, videos and pictures taken to document important moments and events in the life of the family, to document the raising of a child, to document life so that we forget the difficult moments and so that in the future we see our past as rose-colored and pleasant. However, in the present, in the “live show” there are other things going on between the family members, things that are not only romanticized smiles… Computers with email access will be placed in the exhibition so that viewers can have an interactive correspondence with the family in the “bubble.” The family is taking the chance that unexpected, unpleasant things might happen unedited in front of a live audience. They will be exposed to the world of voyeurism and ratings. Dr. Bella Novitzki and Evyatar Stern met while studying at the Bezalel Academy of Art & Design. Since that time, each one has developed his/her art in a different direction. — Bella, who was born in Brazil, immigrated to Israel with her parents (a doctor and a pianist) and family due to Zionist ideology. She arrived from a Western world of plenty and Classical music to Israel at a time when it did not yet have television or telephone lines in the houses. Her art deals with everyday themes that occur within the home, something that characterizes her ability to remove herself from her external surroundings and all the pressures of external reality in Israel. At the same time, she worked as an art therapist with severely troubled youth, juvenile delinquents, autistic and mentally disabled children. She sees art as a powerful tool, which can bring about a radical change in these children. Evyatar was born in Tel Aviv, the son of Holocaust survivors, the son of parents who began building a new family after they lost their entire families in the Holocaust. Evyatar was raised with the belief of the national revival of the Jewish people in the land of Israel. In his art he deals with material connected to Israel’s national roots, and raises searching questions about our basic beliefs as a nation, about myths and the way to deal with them in the modern age. Two entirely different worlds met, married and created art in completely independent directions. A year ago they decided there was common ground for collaboration in their art as well. In fact, the union of the two very different types of art is representative of the Israeli experience here and now! On the one hand, the constant preoccupation with what is happening in the news, and on the other, escapism – withdrawal from all externalities.