Textual Inspirations of Art World Professionals [PART. 2]

Inspiration - noun  in·spi·ra·tion  \ ˌin(t)-spə-ˈrā-shən , -(ˌ)spi- \

Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines inspiration as 'the action or power of moving the intellect or emotions'. It can strike at any time and its myriad sources differ amongst individuals. As we are constantly seeking out new creative outlets to inspire us, we decided to ask our local arty guides what texts have had a profound influence on them. Their answers ranged from ancient poetry to contemporary tomes. As professional art guides it is our passion to awaken the creative side of others through the astounding power of art. 

Follow along with this ongoing series of posts to learn more about our guides and gain some inspiration for yourself along the way.

Read Part 1 here.

Local guide in Tel Aviv, Shani Werner, leading an art tour.

Part two of our series features the textual inspirations of local guide in Tel Aviv, Shani Werner.

As an art guide, art critique and writer of curatorial texts I find myself reading A LOT of art books. I actually have quite a large collection of them since I’m defiantly a fan of the written word. As much as academic and research texts are helpful, the books I like most are those which give place to the artist’s writings. At the rare times in which an artist is fluent and clear regarding his or hers work – it is a true delight. And so, I chose two of my all-time favorite exhibition’s catalogues to which I return time after time for inspiration about art and life in general. 

Sophie Calle “True stories” catalog of exhibition at the Tel Aviv Museum, 1996

Text plays a crucial role in most of Calle’s works. Semi biographic semi fictional stories combine with the photographs as a multi layered project that could be read as a private journal or a sociologic experiment at the same time. The exhibition portrayed some of Calle’s iconic projects for the time such as “The sleepers” (1979) in which strangers were invited to sleep in her bed, occupying it for 8 full days. Another project was “The Blind” (1986) in which she asks blind people who have never seen - what their image of beauty was. My personal favorite quote is “The most beautiful thing I ever saw was the sea, the sea going out so far you lose sight of it”.
This book came in many editions and can be found in various languages. 

“Absalon” catalog of exhibition at the Tel Aviv Museum, 2013

Twenty years later at the same pavilion yet another unforgettable exhibition of a rare artist. Absalon was an Israeli artist based in Paris which unfortunately had a very short and tragic career. His works were the outcome of a philosophy regarding contemporary society and its influence on domestic and personal being. Absalon was very expressive about his approach to these issues and reading his texts about it is moving and inspiring. 
“I am talking about an element of resistance. I mean that I don’t want to become what this culture is inviting me to become, I would like to not necessarily suggest something better, but to resist, to not take part of this thing”.

Here is just a short fragment of these two wonderful artist’s oeuvre and I truly recommend you dig deeper into these books or other writings by them.  

Take a tour with Shani in Tel Aviv to discover more!