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The 31st Bienal de São Paulo "Things that don’t exist” is a poetic invocation of art’s ability to create new objects, thoughts and possibilities. The sentence has a variable formula that constantly changes, anticipating the actions that might make present in contemporary life the things that don’t exist, are not recognized, or have not yet been invented. With 81 projects and more than 100 participants from 34 countries, totaling around 250 artworks on display, the exhibition has been conceived as journey through the Pavilion divided into three different areas: park area, ramp area and columns area.
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Yochai Avrahami, born 1970 in Afula, Israel; lives and works in Israel.
In his work Avrahami attempts to portray the chaotic situation. He does this through the construction of replicas of man-made machines presented as sculptures in distorted environments, or crafted kinetic beings that participate in his videos. These models are made of materials such as cardboard, epoxy, and polyurethane that are, by their very nature, weak and frugal. In his work Avrahami addresses the political by constructing and deconstructing narratives and shifting between points in time. He uses the language of non- artistic disciplines to create the illusion of historical credibility and to blend reality with imagination. Thereby he examines the multiple, intricate levels of that which in the national canonical narrative is perceived as an objective truth. In recent years his works have been spawned as site-specific. He gathers his materials from given settings, thus enabling them to dictate the work's evolution. At times, they are readymades, at others—casts of objects which he gathered, and at yet other times—construction of machines and implements simulating and imitating objects existing in the non-artistic space. Thus his sculptures and installations reflect the local reality, becoming a type of material demonstration for a political-historical narrative. Avrahami's works thus address the narrative's fragility through the brittleness of the material. Employing inexpensive, transient materials and manual techniques, he constructs a world typified by a unique, quintessential language. The ephemeral nature of his objects, as well as their constant oscillation between different contexts and between the macro and the micro, elicits a sense of transience and lack of control, on the one hand, but also humor and irony, on the other.
Arahami’s recent solo exhibitions include Gelatin, Gyeonggi Museum of Modern Art, Ansan, Korea (2010); Uzi, Center of Contemporary Art, Tel Aviv, Israel (2010);Mistrust The Parks, CC Gallery, Weima, Germany (2009); The Negotiations Continue, Herzliya Museum of Contemporary Art, Herzliya, Israel (2004) and Yochai Avrahami, Akerby sculpture park, Nora, Sweden in 2003.
In 2009 Avrahami participated in Art TLV, Tel Aviv, Israel;
Construction Event, Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Israel; Never
Looked Better, Diaspora Museum, Tel Aviv, Israel and The Fall,
Panorama Building, Tel Aviv. In 2008, The 6th Taipei Biennial,
Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taiwan; Kikar Hamedina, Aber Art
Gallery, Tel Aviv, Israel; The Israeli Ministry of Culture
Prize Winners exhibition, Haifa Museum of Art, Israel;
Israeli Shots, Asperger Gallery, Berlin; Layla, collaboration
of AAI and INGA Gallery, New York;
Stammtisch-Suchtrupp-Gartenarbeit; ACC Gallery, Weimer. In 2007,OK
VIDEO ILITIA, Jakarta, Indonesia; In The Time Tunnel, ByArt
Projects Gallery, Tel Aviv, Israel; Eifo BeHeifo, The Paris Sq
Carmelit Station, Haifa, Israel;Arcadia – A European Dream;
Plein Air at the Wielandgut in Oßmannstedt, Germany and in 2006 in
Liminal Spaces, the Gallery of Contemporary Art (Gfzk),
Leipzig, Germany and Mini Israel, The Israel Museum,
Jerusalem, Israel. In 2005 Avrahami’s work The Nego was included in
the 9th International Istanbul Biennial.
For additional information about this artist, visit Mutual Art
