Forgotten in Space
France Lerner’s model of a spaceship is a deconstructed model of MIR, the pioneer Russian Spaceship. It continues to orbit, rotating around the planet with no useful function or aim.
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The spaceship is a creation, which has lost its connection to its creator. Once it was a living symbol of human ingenuity and scientific accomplishment, now it is an inert piece of heavy metal devoid of any meaning.
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The head, which created it, is disconnected and enclosed in a box. Through the holes in the box, one tries to view the head, but only sees fragments. The sense of a meaningful whole is missing, impossible to visualize. Was there a purpose to this creation? Was it a cold war accomplishment aimed at conquering more territory, this time in outer space? Can we find an answer looking backwards into the past through a third eye in the back of the creator’s head or should we focus our eyes forward into the future? The forgotten spaceship is a powerful, silent reminder of a scientific accomplishment, which long ago lost its purpose, like a discarded non-degradable nylon Bag. The remote control no longer works.
The head that created and controlled the spaceship is disconnected and unnecessary. The spaceship rotates over and around the planet, controlled, yet out of control. Its fate has been sealed, like Sisyphus. It is a Golem with a destiny of its own, no longer beholden to its creator; it has lost its purpose. The heart, the pacemaker of this creation is also disconnected from the main body, a regulator, which no longer regulates. Lerner’s sculptural work is a reminder of a modern existence lived with heart and head separated from each other and from their scientific creation. Meaning is lost in aimless, dizzying orbit.
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The creation, removed from its creator, now has a life of its own, moving endlessly in space and time, governed by extra-terrestrial law.
Dr Eli Weisstub
Psychiatrist and Jungian analyst.
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Exhibition Presentation (Hebrew).
"MIR in situ"
Installation : space enclosed in aluminum textile. Sculpture aluminum casting, piece unique.
Size 380 x 280 cm, 2010.
Music Morton Feldman, voice Joan La Barbara : "Three voices VI- IX", (1982).
"MIR"
Drawing in situ. Watercolor & pencil Size : 120 x 80 cm. (2010.)
"And they Locked the Sea …"
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Text of the video in Italian, visual quote John Heartfield collage : “Diagnosis what caused the deformation of the spine, they are organic consequences of the interminable, Heil Hitler”, (1935).
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Since the Schengen agreement we noticed an increasing criminalization of migrants. For instance the infringement of both damage inflicted on a private property and illegal migrants caught on French soil both had the same penalty and were liable to the same penalty costs, precisely 3765 euros for private property damages and illegal border crossing.
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At this very place the allegorical representation of the French republic is incarnated by Marianne (the feminine icon of freedom and democracy wearing a Phrygian cap that first appeared in 1849 on French stamp. Marianne is a strong symbol of France as it appears in all the town halls.) Marianne has also been portrayed full-length as : “the sower”, a rural allegory that evokes the essentially agricultural France of the early nineteenth century.
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To date She is represented on the French euro coins walking forward, sowing the seeds of an optimistic future. These seeds also illustrate the cultural and economic influence of France. Here, the seeds are replaced by shards of glass. Hence, we wanted to establish a parallel between the sower and the allegory of death known as the "great reaper".
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In the video the feminine figure embodied two antagonist roles : one negative, the great reaper and one positive : the nude figure which is trying to remove the lethal shards of glass to open the way of this forbidden seashore. This video realized in 2012 is a sort of premonition of the waves of refugee’s bodies to be found drowned and sometimes washed ashore daily on the Mediterranean coast. We vividly kept in mind the unbearable image of Alan Kurdi the baby Syrian boy that was found dead on Bodrum beach in Turkey in 2015.
In-outside
Exhibition "In-outside" Yona Fisher
Exil
Ha Haaretz. Smaddar Shefi
"And they Locked the Sea …"
Video 3mn 30, Cadzand, Netherland, (2012).
"Sycoscan"
Digitale picture. Sangatte, (2000).
"Sycoscan of a Truck : Side View"
Drawing, watercolour & pencil. Format A1, (2005).
"My Private Djihad is Out of Date"
Drawing, pencil & watercolor. Format A1, (2004).