In her creative practice, which primarily encompasses graphic art, installations and performances, Israeli artist and violinist Moran Victoria Sabbag introduces space for interactivity and within it the possibility to subvert socially accepted norms or rules. The title of her project Adagio for Space, which consists of an installation and a performance, alludes to the artist’s reflections on sound and space. The project takes place both inside and outside the exhibition grounds and transforms the gallery building into an object with a visual and an audio component. The gallery façade is covered in shrink-wrap foil, with which the artist aims not only to parasitize the exterior of the exhibition grounds, but also transform the gallery building into a vast resonating body. With its front façade wrapped in white polyethylene material, the covered building structure may, in the event of snow, even completely blend with the white surroundings, while being changed by weather elements into a body akin to a musical instrument, as the wind causes the polyethylene sheet to vibrate.

The performance consists of two parts. In the first segment, which the audience views from out in the open, The Slovene Philharmonic String Chamber Orchestra is performing, facing the dressed up façade. The sheet, spread over the window openings, enables the audience to take in the audio part of the event while at the same time visually tracing the musicians’ contours seen through the translucent foil. In the second segment, the artist adds a twist – similar to that of blurring the shape of the building – by breaking from the traditional positioning of the viewer in front of the orchestra and thus enabling the visitor to meet the musician en face, up close and without the hierarchical emplacement. By doing so, she undermines the existing and generally accepted structure of orchestra as well as its visual and social unity, which rejects any kind of individuality within the ensemble and empowers the conductor. The performance re-evaluates the spatial arrangement of the classical music orchestra, which has throughout centuries remained unchanged, and questions the relationship between the musician and the audience: How much space can an individual appropriate and what can happen in the space in between? Music is communication, but in the orchestral form, it is about conveying the composer’s aims via his sheet music. On the other hand, the form, as envisioned by the artist, allows the viewer to also get more closely in touch with the feelings and stories of the musicians which may be conveyed through facial expression, body language or eye contact. In this way, the artist turns the invisible sides of the orchestra into visible ones.

The project is part of our residency exchange programme, which we have established with various residency centres among which is also the Israeli Centre for Digital Art Holon, a non-profit gallery and production space.