particles of reality at dhc-art

At DHC-ART, the space is beautiful, entry is free, and the work high quality and thought-provoking. The current expo, Particles of Reality, by Israeli artist Michal Rovner, combines video, installation and sculpture.

I found the show beautiful, mysterious, intricately designed and socially relevant - a curious combination of abstract and real.

The first installation, Data Zone, consists of three large white tables imbedded with Petri dishes. The “cultures” are actually videos, where dark human figures, reduced and stripped of physical characteristics, resemble strings of bacteria. The figures/strings move in intricate patterns across an illuminated white field.

Each dish seemed to contain a kind of modern dance where I reveled in the beauty of the movement, and searched in vain for a narrative. Rovner is a trained dancer, and the choreography of her “data” is both mind-boggling (the complexity of the patterns suggest that they are created by computer programs) and meditative.

The human forms at the foundation of Rovner’s work are part of the exhibit. I was struck by the amount of humanity the anonymous figures retain when reduced from real life men and women with identifying characteristics.

These figures are superimposed (and always exquisitely lit) on stone sculpture, canvas, notebooks, and four floor-to-ceiling screens. While we don’t see people, the installations feel personal. The line between real and abstract is not clear.

The show also contains continuous screenings of Rovner’s more overtly political works, in which she creates large-scale installations, one on the border of Israel and Lebanon, and the other using 60 tons of white building stone from the remains of Palestinian and Israeli homes.

Particles of Reality ends this weekend. Hurry to see it before it goes.

Have you seen the show? Tell us what you think!

If you go…

451 Rue St-Jean, at St-Sacrement, M: Place d’Armes
Open W-F noon-7pm, Sat and Sun 11am-6pm