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A CONCISE, TIGHTLY PIECE IN THREE BOLD COLORS—BLACK, RED, AND WHITE

ADINA BAR-ON

" Home of Course" is a performance created by Adina Bar-On in 2002. This isn’t the only timeless piece by Adina. Just as it felt twenty-two years ago (when it was presented at the Opal Gallery, in a group exhibition curated by Stéphanie Benzaquen that focused on landscape, homeland, and home, showcasing mostly films by young Lithuanian creators), as though it had been made right then for that specific moment, so too now—perhaps even more so—what could be more relevant than a performance titled just that? Of course, Home.

This is a concise, tightly constructed piece in three bold colors—black, red, and white. Black, in Adina’s clothes and the headscarf concealing her hair, gives her the appearance of everywoman—a Jewish Orthodox woman, a nun, a Muslim woman—yet also of a woman whose identity has been erased—a woman without a home, a wanderer. Red and white are the shades of two sheets of paper that become house=clothing=tablecloth. Each metaphor and its transitions warrant exploration, but the main point here is the minuscule movement—a slight, fleeting gesture—between the big, weighty cry in the form of a wide-open, silent mouth, and the act of yawning, which speaks of the boredom, void, helplessness, forgetfulness, and repression in stark contrast. The gap between cry and yawn is razor-thin, and the size of the anxiety, sadness, pain, and despair grows as the transitions between them blur.

Idit Porat (posted on Facebook, 1.10.2024)

Photos by Natasha Shakhness and Stills from video by Yoav Bezaleli

ADINA BAR-ON

ADINA BAR-ON

HOME OF COURSE

2024

" Home of Course" is a performance created by Adina Bar-On in 2002. This isn’t the only timeless piece by Adina. Just as it felt twenty-two years ago (when it was presented at the Opal Gallery, in a group exhibition curated by Stéphanie Benzaquen that focused on landscape, homeland, and home, showcasing mostly films by young Lithuanian creators), as though it had been made right then for that specific moment, so too now—perhaps even more so—what could be more relevant than a performance titled just that? Of course, Home.

This is a concise, tightly constructed piece in three bold colors—black, red, and white. Black, in Adina’s clothes and the headscarf concealing her hair, gives her the appearance of everywoman—a Jewish Orthodox woman, a nun, a Muslim woman—yet also of a woman whose identity has been erased—a woman without a home, a wanderer. Red and white are the shades of two sheets of paper that become house=clothing=tablecloth. Each metaphor and its transitions warrant exploration, but the main point here is the minuscule movement—a slight, fleeting gesture—between the big, weighty cry in the form of a wide-open, silent mouth, and the act of yawning, which speaks of the boredom, void, helplessness, forgetfulness, and repression in stark contrast. The gap between cry and yawn is razor-thin, and the size of the anxiety, sadness, pain, and despair grows as the transitions between them blur.

Idit Porat (posted on Facebook, 1.10.2024)

Photos by Natasha Shakhness and Stills from video by Yoav Bezaleli

ADINA BAR-ON

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