Michal Helfman / The Shade Sheds
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The installation is structured around two gravitational centers, representing two distinct environments that shaped the exhibition: the current reality and Helfman’s study of Kabbalah. Their intersection resembles an accident—a collision between seemingly opposing forces that in fact, share a common origin.

In the exhibition, interconnected gestures create a delicate system of balance and dependency. Wind from fans, positioned at opposite ends of the gallery, generates an “actual” situation. Candles embedded within sculptural objects mark points of singularity where their flames quiver, always in danger of going out. The remaining installation elements are arranged around this fragile ecosystem, where both flame and wind hang in insecure balance.

Game boards serve as scaled-down models reflecting real-world power dynamics. Stripped bare, the game reveals itself in its nakedness as a system through which changing players cycle. The objects that make up the exhibition express reality’s deviation from measurable parameters, where distractions manifest through the erasure of markers of place, time, and identity.

Set within a garage-like setting, the installation presents a space where forces that have driven us so far are now up in flames. In their conflagration, holes are burned, allowing the spiritual to penetrate – charging, accumulating, and flickering like “a point in the heart”. The beauty and majesty of Kabbalistic study leave their negative imprint. Like photographic negatives, the exhibition’s images burn against this exposure to light.