The title
of Daniel Rothbart’s new exhibition provides a clue to the essence of his
oeuvre – semiotics, the language of signs, which naturally includes the signs
of language. A literal translation of it into Hebrew would miss the point.
The
elements of identity and change, like pairs of concepts which are similar in
form but different in meaning, quintessentially represent this system of
philosophical thought. The Austrian-born philosopher and Cambridge professor
Ludwig Wittgenstein undertook research on semiotics at the beginning of the
20th Century. He studied the structure of language and its communicative and
organizational functions. The use of deconstructionism made by post modernist
artists has its roots grounded in the theory of semiotics. This is reflected in
their study and dissection of social stereotypes, myths and clich�s dealing
with power and gender, views which have been disseminated and strengthened by
the system of signs used by the media. Semiotic analysis serves to reveal the
variety of potential meanings arising from the differential gap between the
manifest content of a “text” or work of art and its cultural or linguistic
boundaries.
In the
language of the Bible this linguistic phenomenon stands out (in Hebrew only) as
a sign par excellence of overt and covert meanings which served as a
theoretical basis for innumerable commentaries on the Bible by Jewish sages.
The Hebrew equivalent of the term insight would be a fine distinction or a
penetrating vision; and of the term oversight: overseeing, supervision.
Naturally, the specific intonation of these juxtaposed words gets lost in the
translation to the Hebrew (just as one cannot convey the double entendres of
the Hebrew bible in a translation into another language). However, whereas the
Hebrew term hashgaha (overseeing) stands for supervision, it is also used as a
synonym for hashgaha elyonah (Supervision by the Almighty, i.e. Divine
Providence).
Daniel
Rothbart achieves the same effect with, for example, the title of a previous
project – “Meditation/Mediation” – which he prepared for the Baruchello
Foundation in Rome. Meditation versus the concept of mediation or conciliation
– the meaning of the latter definition characterizes the former; meditation is
effected by means of self-conciliation and mediation between body and soul.
The
project which the artist describes as “Semiotic Street Situations” was
initiated in 1993. Placing 12 symmetrical metal vessels in the shape of bowls
in diverse locations and changing conditions throughout the world he allows a
random flow of events to occur around, or with them. The photographic
documentation of all that follows forms an integral part of the artistic work,
thereby creating a significant interaction between the artist and society
representing his external environment.
Ever since
the late sixties and early seventies photography has become a uniformly
integral part of the realm of art and theory; those were the years in which
emphasis was given to the conceptual treatment of language, to the perception of
art as an idea and to art as action.
Daniel
Rothbart envisions and recreates an environment in which he takes part as an
actor and also effects instant linkages and connections. In action art the
relation between any two successive acts embodies the potential of
significance, and creates favorable conditions for microcosms to interact with
one another. The point of departure is internal and consists of the choice or
desire, which is given expression by placing the vessels in a certain place at
a certain time. This denotes a kind of cosmogonic constellation that traces
relative lines of existence, of motion or lack of motion, of emptiness and
fullness.
Rabbi
Nahman of Breslav says: “And be it known that contemplation makes a vessel –
namely definition and time. For at first the object is undefined but when the
object is seen, it becomes defined” (Excerpts from the writings of Rabbi Nahman
of Breslav, p.6).* The act of contemplation brings the object to life and
enables it to exist; and the evidence in support of this is at one and the same
time internal in its insight and external in its perception. Meditation in
itself is nothing but that same process of emptying and filling, emptying of
contents and connecting to the essential absolute by means of the self.
The bowls
concurrently bring to mind a worldly existence through food contents and a
spiritual one exemplified in the begging bowls used by monks to collect alms in
order to suppress the ego and strengthen the “self.” The empty space
reverberates in the empty vessel, just as “the one-handed clap” resounds in the
Zen koan. The sudden enlightenment attained by intuitive illumination, commonly
known as satori, represents the spiritual goal of life in the philosophy of Zen
Buddhism. It is the last and at the same time the first step, because gaining
the stage of satori entails experiencing the state of innocence and of natural
consciousness from which stem all the acts and in which awareness illuminated
by the harmony of life is engendered. Satori is the “striker” of the gong whose
sound shatters the silence of ignorance.
Daniel
Rothbart’s art forges links to his fellow men. This is a clear indication of
his main sphere of interest – the discovery of the self through others. Thus
everything that comes to pass by chance can become part of the order of things.
Insight unites with recognition – conceptual perception or oversight – and the
two paths of contemplation create the whole, or the accepted peace. The Book of
the Zohar refers to the “vessel of
peace” in its comments on the verse “He maketh peace in His high places” (Job,
25, 2): “The Holy One blessed be He found no vessel containing a blessing other
than peace; and peace is that which unites two opposites.”* The sages give
their homiletic interpretation to the above words: “He maketh peace in His high
places between the Angel of Fire and the Angel of Water; the Holy One blessed
be He maketh peace between them and joins them together.”* Water and fire
represent two opposites that coexist thanks to force majeure.
The
symbolistic vision of the kabbalah, which inspires Daniel Rothbart’s own
spiritualism, is not limited to the Bible alone; the entire world is infused
with plentiful godliness, revealing the divine existence through the prism of
symbolism. “Although in everyday life the hidden light is veiled behind a dense
curtain, those who open their eyes wide can see through it and discern in
everything and in every happening the divine brightness that appears to have
disappeared from sight” (The Book of the Zohar, p. 145).* Regarding this point
Rabbi Nahman of Breslav states that there are 12 constellations of being during
the 12 hours of the day and of the night – a different one for each hour.
Daniel Rothbart’s choice of diverse combinations and of 12 bowls reflects a
multi-linked relationship to biblical commentary, which is instanced in the
number of months, of tribes, and of formulae of prayer, and most certainly
contains a multitude of diverse cultural significances. The bowl comprises the
volumetric form of the circle, and is symbolized by the circle which in its
turn is the basic symbol of the sun and of the cosmos – an element of the
eternal return which is part of nearly all the world’s cultures.
The circle
became the symbol of pure gold for alchemists of the Middle Ages; a person
standing within it was protected from devils and evil spirits. In the
architecture of those days it represented wisdom. The viewer experiences the
circle’s line as an endless circular movement having no point of departure or arrival.
According to Heraclitus, each point on the circle is both its starting and its
end point. Its shape arouses a higher degree of sensation and emotion than any
other geometric form, and all viewers will feel themselves to be either within
or without the circle, according to their nature. The inward desire denotes a
wish to reach the center, the point of infinity, the beginning. On the other
hand, one feels an energy radiating outward from the unseen (or the seen)
center to the surroundings.
According to
Wittgenstein, the beginning is not “in certain words but in certain
circumstances or activities. If you should come to a strange tribe whose
language is totally unknown to you and wanted to know which words were
compatible with ‘good,’ ‘pleasant,’ etc. what would you look for? You would
look for agreeable smiles, gestures, and food” (Ludwig Wittgenstein – Lectures
on Aesthetics, Hakibbutz Hameuhad, p.15).* The act is the primal deed;
coincidence as well as unpredictability and originality make all acts authentic;
each gesture and motion recorded by the artist constitutes a statement at which
point the work begins and after which the commentary may follow.
“Like myth
itself, synchronicity bridges the gaps between the conscious and the
unconscious, between the world of mind and the world of objective events. Not
surprisingly, synchronicity is therefore ultimately best comprehended in the
language of myth” (Combs, A. and Holland, M., Synchronicity, Science, Myth and
the Trickster, Floris Books, p. 31).
Varda Genossar,
Curator
* The
quotes are a free translation.
Translated
by Amos Riesel
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