An interesting retrospective exhibition which shows works by the French-Israeli artist Absalon (1964 – 1993) is running at Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam. This exhibition transferred from the KW Institute for Contemporary Art in Berlin.

The works on display are a fascinating statement around key concepts like: re-defining spaces, systematic and successive cataloguing, human activities, the primitive shapes and the human body.

A fragment from the press release:

As in the KW in Berlin, the exhibition will display Absalon’s enigmatic works – living cells painted neutral white and made entirely of wood. These so called ‘Cellules’ are, as it were, living pods for just one person, in which everything can be found for day-to-day, ritual activities down to the smallest detail, including window slits to keep unwanted guests at a distance. Absalon created these units for six World cities: Tokyo, New York, Tel Aviv, Paris, Zurich and Frankfurt. The form of Absalon’s Cellules is reminiscent of the modernist architectural styles of Le Corbusier, Bauhaus, De Stijl and the Russian constructivism. They are, however, stripped of their Utopian ideals. The living cells are based on the dimensions of Absalon’s own body and are, as it were, air-raid shelters for just a single person. The spaces suggest a need for protection and shielding from the chaotic daily life. Absalon described his Cellules as “a bastion of resistance against a society that prevents me from becoming what I must become.”

The exhibition will run until 13 May 2012.

Photos by: Lotte Stekelenburg, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen | Absalon |