The Residency Hosts: Human Shield | Adi van Velsen

The Residency Hosts: The Liebling Haus Residency apartment hosts local artists for site-specific solo exhibitions. First to share the apartment are the artists Naomi Faran and Adi van Velsen. The new exhibition.

Human Shield: The conflict on both sides of the border, which we can no longer ignore after 7 October, led the artist Adi van Velsen to question issues related to existence in space. As a citizen searching for a place to call home, a mother and granddaughter of Holocaust survivors, she found herself preoccupied with the status of the civilian population and its role as a shield of ideas and territories. Amid the chaos, her sense of personal security was neutralized, prompting a quest born from personal and national breakdown. In the exhibition, van Velsen aims to explore the concept of home (both concrete and abstract) in a state of destruction and the ethical implications of using human shields as symbols of borders and territories. Using press photos of places damaged by attacks, she removes and reassembles details, undoing the limits of form and context, randomly mapping areas and formal anchors that will later serve as foundations for rebuilding. The exhibition encourages viewers to reflect on identity, security, and belonging, delving into van Velsen's journey seeking her home identity.

--

Curator: Michal Krasny
Production: Tsuf Bar On
Graphic design: Tal Liberman
Mounting: Aya Zaiger