Yehudit Sasportas Vertical Swamps

HAMAKOM

Yehudit Sasportas’ træer

Der er ingen, der kender noget afgørende til Yehudit Sasportas tegninger, hvis de kun ser

dem som illustrationer i et katalog som det, som du netop nu holder mellem dine hænder.

For her præsenterer hendes grafiske arbejder sig fra deres mest dekorative og æstetiske

side – og tilmed i et overkommeligt og praktisk format, der næppe vil kunne skræmme

nogen.

Men din oplevelse bliver ganske anderledes, hvis du møder de samme tegninger på en

væg i den virkelighed, som tegningerne nu fysisk selv udgør en del af. For i denne verden

viser de sig at være kæmpestore, op til tre eller fire meter i bredden. Dette format forvand­

ler ikke blot tegningerne som værker. De forvandler også dig som beskuer. Du får tildelt

en ny rolle. For når du står i rummet med tegningerne, bliver du til en del af tegnin gernes

panorama, tegningerne bliver til dine omgivelser, du bliver ligefrem til staffage.

Når du fra dette nye ståsted opdager og oplever den natur, som tegninger skildrer, tolker

eller symboliserer, bliver du med ét overrasket. Ja, måske bliver du ligefrem foruroliget ved

det, du ser. For de viser dig en natur, som du kun delvis kan genkende. I detaljen føler du

dig måske tryg. Helheden derimod vil være fremmed og skræmmende for dig. Men begge

dele er vigtige: både det store overvældende format og detaljens rigdom. I kraft af tegnin­

gens størrelse tvinger kunstneren os – sit publikum – til at konfrontere sit værk. På afstand

må vi anerkende tegningen som noget uundgåeligt. Vi slip per ikke for den, når vi først er i

rum med den. Men lige så uundgåelig er tegningens rigdom på detaljer, som vi først op ­

dager og oplever, når vi kommer tættere på. Det fortæller kunstneren dig mere om i inter­

viewet.

Også af en anden årsag betyder størrelsen meget for Yehudit Sasportas. For store teg ­

ninger kan nemmere associere til pladskrævende skulpturelle objekter. For selv om vi har

lært Yehudit Sasportas at kende både som tegner, installationskunstner og filmmager, er

skulpturen hendes udgangspunkt, det var her, det begyndte, og skulpturens ofte monumen ­

tale format er et af de kendetegn, som hun har taget med sig over i tegningen. For hendes

skildringer af landskaber præger på en afgørende måde de udstillingsrum, hvor hun giver

dem plads, på samme måde, som en udstilling af skulpturer ville gøre det.

Yehudit Sasportas’ landskaber er ikke lokale landskaber, men mentale landskaber, og deres

ærinde – for vi kan roligt gå ud fra, at de har sådan ét – er ikke at gengive eller illustrere

naturen, som mennesker kender den, men snarere at antyde noget om kompleksiteten og

polariseringen i menneskets egen natur.

Mennesket selv er fraværende som en figur i billedet. Og dog vil dette billede fortælle om

noget, som intet menneske kan sige sig fri for. For Yehudit Sasportas har sat sig for at gøre

billeder af noget, der er virkeligt nok og tilmed videnskabelig undersøgt, beskrevet og be ­

vist, men som trods al denne viden alligevel forbliver usynligt og uhåndterligt for os. Og som,

Vertical Swamp nu. 4, 2015

[YSO­15­001]

kunstnerisk set, i kraft af sin usynlighed heller ikke kan have nogen bestemt form. Denne

form må kunstneren selv finde frem til. Det er hendes største udfordring. Hele Yehudit

Sasportas’ arbejdsproces handler om at søge og bestemme denne uhåndterlige, umulige

og meget komplekse form. Det er resultatet af denne søgen efter at konkretisere noget

fundamentalt ikke­synligt, vi gang på gang ser syn liggjort i hendes tegninger. Men abstrakt

er hun ikke.

I mangel af et bedre ord kunne man kalde dette usynlige fænomen, der her er søgt syn­

liggjort, for en ganske særlig form for bevidsthed. Faktisk udmærker den sig ved ikke at

være spor bevidst. Den udgør samtidig en magt, som intet menneske har rigtig magt over.

I andre sammenhænge kalder man den også for underbevidstheden, den menneskelige

underbevidsthed. I psykologien er det en kraft, der styrer mange af krop pens processer

uden at vi er i stand til at kontrollere dem. Og hvis vi besluttede os for at blande os, ville

det ikke have nogen effekt overhovedet. For den kraft, som underbevidstheden udøver

på os, ligger uden for viljens magt og den determinerede bevidstheds kontrol. Den styrer

vores tanker og forestillinger, vores indlæring og de associationer, som vi tror, at vi selv

danner. Der findes ikke engang noget billede af den. Men den hjælper os med at huske i

billeder. Og den påvirker os hele tiden, hvad enten vi ønsker det eller ej, ikke kun positivt,

men afgjort også negativt.

Yehudit Sasportas’ værker er moderne fremstillinger eller måske ligefrem portrætter af

denne tilstand, som ethvert menneske kan genkende hos sig selv og måske ligefrem føle

sig fanget i.

Da kunstnere i det 20. århundredes omtumlede begyndelse besluttede sig for at opgive

skildringen af den virkelighed, som omgav dem, alt det, som de kunne se og måle med

deres egne øjne, opgav de ikke virkeligheden som en totalitet. For virkeligheden eller natu­

ren eller hvad vi nu vælger at kalde denne overvældende realitet, er altid mere end det, der

tilfældigvis er tilgængelig for vore sanser, dvs. for vores blik, hørelse, taktile følsomhed etc.

Sigmund Freud har lært os, at vi som individer med en sjæl, en psyke, også må tage højde

for vores egen indre virkelighed, det være sig i form af en særlig mental konstitution, sær­

lige oplevelser og minder eller en grundlæggende erfaringsverden, som måske kan føres

tilbage til afgørende oplevelser i vores barndom. Det er denne indre sjælelige ballast, som

kunstneren – på godt og ondt – altid bærer med sig og fra sit eget liv fører over i værket.

Som tilgang til kunsten og verden i øvrigt har naturalismen – skildringen af den ydre virkelig­

hed – været historie i langt over hundrede år. Abstraktionen – som en bevidst flugt fra den

loyale virkelighedsskildring – har også for længst fejret krondiamantbryllup med de kunstne­

re, der har investeret deres liv i denne stil. Men uanset alle disse opbrud, forvandlinger og

ændringer er billedet er der stadig, som en mulighed og en udfordring, som altid venter på

at blive fyldt med ny mening. Yehudit Sasportas har taget denne svære opgave på sig: at

fylde billedet med en mening og monumentalitet, der fra hendes eget indre liv rækker ud

mod vores.

Når vi skærer os eller brænder os, risikerer vi at få et ar, og disse ar kan vi så vise andre,

hvis vi vil. Men der findes erfaringer og oplevelser, som også efterlader ar, ikke på krop pen,

hvor både vi og andre kan registrere det, men i vores bevidsthed eller – om man vil – i vores

sjæl. Det, der i sagens natur ikke kan være synligt, vil kunstneren gerne tolke i lyset af natur ­

oplevelser. Til det formål benytter Yehudit Sasportas skoven eller det sumpareal, der altid

vil skjule mere, end det viser.

For når Yehudit Sasportas alligevel opsøger det, der er lige så tilgængeligt for hendes san­

ser, som det var for naturalisternes, er det for at finde frem til et visuelt udtryk, som også

er i stand til at rumme en metafysisk dimension, det, der uset for os måske ruger og rum­

sterer i hendes underbevidsthed.

Til skildringen af denne komplekse tilstand bruger hun sort og hvidt. For hende er den sorte

tegning på det hvide underlag ikke nogen koloristisk begrænsning. Det er derimod et valg,

et nødvendigt valg, et udtryk, som er kommet til hende, allerede mens hun var barn. Teg­

ningen er skriftens forvandling til et nyt grafisk sprog, som ikke kan underlægges særlige

regler, og hvis alfabet og syntaks ikke er kendt af enhver. Med farvens sorthed anskuelig­

gør hun den evige konflikt mellem de lag, der tilhører hendes bevidsthed, og de lag, der

vedrører underbevidstheden, alt det, som selv vores allerstørste viljestyrke ikke har nogen

indvirkning på.

I mellem disse to bevidstheds­planer eksisterer der et modsætningsforhold, en konflikt. For

at gøre denne konflikt håndterlig eller operationel har Yehudit Sasportas vendt blikket udad,

mod naturen, mod skoven, dog ikke mod nogen bestemt skov, men mod et tværsnit af de

skove, i Tyskland, Schweiz, Italien og Israel, som hun har set og oplevet og gemt i sin erin­

dring.

Det, der for hende konstituerer skoven som et naturfænomen, er tilstedeværelsen af træer,

mange træer. Træet er for hende blevet den perfekte metafor på en tilstand, der rummer

det synlige og samtidig antyder det usynlige. For over jorden rejser træstammen sig, med

sine grene, kviste og blade, og al denne vækst kan vi se. Træets vækst er et naturfæno­

men, der fremviser så meget af sig selv, at beskueren nemt bliver opmærksom på, hvad

der ikke vises.

For under jorden – uden for vores bliks rækkevidde – ligger træets forgrenede rodnet og

gemmer sig, næsten som et ukendt spejlbillede af træets synlige del, men – billedligt –

også som et billede på den organiske verdens egen underbevidsthed.

Det er derfor, at Yehudit Sasportas’ store tegninger indkapsler en konflikt mellem modsæt­

ninger, der ikke lader sig løse eller opløse, men dog lader sig forene, hvis foreningen finder

sted kunstnerisk – i tegningens overvældende form.

Peter Michael Hornung, kunstredaktør ved Politiken

Magnetic hearts 61, 2008

[YSZ­08­010]

Interview between Peter Michael Hornung and Yehudit Sasportas

Peter Michael Hornung:

Yehudit Sasportas, I read in one of the texts about you that as a child you already did

drawings or illustrations of certain imaginary conditions – existential conditions, which is not

easy at all to imagine visually especially not for a child. Is that correct? And do you think

that this early and unusual undertaking has been of importance to you later as an artist?

Yehudit Sasportas:

Yes, I think that the fact that I started using the language of drawing since I was very

young might be interpreted as a way of relating to existential conditions. But I perceive

it a bit differently. For me it was a very basic instrument of expression, holding a pencil,

taking a piece of paper and trying to relate to my surroundings through writing or drawing.

From a very young age I was very interested in this gap between the intensity that we are

surrounded by and the ability of our system to cope, to digest or to relate to this intensity.

I think that I was dealing with those gaps intuitively, that I felt more than I could express. I

think that the language of drawing for me was a wonderful instrument to deal with this gap.

When I look at young children today, I can recognize this hypersensitivity. This is not

necessarily a traumatic experience; it can also be just differences in frequencies that differ­

ent human beings have. I think that the medium of drawing, like trying to write down daily

occurences, as in your diary as a child, and later on trying to translate this text into another

visual coded language, was part of my very natural way of perceiving life.

The first process started as many diaries and books. I was just writing basically about all

that was happening in my family at that time. When one of my sisters discovered all my

personal books and started reading them to her friends, I decided that it was better to

develop another hidden language, so I could actually write the same information, just in

a different visual code. That is how those bizarre seismographs started.

Later when I was 15–16 years old, I became interested in a very exceptional act. The fact

that my younger brother was a musician was very helpful because we decided to develop

a system of microphones, and I was actually recording my family during 18 years without

them knowing that I was doing so. I was putting different microphones in all the rooms, and

every two weeks I collected these microphones and emptied the systems into the comput­

er. Basically I have many years of recording that consists of the basic life information that

took place in the home of my parents, as the recording was actually covering everything.

It could be my father taking a shower or my mother arguing with someone, or just a basic

phone call or simple dialogue and so on. It moves from very simple and banal conversa­

tions to more interesting things that for me was very intense to encounter for the first time.

The encounter was with a significant gap of time because I could never listen to the re ­

cording online.

activity starts when it’s totally dark and the darkening starts about 3:30 p.m. I can imagine

that for you coming from Copenhagen, this feels pretty natural during the winter time but

you need to understand that for me, it was like absolutely, wow. That is pretty much based

on the energetic understanding of life.

I think that the fact that I suffered from a severe lack of light in Berlin took me much more

into this introvert way of looking and experiencing things. It had a huge impact on my work,

especially my films which consist of hundreds of drawings. Most of my films are based on

drawings. Light Workers, the film that I will show in the gallery, is based on 158 original

drawings that were made in a quite remarkable size, up to three meters high. None of them

exist now because they are buried into the body of the film itself. This is part of the idea

that the manual language of the drawing is within the digital body of the film. So this is part

of the black and white, like a mental frequency, a psychic frequency that gives us direct

access to what we sense deeply inside our brain or the different departments of feelings

that human beings have.

PM: What does the monumental size of your black and white­drawings mean to you? They

have the size of big paintings. But technically they are not paintings. They are drawings.

Why do you choose them to be that big?

YS: I think that it is pretty much connected to the way that I relate to space and sculpture,

as I am a sculptor first of all; secondly I am a draughtsman and a filmmaker. My whole

route as an artist started in sculpture, and sculpture and space are a very important start­

ing point.

For years I was very interested in experiences, trying to understand my own life and trying

to dismantle things that are already perceived as a final story or the final object. This object

might be your identity or the story about yourself as an artist. I have this very obsessive

need to understand, to look for the meaning. I have always been interested in this process.

When I started dismantling something in order to understand it, I was amazed that the sum

of all the particles was bigger than the thing that I thought was there from the beginning.

So this experience of dealing with a certain size or a certain scale and then later on when

you are finished you immediately feel ­ oh my God ­ when I open this box, the scale is

always much bigger than I originally thought.

This is one thing and the second thing is, as you said very precisely, these are not really

paintings. These are drawings. These are actually mental maps and if you look carefully

you see that they consist of different small drawings that are coming together creating a

kind of lace or structure that is full of holes. Each structure, each detail is like a whole. But

you have to understand, I never stayed in the first level of the narrative, I’m not interested

in the autobiographical information. For me this is just a starting point but it always goes to

the second and to the third levels. You start with a personal experience and this personal

experience always goes with the process of making things anonymous.

Over time this became a kind of theme or topic, as I became more and more interested in

this parallel life system. It was happening in one place, as my machine was recording the

information that was connected to very important people in my life like my family. But on

the other hand I lived in another place. It all started when I was still at home, and it contin­

ued when I left home and started on my own studying in another city. I very much like this

idea that I started developing this kind of parallel life system, which over time became a

very significant and important theme in my work: parallel rooms, parallel paths and different

dimensions that are working simultaneously. They are all like different layers of one reality.

I was also very young when I began drawing those very intense seismographs, which for

me basically functioned as emotional diagrams. They were translating for me the emotional

information that I was contemplating or trying to digest, and therefore trying later on to

report. This was maybe one of the intuitive needs or ideas that I had at that time, but it

developed of course the more mature and conscious I became. The whole act itself starts

developing and adding more and more layers to this.

PM: I am puzzled – and impressed – by your use of the colours, black and white. With only

these two contrasting colors you seem able to construct a whole world of imaginary land­

scapes, very great landscapes. What is the reason for this limitation, which of course is not

an artistic limitation?

YS: Of course that has nothing to do with any artistic limitation. The main idea of the black

and white is for me that this is the language of drawing and writing. I think the black and

white is actually one line of my work which is basically the drawings. They are parallel to the

drawings I do in my films, and apart from that I make sculptures and installations, so my

work consists of four different parts. When I draw, the tool functions as an x­ray scan that

is supposed to deal with the very basic information and with the structure of things, mainly

the hidden structure of things. So the black and white for me always feels like the most

basic and the simplest, most direct and clean way to represent this information. I think that

my drawing deals a lot with interiors, that is with internal information and not with the exter­

nal. The direction of the drawings is from outside to inside, and this is a very specific way

of relating to the words; for me most of them function like mental maps, like drawings that

relate to the human psyche, drawings that express different departments in our brain like

the subconscious department, the mental one, the intellectual, the emotional, all these are­

as that you normally sense, but you do not actually visually see them. So in this regard it

has a lot to do with senses and not with perceptions, and that is why the black and white

is pretty much like when you go to a scan where you don’t have colors or when you go

to an x­ray, you just have the basic monotone tones. But on the other hand it feels like an

immensely rich language. So this is one aspect of the more introvert and interior of the

human psyche and therefore I only need the basic language of drawing: black and white.

The second reason, in a wider context, is connected to me living and working in Berlin for

the last ten years, originally coming from Tel Aviv where light is a topic, we constantly deal

with too much light there. The stark contrast of the lack of light in Berlin became a big topic

in my work. The long winters when it’s dark until 8:30 in the morning. The whole of human

The journey from the personal to the public has something to do with scale. The traces

of this journey become the object in the end. It is always important to create work that will

change the original perspective or the original understanding that I had regarding the same

information. I did a lot with changing perspectives. Looking at the same thing from different

directions, levels and layers and from a physical and metaphysical dimension. It is like

locating yourself in different perspectives, it somehow enlarges the space.

It might sound like a very abstract answer but somehow I know, especially when I look at

the new work for the show, it has a lot to do with trying to draw an endless mental and

psychic map. Just by trying to understand it, it becomes a thing in itself which is always

bigger than what you thought it was at first.

The second very simple answer concerns the pure interest in creating something, which is

bigger than yourself. It has nothing to do with the physical scale; it is more about trying to

move to the second perspective, which means leaving the first. The first perspective is the

first cycle, it’s always about you, yourself, your story, your narrative. The second is a space

which is a bit bigger than yourself, and as an artist I always try to move the centre of gravity

from the first space to the second space, which means trying to leave the first level of the

story and to contemplate from a non­personal space to your own personal space. Over

time this became a very, very important subject in my work, mainly in my films, that the

flashlight or the source of light always comes from outside, from a non­personal space,

pointing out to the place where everything is happening. In the case of the last show I had

at The National Israeli Museum, there were really large scale sculptures, because it was

very important for me to surround myself with big black walls for example that created a

very strange feeling in the space. They were so large they seemed like part of the museum

itself. Ideally the first impact is from a distance so you see the work as a spectacular thing

in the space, like a sculpture that you cannot ignore. When you come closer you see how

intricate the details are on the drawings. So I’m working with two things, the information

that will be perceived from a distance and then when you come closer, it is not that you

are losing something, you come closer and you have another, more intimate experience,

it is like two different experiences. It’s about presence, objects in a space and what is hap­

pening to the space itself on different levels.

PM: A conflict seems to go on in your work. What’s on the top or in the upper half could

be fighting against what is shown underneath. Of course it’s a silent fight. It’s not a conflict

either between different colouristic solutions. It seems to be a conflict between two differ­

ent interpretations of nature, and the differences seem to grow slowly into one another.

YS: Another interesting question about the energy which has been the core of my work for

years between two parts which are almost the same size, like 50 percent is this information

and 50 percent is another information and they coexist within this strong tension. A chronic

tension of life that you hold in your body. This has always been there in my life, I have learned

to deal with and explore it, there is always a message. For years I lived with a feeling that

my vessel was too strong for the amount of energy that was running through it. Another

reason is the things that are not fully integrated. I have always been interested in the

relation between the conscious part of our body and our subconscious, feelings that are

released while the body is in less control. This tension is very strong in my work and I am

still fascinated by perceptions that you can sense and not really see. I have worked with

this idea for the last 28 years, since my first sculptures. These could be events that hap­

pened in your past and maybe overwhelmed you. These events remained part of your

system, but the rest of your system continued to grow and develop.

I was interested in these unintegrated particles, unintegrated areas that have somehow

stayed in the human psyche from an early age. Some of it stays stuck in time. For years I

was interested in the different techniques that we as human beings use to cope with those

things. I always said to my students, these are survival strategies that we have as humans.

What I find in those techniques are incredible sources of intelligence, very creative and

original ones. It’s not necessarily negative, it can have different reasons because humans

can have a different quality inside. A lot of my films mainly deal with this topic. The bubbles

in the film, Light Workers, are kind of this bubble. The flashlight tries to point at something

that was not integrated and this part which is not fully integrated, is constantly trying to

release itself and be integrated in order to release energy. It is about evolution in the end,

it is about movement. By slowing down the time, we have more access to those particles,

to those unintegrated parts. Only when I increase the resolution of the details, like in the

drawings and in the films and everything is slower, you can as a viewer notice this move­

ment. When everything is slowing down you suddenly see the space between the particles

of the matrix itself, for example of this forest. Then you have access to this area and to this

bubble of light, which is the representation of one of the unintegrated particles that are

moving somewhere in this forest. That is basically a metaphor of a life activity zone. There

is an urge to move, as if there is a movement within yourself which is bigger than your abili­

ty to control it. This movement is the power that takes me to the studio every day, it’s not

that I am a victim of this, not at all. I choose this, I move with this, I work with this conflict,

I work with this chronic tension which you might interpret on a personal level and later, on

a collective level and with different types of conflict and tension. I am fascinated by this

energy that wants to release itself, which exists within something. The more you develop

the ability to look at things and to stay with them for hours, the more you become sensitive

to this energy that objects are carrying within themselves – within their structure.

PM: I have read that there are no forests growing in your country, Israel. But there must

be nowadays after all the international plantation­projects?! But the trees in your works are

not drawn from any particular forest, I guess. And the swamp landscapes are not citations

from any particular swamp, from some known part of the world. Am I right to assume that

the complex nature shown in your drawings does not consist of concise observations which

have been assembled or put together. It’s an interpretation of a certain natural condition –

or a kind of threat?

Of course I am not sitting in front of a particular forest. I’m interested in the idea of the

forest and of trees or swamps ­ it’s basically about a certain type of nature, which exists

more in the marginal areas of our culture, we know about it but we are not necessarily

there. This is the starting point. I have stayed a lot in nature, eight months here, seven

months there, under quite extreme situations. In Switzerland, contemplating trees, record­

ing sounds from 150 trees in the black forest with a very fine system of microphones. I was

also working and relating to a specific swamp in Germany. But the exact location of the

swamp is unimportant. It is more the idea that you can recognize a forest, a clearing or a

tree, as the organic meridian of the matrix. The forest functions as a perfect tool for me,

which can represent conscious and subconscious. The upper part of the tree is what you

see from the earth up. But there are always extreme veins, like a very complex system of

roots that you don’t see. For years I was relating to this system of roots under the earth

which we don’t see. This is why I chose the forest as a matrix. If there would be another

organic element on the planet that could give me this same solution I would use that. The

swamp is more about areas that are open and function like a hole. The swamp and the

clearing have beautiful direct access through those subconscious fields. You could recog­

nize trees in the drawings which come from the desert in Israel, just beside the trees which

grow in very cold places. The idea is more philosophical, the empty territory where the tre­

mendous activity of life is taking place but without human beings. Nature without human

beings is an empty space. This is the background of reality for me, it is the platform where

life takes place. The urban part where human beings are living is another part, which func­

tions as a metaphor to architecture. For me it is more a mental architecture, the inner

architecture that we have as human beings.

The complex nature that you can see in the drawings is definitely not drawn from a specific

observation. It might be an interpretation of a certain natural condition and it might as well

be a reflection. I use it as a perfect platform to show the structure of projections that we

place on those things. The main breakthrough in my work came through the physical expe­

riences I had in the places I have spent time in. The idea is more conceptual than romantic.

PM: Yehudit Sasportas, I thank you for the interview!

Vertical Swamp nu. 6, 2015

[YSO­15­002]

Cosmic Rifts #7, 2009

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Cosmic Rifts #13, 2009

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Cosmic Rifts #30, 2010

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Cosmic Rifts #50, 2011­2012

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Vertical Swamp nu. 2, 2014

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The Light workers, 2010

[YSV­10­001]

Rifts of absence 13, 2010

[YSZ­10­005]

Rifts of absence 5, 2010

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Rifts of absence 15, 2010

[YSZ­10­006]

Rifts of absence 9, 2010

[YSZ­10­007]

The mirror of Enigmas, 2008

[YSZ­08­001]

Magnetic hearts 40, 2008

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Magnetic hearts 65, 2008

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Magnetic hearts 19, 2008

[YSZ­08­008]

Magnetic hearts 44, 2008

[YSZ­08­009]

Tfilin, 2015

[YSO­15­003]

Shichecha #39, 2014

[YSZ­14­002]

Cosmic Rifts #9, 2009

[YSZ­09­003]

Cosmic Rifts #15, 2009

[YSZ­09­005]

Shichecha #37, 2014

[YSZ­14­001]

Cosmic Rifts #22, 2010

[YSZ­10­001]

Cosmic Rifts #33, 2010

[YSZ­10­003]

Magnetic hearts 55, 2008

[YSZ­08­005]

Magnetic hearts 18, 2008

[YSZ­08­007]

Magnetic hearts 67, 2008

[YSZ­08­002]

Magnetic hearts 53, 2008

[YSZ­08­004]

Yehudit Sasportas

Born 1969 in Ashdod, Israel

Lives and works in Berlin and Tel Aviv

1988-89 College for Visual Art, Beersheva, Israel

1989-93 B.F.A., Bezalel Academy of Art and Design,

Jerusalem, Israel

1993 Academy of Art and Science, Cooper Union Academy

of Art, New York, USA

1997-99 M.F.A., Fine Art Department, Bezalel Academy of

Art and Design, Jerusalem in collaboration with the

Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel

1993-

present Teaching at the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design,

Jerusalem, Israel

Works in selected collections

The Tel­Aviv Museum of Art, Tel­Aviv

The Israel Museum of Art, Jerusalem

Deutsche Bank Art Collection, Germany

MOMA, The museum of Modern Art, NYC, NY

UBS AG Zürich

UniCredit Bank AG

Sammlung Deutsche Bank

Solo exhibitions

2016 Vertical Swamps, Galleri Bo Bjerggaard,

Copenhagen, Denmark.

HAMAKOM / FILM 2008 – 2015, Kunstforening,

Gl. Strand, Copenhagen, Denmark

2015 Solo Show, Museum Villa Rot Germany

Dark Side Of..., TS ART Project, Berlin, Germany

Solo Show, Gallery EIGEN & Art Berlin, Germany

2013 Seven Winters, Solo show, Israel Museum,

Jerusalem, Israel

2011 Films, Gallery Eigen + Art Leipzig, Germany

2010 HASIPUR, Herbert­Gerisch­Stiftung, Neuemünster,

Germany

2009 Cosmic Rifts, Sommer Contemporary Art Gallery,

Tel Aviv, Israel

The Clearing of the Unseen, DA 2 Domus Atrium,

Salamanca, Spain

2008 The Laboratory, Kunstverein Braunschweig, Germany

2007 The Guardians of the Threshold, 52. Venice Biennale,

Israeli Pavilion, Venice, Italy

2006 The Guardian of the Pearl’ Shadow, Sint­Lukas

Gallery, Brussels, Belgium

2005 The Guardian of the Pearl’ Shadow, Sint­Lukas

Gallery, Brussels, Belgium

2004 Locher, Muellerhaus, Literatur und Sprache,

Lenzburg, Switzerland

The Guardian of the Pearl’s Shadow 1, Sommer

Contemporary Art, Tel Aviv, Israel

2003 The Swamp and the Magnetic Ants, Galerie EIGEN +

ART, Leipzig, Germany

2002 By the River, Matrix 200, the Berkley Museum Of Art,

San Francisco, USA

The Archive, Artist`s Statement, Galerie EIGEN + ART,

Art Cologne, Cologne, Germany

2001 The Carpenter and the Seamstress II, Deitch Projects,

New York, USA

2000 The Carpenter and the Seamstress, Tel Aviv Museum

of Art, Tel Aviv, Israel

1999 PVC 1999, Noga Gallery, Tel Aviv, Israel

1996 Trash-can Scale. Work 1995­96, Janco Dada Museum,

Ein Hod, Israel

1995 Mapping, Office in Tel Aviv, Tel Aviv, Israel

1994 Drawings, Jerusalem Artists’ House, Jerusalem, Israel

Selected group exhibitions

2015 Paperworld, Museum Buchheim, Germany

Walk the Line. Neue Wege der Zeichnung, Kunst­

museum Wolfsburg

Wolfsburg, Germany

2014 Shades of Black and White, Gallery Bo Bjerggaard,

Copenhagen, Denmark

PAPERWORLDS, Me Collectors Room Berlin / Stiftung

Olbricht, Berlin, Germany

Neighbors, Istanbul Museum of Modern Art, Istanbul,

Turkey

2013 Caution! Things may appear different than they are,

APT institute, Nurnberg, Germany

2012 Kalte Rinden (landscape), City Gallery, Kiel, Germany

Material Spiritual World, Deweer Gallery, Brussels,

Belgium

Unnatural, the BASS museum, Miami, USA

Inner Motion, Art Museum Magdeburg, Germany

Kunst Museum Wolfsburg, for contemporary art,

Wolfsburg, Germany

2011 A rock and a hard place, The 3rd Thessaloniki

Biennale, Greece

2009 Wallworks, Yerba Buena Center for The Arts,

San Francisco, USA

Site of Silence,Kunst Münster, Münster,Germany

2008 Depletio,: Works from the Doron Sebbag Art Collec­

tion ORS Ltd., Tel­Aviv Museum, Tel Aviv, Israel

Real Time: Art in Israel 1998­2008, The Israel Museum,

Jerusalem, Israel

Eventually we’ll Die, Young Art in Israel of the Nine­

ties, Herzliya Museum of Contemporary Art, Herzliya,

Israel

Gegen den Strich, Bielefelder kunstverein, Germany

Access to Israel & II, Jüdisches Museum Frankfurt/

Main, Germany

back to black, Kestner Gesellschaft, Hannover,

Germany

2007 Ornament, S.M.A.K., Gent, Belgium

Digital Landscapes, The Genia Schreiber Universitiy

Art gallery, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel

Gegen den Strich, Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin,

Germany

Ausgezeichnet!, Kunstverein Freiburg, Freiburg,

Germany

2006 Raft of the Medusa, National Museum Warschau &

Krakow,Poland

2005 Dreaming Art. Dreaming Reality, Tel Aviv Museum of

Art, Tel Aviv, Israel

25 Jahre Sammlung Deutsche Bank, Deutsche Gug­

genheim, Berlin,Germany

Die Neuen Hebräer – 100 Jahre Kunst in Israel,

Martin­Gropius­Bau, Berlin, Germany

2004 Drawing today, CAC Màlaga, Spain

Point of View, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv, Israel

Fellowships and prizes

2009 The Israeli Ministry of Culture award, Israel

2003-05 The chosen Artist of the Israel Cultural Excellence

Foundation (I Excellence), Israel

2004 International studioprogram of Künstlerhaus

Bethanien, Berlin, Germany

2003 Artist­in­residence, Binz Foundation, Nairs,

Switzerland

Arthur Goldreich Foundation, Bezalel Academy of

Art and Design, Jerusalem, Israel

Works / Værker

Vertical Swamp nu. 2, 2014

Vertical Swamp

Ink on MDF

300 cm x 200 cm

YSO­14­001

Vertical Swamp nu. 4, 2015

Vertical Swamp

Mixed media, engraving and ink

on MDF

300 cm x 200 cm

YSO­15­001

Vertical Swamp nu. 6, 2015

Vertical Swamp

Mixed media, engraving and

ink on MDF

300 cm x 200 cm

YSO­15­002

Tfilin, 2015

Black lacquered MDF

300 cm x 200 cm

YSO­15­003

The Light workers, 2010

Loop (10 min)

5/6

YSV­10­001

The mirror of Enigmas, 2008

Ink on paper

150 cm x 200 cm each sheet

Framed 333,0 cm x 433,2 cm

x 5,0 cm

YSZ­08­001

Magnetic hearts 67, 2008

Magnetic hearts

Ink on paper

49,0 cm x 59,5 cm

Framed: 57,5 cm x 75,0 cm x

4,0 cm

YSZ­08­002

Magnetic hearts 65, 2008

Magnetic hearts

Ink on paper

49,0 cm x 59,5 cm

Framed: 57,5 cm x 75,0 cm x

4,0 cm

YSZ­08­003

Magnetic hearts 53, 2008

Magnetic hearts

Ink on paper

49,0 cm x 59,5 cm

Framed: 57,5 cm x 75,0 cm x

4,0 cm

YSZ­08­004

Magnetic hearts 55, 2008

Magnetic hearts

Ink on paper

49,0 cm x 59,5 cm

Framed: 57,5 cm x 75,0 cm x

4,0 cm

YSZ­08­005

Magnetic hearts 40, 2008

Magnetic hearts

Ink on paper

49,0 cm x 59,5 cm

Framed: 57,5 cm x 75,0 cm x

4,0 cm

YSZ­08­006

Magnetic hearts 18, 2008

Magnetic hearts

Ink on paper

49,0 cm x 59,5 cm

Framed: 57,5 cm x 75,0 cm x

4,0 cm

YSZ­08­007

Magnetic hearts 19, 2008

Magnetic hearts

Ink on paper

49,0 cm x 59,5 cm

Framed: 57,5 cm x 75,0 cm x

4,0 cm

YSZ­08­008

Magnetic hearts 44, 2008

Magnetic hearts

Ink on paper

49,0 cm x 59,5 cm

Framed: 57,5 cm x 75,0 cm x

4,0 cm

YSZ­08­009

Magnetic hearts 61, 2008

Magnetic hearts

Ink on paper

49,0 cm x 57,5 cm

Framed: 57,5 cm x 75,0 cm x

4,0 cm

YSZ­08­010

Cosmic Rifts #7, 2009

Cosmic Rifts

Ink on paper

100 cm x 150 cm

Framed: 117,5 cm x 166,5 cm x

5,0 cm

YSZ­09­002

Cosmic Rifts #9, 2009

Cosmic Rifts

Ink on paper

100 cm x 150 cm

Framed: 117,5 cm x 166,5 cm x

5,0 cm

YSZ­09­003

Cosmic Rifts #13, 2009

Cosmic Rifts

Ink on paper

100 cm x 150 cm

Framed: 117,5 cm x 166,5 cm x

5,0 cm

YSZ­09­004

Cosmic Rifts #15, 2009

Cosmic Rifts

Ink on paper

100 cm x 150 cm

Framed: 117,5 cm x 166,5 cm x

5,0 cm

YSZ­09­005

Cosmic Rifts #22, 2010

Cosmic Rifts

Ink on paper

100 cm x 150 cm

Framed: 117,5 cm x 166,5 cm x

5,0 cm

YSZ­10­001

Cosmic Rifts #30, 2010

Cosmic Rifts

Ink on paper

100 cm x 150 cm

Framed: 117,5 cm x 166,5 cm x

5,0 cm

YSZ­10­002

Cosmic Rifts #33, 2010

Cosmic Rifts

Ink on paper

100 cm x 150 cm

Framed: 117,5 cm x 166,5 cm x

5,0 cm

YSZ­10­003

Rifts of absence 5, 2010

Rifts of absence

Ink on paper

70 cm x 100 cm

Framed: 85,5 cm x 115,5 cm x

4,0 cm

YSZ­10­004

Rifts of absence 13, 2010

Rifts of absence

Ink on paper

70 cm x 100 cm

Framed: 85,5 cm x 115,5 cm x

4,0 cm

YSZ­10­005

Rifts of absence 15, 2010

Rifts of absence

Ink on paper

70 cm x 100 cm

Framed: 85,5 cm x 115,5 cm x

4,0 cm

YSZ­10­006

Rifts of absence 9, 2010

Rifts of absence

Ink on paper

70 cm x 100 cm

Framed: 85,5 cm x 115,5 cm x

4,0 cm

YSZ­10­007

Cosmic Rifts #50, 2011­2012

Cosmic Rifts

Ink on paper

100 cm x 150 cm

Framed: 117,5 cm x 166,5 cm x

5,0 cm

YSZ­12­001

Shichecha #37, 2014

Shichecha

Ink on paper

150 cm x 200 cm

Framed: 166,5 cm x 216,5 cm x

5,0 cm

YSZ­14­001

Shichecha #39, 2014

Shichecha

Ink on paper

150 cm x 200 cm

Framed: 166,5 cm x 216,5 cm x

5,0 cm

YSZ­14­002

Yehudit Sasportas

Vertical Swamps

HAMAKOM

21 January – 19 March 2016

FLÆSKETORVET 85 A

DK–1711 KØBENHAVN V

TEL +45 33 93 42 21

BJERGGAARD@BJERGGAARD.COM

TUESDAY-FRIDAY 1 PM–6 PM

SATURDAY 12 PM–4 PM

WWW.BJERGGAARD.COM

© Galleri Bo Bjerggaard

ISBN: 978­87­93134­16­4

Thanks to Rosendahls and

Sommer Contemporary Art, Tel Aviv