Interview with ‘On and Beyond the Boot’ curators

November 4, 2021 Jo Cope

interview with Yamit Newman and Pazit Keidar about their current exhibition in Israel ‘On and Beyond the Boot’ interviewed by exhibiting artist Jo Cope.

JC-Could you explain a little bit about your practice as curators, how this came about and your creative vision?

YN/PK-Our vision in curating is to engage people with design. For us it is the best way to tell a story and to ask questions about history, both present and future. We focus on the timelines and associate it with human elements such as innovation, inspiration and beliefs.

In an exhibition we try to take our visitors in a journey in which they would experience this complex texture of creativity.

JC-What has your experience of Lockdown been like in Israel? Have their been any unexpected positives creatively or otherwise?

YN/PK-From the first days the Israeli government’s approach towards the COVID-19 situation was very serious. Israel was in a tight three weeks of quarantine, even when the quarantine was over, we were experiencing a slow everyday life existence.

Cultural life was completely closed for a long time. Museums, Theatres and Tourism are among the areas that has been tremendously affected.

This imposed time was also an amazing opportunity to bring to life forgotten projects and work in a new different pace. We think the opportunity to use this break in a creative structural way, vary from one person to another.

We hope this was an opportunity for our creative exhibitors to do the same.

JC-On & Beyond is an exhibition that you are curating with a unique theme and dialogue around boots as transitional objects, could you explain more about the exhibition concepts?

YN/PK- This exhibition is a voyage in search of boots. At a glance, boots are simply concrete, material objects, made with function in mind. But that’s not all there is to them - a more intensive examination reveals complex objects with layers of meaning that reverberate in other spheres and link the past to the present and the future. This voyage in search of boots leads us to encounters with historical, social, economic, sexual, and other points of contact.

Through the process of observation, we discover infinite transitions in space and media. These questions echo throughout the exhibition, leading us to the dichotomous essence of boots, through an allegorical view of the present:

The transition from boot design and traditional shoemaking to futuristic craft. On the one hand, images that preserve handmade practices and art, and on the other, contemporary design using industrial, digital, and technological tools.

A visual discussion of physical limitations versus abstractions - concrete objects and their functions. The boundary between physical and virtual realities, challenging our existential tools, the social space, and how the fashions and objects of modern design are manifested.

A question of alternatives – to what extent does the choice of a particular object or brand constitute an extension of the self and a personal statement defining a position, authority, or fantasy?

This exhibition showcases the fragile reality we inhabit. Our unexpected reality, with its flexible boundaries and definitions challenging the conventions that make up the field of culture and design, fuses reality and technology, in a state of constant change and speculation about the future - an age with no apparent limits to the power of technology, with the gradual virtualization of physical reality, and clouded by an all-encompassing plague that redefines the human encounter.

Within this space, which oscillates between the concrete and the virtual, the anthropology of objects and design processes forms the touchstone of a reality constructed through movement. Boots, those fashionable objects of desire, serve as a fascinating Petri dish of material, conceptual, and virtual processes.

JC-The artists and designers you have selected for the show all appear to have very different and unique practices. Can you tell us more about some of the artworks that will be on display and why you chose them?

YN/PK-Part of our curatorial research in this exhibition is an understanding of tradition and craft as cultural and visual documentation through a boot.

We were looking for designers that addressed the slow fashion, industrial, virtual reality and intrusive digital tools that express the transitions in space and media. On one hand traditional craft, shoemaking, leather, cutting, sewing, soft materials, which talks about the longing for the initial essence of shoemaking. On the other hand we sought to see the industrialization processes and the digital world that shares us in reality, observing the processes of construction and dismantling.

On and beyond exhibition presents a selection of fascinating designers that address these cultural transitions and the physical transitions in body perception. from shoe to a boot and beyond, through a different and exciting conceptual visual design interpretations.

Exhibiting artists and Designers:

Image - ‘The Opposite of Addiction’ film Featuring Jo Cope’s conceptual boots performed at the Material Movement Gala 2017 at Sadler’s Well Theatre. Currently on show at On and Beyond the Boot.

JC-What do you think is the importance of this exhibition to Israel and the wider context? Is the show venue significant to the audience you wish to inspire and attract?

YN/PK-A design exhibition in Israel appeals to the viewer in various ways; through the exciting history of the young country to the overwhelming successes that young designers are managing to achieve through extensive knowledge of technology and boundless creativity. The wonderful ‘Farm Gallery’ where the exhibition will be displayed is also an historic place that was build in middle 1900 it's an Arabic authentic architectural gem, the original painted floor and windows were preserved and in 1960 the Arabic house was convert into a galley specializing in multidisciplinary design and art.

JC-Is there any interesting Israeli shoe or boot history that we should know about?

YN/PK- From the Israeli history perspective we chose first to tell the story of the immigrant that worked on the land before Israel was established and secondary to focused on how Israel became a fashion society. Betzalel and Shankar Design Academy are examples which show the great work of the design, art and technologic aspect of boots.

On and Beyond exhibition at The Farm Gallery in Holon until Jan 2022