Noun

This exhibition was triggered by a tragic coincidence of events. In April 2010 two young men, HalilElohev and Khalil Givati-Rapp (spelled the same in Hebrew as Balabin’s first name, Halil) took their own lives, two days apart. These events led the artists on a creative and research journey of exploring the Hebrew linguistic root ח־ל־ל (h-l-l), from which not only the name Halil is derived but also the word halal, which has several meanings in Hebrew, space, flute and a dead person (of a sudden, unnatural death) – a coincidence that gained horrifying significance in this context.
Balabin and Kamel were drawn to the gap between the coincidental and the mystical, which is rendered present in the linguistic and cultural spheres. This gap finds expression in the exhibition in images of figures – set within mysterious settings – engaged in blowing into dry bones, thereby turning them into flutes. The work returns the flute to an archaic, ritual sphere – only to deconstruct the secret magical power of the instrument and its name, and blow life into it through the use of creative spirit.

​Curator: Dr Aya Luria