Eti Levi: Ascent

Eti Levi's (b. 1981, Jerusalem) works emerge from an encounter with ancient textual sources and a desire to draw closer to the Hebrew language in its primal state. In the Bible and in Jewish mystical texts, "ascent" is associated with visions and experiences of both physical and spiritual transcendence. The exhibition space functions as a transitional realm, linking physical movement with shifts in consciousness. Levi regards artistic practice as a meditative act and a physical channel of expression that bypasses rational thought, allowing impressions and sensations to be embraced in their raw form.

The works in the exhibition are underlain by a range of graphic actions—writing, drawing, erasure, and engraving—carried out on diverse surfaces, including copper, paper, and tracing paper. Alongside these, sound also becomes a material in the work. At the center of the space stands a monochord, an instrument traditionally ascribed to Pythagoras, who used it to prove that harmony is governed by mathematical ratios. Built according to the artist's bodily proportions, the instrument is used to seek the Hebrew letter both in its biblical sense, as a sign and a vision, and in its literal sense, as an alphabetic character. By plucking the monochord's single string, Levi traces the frequency of each letter as it resonates in the body, creating a character key whereby she plays the words "open thou my lips; and my mouth shall shew forth," part of the verse that opens the Jewish Amidah prayer, during which the worshipper turns to God and asks for the ability to speak and pray (Psalm 51:15). Alongside the plea to join syllables into words and words into meaningful utterances, however, the opposite request also emerges: to let go of language which anchors and fixes meaning.

Levi's actions recall the practices of Kabbalists, oscillating between the realms of pshat (literal meaning), drash (homiletical interpretation), and sod (mystical or esoteric interpretation). She believes in the power of the spoken word to bring about change in the world, and perceives art as a field of action with a similar potential, where words and gestures exceed their status as representations to become a generative force. The title of the exhibition, with the range of denotations and associations it evokes—height, step, angle, temperature, virtue—resonates throughout the space, inviting viewers to dwell in the liminal realms of language: to suspend the need for immediate interpretation, to momentarily relinquish the search for fixed meanings, and to attune to the images, materials, and sounds before they consolidate into stable definitions.

The exhibition was produced with the assistance of the Lottery Council for Culture and Art.

Curator: Adi Lam