HAREL WAHNICH   NO   ABOUT    

The Altar Hearth, 3rd Movement:
Pawns Court
2024

Exhibition Bezalel MFA Thesis Exhibition, June-July 2024, Tel Aviv, Israel
Curator Prof. Dor Guez 
Mentor Nevet Yitzhak 
Philosopher Menachem Goldenberg 
Rabbi Ezra Yosefun 
Performer Dan Weinstein 
Documentation Daniel Hanoch, Yuval Steinberg, Daniel Pakes

Pawns Court is the third movement of The Altar Hearth tetralogy, and the 2nd constempllation. It’s title draws from the “Outer Court” of Ezekiel’s vision of the Temple (Ezekiel 43). The exhibition was open to the public for 16 days in the summer of 2024. Pawns Court evolved around a logical problem in Ezekiel’s vision of the Temple. This vision entails a detailed written architectural plan of the temple, impossible to turn into a model. This problem inspired activity and action, striving for factual existence regardless of it’s nature. 

Pawns Court was composed of nine sculptures, and a musical score (partitura). The score was placed on a stand by the entrance, along with a chair. it was performed twice, in two open concerts during the time of the exhibition. Pawns Court had two modes of appearance and operation, “day” and “night”, distinct by light and sonority. both natural and artificial. The transition between these modes involved a ceremony performed daily during the exhibition.





ALTAR 2024 (SON, 16 MONTH)

LED (pixel) screens, computer (Pi), graphics card, cables, MDF with oak veneer, hollow square iron profile, charcoal drawing on wrapping paper placed between two vellum papers, video, operating code

WATCH
BLACK ASS

bronze casting, black patina, leveling pipe, lint, fluorescent LED (T8 6500K), waterproof light fixtures, white power cable, external outlets, plugs.

LAST OF PEKIIN

local construction sand (coastal plain), galvanized l-shaped corner angles, galvanized steel screws, hollow square iron profile, MDF boards, formica, frosted glass ceiling lamp shade, glue, charcoal, white plasticine, glass bottle with leftover image from 1st movement a, glass bottle with leftover glue from the 2nd movement, terrazzo tiles from the "peki'in tiles" factory in Peki'in, Israel
HAHA REL

acoustic elements (condensed black foam), pencil blueprint on vellum paper, lint, bronze rod, iron rods.

VOICES 2024-2019

white oak wood frames, solid galvanized iron, blue thermal insulation boards (XPS), amplifier, computer (Pi), audio exciters, cables, recording from the Church of the Annunciation (day voice), First Cello No. Two | Bi Cluster (night voice), Quasi - Still (night voice), operating code, fluorescent LED (T8 6500K), waterproof light fixtures, white power cable, external outlets, plugs.


this sculpture was one of internal (artificial) sound sources of Pawns Court. The sound was produced by it’s built frames, basically “panel speakers”. in day mode (noon until sunset), it played a day recording of taken in March 2024 inside the empty St. Joseph's Church, Nazareth, while fighter aircraft fly over on their way back or to Lebanon during the war. This voice was synced with the video in the sculpture Altar 2024. in night mode it played two pieces created in 2019 (i) First Cello No. Two | Bi Cluster (ii) Quasi - Still.
BWV 1006: I. PRELUDE

JS Bach Violin Partita no. 3 in E Major was recomposed for Dan Weinstein in Pawns Court at Night Time. An all-specific musical offering from a student to his cello teacher. 

The recomposition is a graphic score drawn on a printed arrangement for cello of the original score. It includes a structured proposition for spanning the traditional 3 minutes performance to 20 minutes. The scroe was folded into the blueprint notebook of Pawns Court, and placed on a stand next to a chair, positioned right by the custom iron handrail in the entrance, which had a stack of coal on wrapping papers drawings laid on it. 

Two concerts took place in  on July 4th and 13th, 2024. Unfortunately the video documentation of the concert was lost. So here you will find a recording of the 2nd concert, audio only.

LISTEN (SOUNDCLOUD)

KISS A (2024)

plaster casts, glass casts, hollow square iron profile, white jute, iron mesh, fluorescent LED (T5 6500K), white cables
ORGAN (REPLACED)

Lint (from a home dryer), round LED lights (6500K), hollow square iron profile, white power cable, plugs.

UNTITLED

acoustic masses, white plasticine, fluorescent bulbs (6500K), light fixture, white power cable, yellow power cable, external outlets, plugs, rolled drawings on black paper (white pastel pencil, graphite), rolled white wrapping paper, rubber bands.
DEPTH

ceiling lamp shade made of onyx stone, glue, glass, plaster casts, mold, MDF, hollow square iron profile, fluorescent LED (T8 6500K), waterproof light fixtures, white power cable, external outlets, plugs.



20.5x29 cm notebooks made of recycled paper. Each notebook is embossed with a word in gold, together forming "וְהַהַרְאֵל אַרְבַּע אַמּוֹת" (Ezekiel 43:15), “The Altar Hearth” in hebrew. The first notebook, labeled "וההראל" contains The Altar Hearth 1st and 2nd movements related drawings and notes. The second notebook, labeled "ארבע" (“Four”), contains blueprints of the sculptures, providing transcribed visions, notes, instructions and measurements. It was used to keep BWV 1006 folded during the exhibition. The third, "אמות" (“Cubits”) is for the coming intermezzo and final movement.


‘appearances’ is an accumulated list of aphoristic statements in Hebrew starting from May 2023. it is one of the textual activities related to The Altar Hearth tetralogy.  

18 selected statements were published as an ig story around 9am every day, stored in a ig highlight that disappeared the morning after the exhibition closed.
align (open) a preparation for opening ritual. tasks performed in order: open windows, floor cleaning, cables alignment, cables cleanup, install ceiling fluorescent LED tubes placed in Kiss 2024, start day voices, start video (synced) by code. 

30 minutes ritual ending with opening the door to visitors of the day, avoiding interaction.
 day night transition ceremony between day mode to night mode, occurring right before the end of sunset. tasks performed in order: uninstall all but two ceiling fluorescent LED tubes and place them in Kiss 2024, change day voices to night voices by code.
10 minutes ceremony while exhibition is opening. interaction mode unclear.
 shutdown occurring exactly on on closing time of the exhibition. tasks performed in order: space main electricity switch down, doors locked.



Pawn Court was conceived and evolved in my Bezalel MFA studio for nine month. July 2023 - May 2024. During that time two metaphysical inquiries spiraling Ezekiel Vision of the Temple occurred regularly, and in parallel. 1-1 with philosopher Menahem Goldenberg, and 1-1 with rabbi Ezra Yosefun. It’s physical completion required help from good heart intended craftsman willing to endure logical and impractical limitations imposed by each sculpture logic of purity.
Thank you Ami Shemesh (c), Anton Grazno, Avigdor Ornstein (c), Barak Rubin, Dan Weinstein, Dor Guez, Eili Levy, Eitan Ben Moshe, Eli Bar, Eli Mizrahi (c), Eli Petel, Esther Peled, Ezra Yosefun (c), Gabriel Haggiag, Gabriel Wahnich (c), Gil Marco Shani, Gilad Ratman, Idan Sestieri Lavie, Kobi Cohen, Lee Nevo, Maayan Elyakim, Maayan Feigin, Maya Avin, Maya Ella, Menahem Goldenberg, Maryline Miriam Dahan, Moshe Ninio, Naoki Atarashi, Nevet Yitzhak, Oded Komemi, O (c), Roy Amit, Shachar Yahalom, Shlomo Shoshan, Tamar Erez, Tzachi Medina, Yan Bolotov, Yaniv Malz (c), Yehudit Sasportas, Yoel Peled, Yonatan (Chucky) Edelson, Yossi Peleg (c), Yuval Hasidim

\1. And he walked me to the gate \13. And these are the measures of the altar \14. From the inner court to the outer court \15. And the Harel is four cubits, and from the Ariel upwards the horns are four. \Ezekiel 43