“What remains of the memory of cities?

A thousand million keys jingling in pockets. A thousand million destinies behind these bare walls. And yet they bear the trace of emotion. An accumulation of scattered fragments, forgotten laughter, trembling tears.” (Jean-Baptiste Avril-Bodenheimer)

The Exhibition “Silent City” takes place at the Heder Gallery in Tel Aviv and presents the series “Tel Aviv 100” by the French photographer Jean-Baptiste Avril-Bodenheimer. His black and white architecture photography shows houses and buildings, including beautiful Bauhaus architecture, from around the “White City” of Tel Aviv (recognized by UNESCO as a world heritage site).

I find the issues of memory and architecture in this artist’s work fascinating. The viewers discover in Avril-Bodenheimer’s photos a dream-like city which sometimes looks ephemeral, probably because all of his shots show an empty city. Or maybe because he is in a way representing the memory of a place, which can itself often be vague and fragmentary.

There is also an eternal quality to his work, perhaps because of the memory these houses bear, as Avril-Bodenheimer seems to highlight in his text accompanying the exhibition (see extract at the beginning of this post). The architecture in the photos is indeed an index, a trace of Tel Aviv’s history.

Thinking about this exhibition, I suddenly remembered a quote by the artist Louise Bourgeois which seems to fit this relation between memory and architecture: “When you summon, when you conjure the memory, in order to make it clearer, you pile up the associations the way you pile up bricks to build an edifice. Memory itself is a form of architecture.” (Louise Bourgeois) Here are my favorite photos by Jean-Baptiste Avril-Bodenheimer from the exhibition:

Don’t miss this exhibition, which is also a great way to start celebrating 100 years to Tel Aviv!

“Silent City”, until 17 January 2009, The Heder Contemporary Art Gallery, 11 Gottlieb Street Tel Aviv

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