Dor Zlekha Levy, Inhale, 2020

Dor Zlekha Levy  (B. 1990)

Inhale, 2020

Mechanical sculpture, sound

Courtesy of the artist

Woodwork: Yaron Naor; programming: Zvika Markfeld ; sound: Aviad Zinemanas; consulting: Boris Kravitz

A small mechanical sculpture struggles to breath on its own as a natural action becomes a calculated effort, heard from afar. The machine produces an unusual sound, drawing us closer in order to understand it.  Dor Zlekha Levy’s work turns our attention to the act of breathing – a generally unconscious act that takes on an unconventional character. Equipped with a soundbox, the object stands alone in space, its hybrid presence blurring the line between the human and the animal. This musical instrument’s howl causes its world to shake and tremble, provoking the same reaction in our own world.

Zlekha Levy’s work often engages with forgotten traditions in contemporary social and political contexts. It sheds light on voices that are excluded from the cultural discourse of Israeli society and of the local art world. His sound performances explore the binary character of language – the ways in which both conventional language and preverbal expression enable interaction, while pointing to social gaps and communication barriers.

In this work, the rise and fall of the concave sculpture produces a sound that calls us to draw closer, identify with and respond to the breathing challenges of this strange object. This is an invitation to participate in a slow, shared process of inhaling and exhaling, which connects the viewers to the instrument they encounter. At a time when many of us are struggling to expand the limits of our empathy and render our social affinities more flexible, Zlekha Levy’s work invites us to empathize with an experience of pain emerging from a different world.

The production of this work was made possible courtesy of Artport.