The Guardians of the Threshold
The Guardians of the Threshold installation, presented in the Israeli pavilion at the 2007 Venice Biennale and curated by Suzanne Landau, reimagines the pavilion's modernist architecture as a pre-modern cave. Yehudit Sasportas transforms the structure into an infinite platform for shadows, projections, and sculptures. The installation spans the entire pavilion, starting on the first floor with the Shadows Wall, a wall sculpture of external windows. These windows, which penetrate the building, suggest a huge external window functioning as an internal one. Drawings of moving trees and branches appear on the window rails, creating an effect that blends nature with the architectural elements. The work closes the original window of the pavilion and reflects the movement of trees, serving as both sculpture and sketch.
Opposite this, The Shutter Work incorporates a corner space, relating to the pavilion’s architectural layout. This piece features a forest clearing image, likened to a tattoo seared into the sculpture’s surface. It functions as a balcony that introduces external light into the pavilion, casting it on the floor like a fan.
On the second floor, Sasportas displays two large sculptures/drawings measuring seven meters wide and two meters tall. These pieces suggest gates or windows, with modernistic drawings where the window gates form the composition’s lines. In the central part of the sculptures, images of the space reflect each other, representing a mirror effect between two walls. The sculptures juxtapose two perspectives: one, a hybrid of modernist painting with a wall behind the painting; the other, a classical view where the painting acts as a window to the outside world. A slow-moving video of a swamp serves as the only light source.
On the upper floor, the round sculpture The Swamp depicts a tangled swamp or open forest clearing, surrounded by wooden poles suspended from the ceiling. The entire installation explores reflection, portrayal, and illusion. Rather than directly showing what is represented, the viewer is led to look beyond the representations themselves. Each sculpture and drawing serves as a cover story, offering hybrid creatures constructed from various philosophical and cultural perspectives.
Israeli Pavilion, Venice, Italy
