In the Next Few Minutes

Solo at Rothschild
a space for solo exhibitions, created by the Edmond de Rothschild Center especially for members of the Edmond de Rothschild Center network. Its purpose is to foster the development of new projects and facilitate the production of existing works by providing curatorial guidance and encouraging group thinking processes.

A series of exhibitions about loss and processing
Three solo exhibitions at the Edmond de Rothschild Center, floor -1.
May-November 2025
Participants: Adi-Chen Jamui, Noga Sirota, Yuval Katz
Curators: Yaelle Ben-Ami, Yael Jacobs, Lital Bar-Noy

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Noga Sirota | In the Next Few Minutes
Curator: Yaelle Jacobs

In the war-weary State of Israel, we are very quickly drawn into a home routine, a wartime routine, a safe room routine. What are the things we’ll take with us? What will save us? What will make us feel safe, and for how long?

In the past two years, “rescue supplies” have begun to accumulate in homes. A collection of items in excessive quantities – water, toilet paper, batteries, a landline phone and emergency lights. Artist Noga Sirota took notice of these compositions piled up in room corners in homes around her. They reminded her of one of the popular genres of still-life painting – vanitas – in which objects are meant to evoke the transience of life and the certainty of death, not necessarily to instill fear, but to open a space for comfort and resilience, for recognizing death as a natural part of our lives. During a year in which we found ourselves moving in and out of safe rooms and bomb shelters, these everyday, mundane items have assumed an almost existential meaning. And yet, at times, clinging to these objects has also seemed utterly absurd.

In June 2025, the Iranian front erupted, followed by twelve days of existential fear unlike anything we had ever known. Once again, supermarket shelves were emptied, and the streets fell silent. And once again these items, which gave us a sense of control over our lives and our safety, became so important.

Noga, a video and animation artist, scans objects – everyday spaces and items consumed since the outbreak of the war – and places them into 3D software. Through the scanning process, the objects take on a slightly fractured appearance, and Noga assembles them into a delicate, surreal short film composed of nearly imperceptible moments that take place within the domestic space.

The work presented here is characterized by a touch of humor and critique, including self-critique. Noga operates on the delicate boundary of animation, seeking to make these objects move without personifying them or assigning them a meaning beyond their original one. She uncovers the natural movement of the inanimate items, turning them into an even more integral part of our domestic spaces.

Each of us can recognize ourselves in these items and quietly chuckle at the sight of the tuna cans we stockpiled to ward off hunger, or the socket rail we kept close at hand so that, heaven forbid, we wouldn’t lose a single bar of battery on our phones. And of course, the transistor radio – the undisputed king of Eretz-Israeli wars.

The exhibition consists of a film featuring a series of small events within the domestic space, focusing on the very moment when we know that, in the next few minutes, we will gather in the safe room along with our “rescue supplies”, hoping for the best.

Music: Lior Soltz