Solo at Rothschild
Yuval Naor | Selfish Ape
(1/3)

Solo at Rothschild

A space for solo exhibitions created especially for members of the Edmond de Rothschild Center network.
Its purpose is to foster the creation of new projects and facilitate the production of existing works, providing curatorial support and collaborative thinking and development processes.
Every year, three solo exhibitions of network members will be selected.

Determinism:
Three solo exhibitions at the Edmond de Rothschild Center, Floor -1.

12.6-24.8.23
Participants: Yuval Naor, Daniel Nahum, and Dor Bar Shlomo
Curators: Adi Yaniv, Moran Sulmirski Noam, and Rotem Kaplan

The three artists whose works are presented in the trilogy’s three exhibitions chose to engage in an investigation and observation of the concept of “determinism” (a philosophical view according to which every event, action, decision, or human thought in the world is exclusively determined by previous events).

First Exhibition

Yuval Naor | “Selfish Ape”

Curator: Adi Yaniv

In this exhibition, Yuval Naor seeks to explore the force that led to the social practice that structures the relationships among humans and between humans and nature. This power is based on knowledge that is rooted in research, which according to Naor, has led to the widespread tendency to see human as the chimpanzee’s descendant. Naor returns to the basics and checks why the tendency is to link our own lives specifically with the chimpanzees – is that the convenient choice for us? Does it take away some of our responsibility for the choices we make?
As part of his artistic practice, Naor chooses to challenge technology on its “primitive side,” using its capabilities to examine the simple stuff. Here, he applies the wonders of technology in order to travel back and learn about beginnings. He appropriates a chosen point of departure, where he traces bonobo behavior and experiments with it using an avatar in his own image. He is attempting to understand what would have happened if the bonobo apes were the chosen model: Would the political power that drives us as a society be different? Would humans’ mutual interactions be otherwise? Would human society be compassionate and empathetic, sympathizing with the weak, refraining from war, dominated by women, and mostly making love?