Exit Strategies: Public Time, Private Time

Social distancing posed a good opportunity to redefine the role of a new Urban Space. Both in the short term and long. The restrictions instilled during the Corona-virus epidemic left the public sphere almost deserted with minimal interactions in the streets. As a studio who’s primary place of work is Open Space, we decided to turn our focus onto our own private garden. This is a place that has recently transformed into a venue for human interactions, a place that’s Outside yet also Inside.

As part of our Installation for “Exit Strategies – Art Works in the Public Sphere” curated by the Municipality of Tel Aviv to celebrate the re-opening of the public realm, we turned our Studio’s inner garden into a place of hospitality. Mimicking the age-old tradition of housewarming, we opened our gates and through an elongated guest table placed inside our yard we extended a hand to passers-by and invited them in. One end of the table was set within the yard’s walls and the other – beyond the garden gate.The table as a domestic item becomes a (private) code of entry into the private sphere. Through a public gesture happening from within the private indoors, the gate’s threshold becomes a symbolic gateway between the two. Inside we set a water fountain, as a promise of nourishment. 

On the external face of the door our Studio hung an analog Public Clock that signifies, apart from the time, also a moment of transposition from place to place and time to time.