Keren Benbenisty

A series of drawings, approximately 300 Pages, H.11 L.9 in. H.28 L.22 cm (each), sixteen bottles, erasure residue, 8oz. 2013

An architectural assemblage made out of 300 drawings – erased offset sheets from a deconstruction of The Burghley Collection: a catalogue showcasing a collection of antique Oriental porcelains from 17th century Japan.

The original catalogue manifest early points of contact between the Orient and the Occident and attest to a cross-cultural fertilization in the pre-industrial era that can be read into their decoration. ‘A politic of the decorative,’ the porcelains were intended for Western export, catering to Western taste for the Oriental. The shape of the ceramics often followed European designs, while the painted decorations had the charge of representing the object’s Eastern origin.

The porcelains in the collection signify exchange and cultural hybridity, but they also speak of the exoticization of the other, and implies issues of domination and power. The gesture of effacement revisits the chosen ‘cultural object’ through its printed form, making it appear and disappear simultaneously, and eventually turning it into a new image. It is an operation that marks and highlights as much as it erases. The erasing gesture is a way of doubting, or denying what is there.

1/16 bottles, erasure residue, 8oz.

Installation view, Under Erasure, curated by Irith Hadar at the Tel-Aviv Museum of Art, Israel