KW Institute for Contemporary Art in Berlin presents the first major solo exhibition of the Israeli artist Absalon. Born in Ashdod (Israel) in 1964, he died in Paris in 1993 at the age of 28. Within a few years he created a legacy of exceptional coherence and complexity which, even while remaining unfinished, does not lose its integrity.
Absalon worked with space consistently and systematically. Starting from basic human actions and simple geometric forms — the rectangle, the square, the triangle and the circle — he began by clearing space before rebuilding and filling it anew with these same forms. Test structures, later supplemented by objects, drawings, photographs and films, culminated in his Cells — individualized, ascetic living units made to the measurements of his own body. These structures, reduced to a strict geometric system, embody extreme abstraction but do not aspire to utopia. Instead, they create heterotopic spaces that call into question the habitual perception of life. Absalon intended to place his Cells in six major cities in order to juxtapose his own physical existence with the social order: “They are not meant for isolation. They are made for living in society” — Absalon
