2021, installation view, The Negev Museum of Art, Be'er Sheva, Israel. Photo: Tal Nisim

The hybrid and mysterious works of Adi Fluman bring together objects and images, the manual and the digital, three- and two-dimensionality, the artwork and its frame. Often inspired by images found on the Internet, her laborious creations trigger the viewer’s eye, asking to question what we think we see, to look beyond the surface of things – despite their seductiveness – and to appreciate the intrinsic power of man-made objects. Her creative process includes making 3D models using computer software, which are printed and presented in special frames she designs. She calls her works “inkjet-printed digital sculptures in artist frames.”

This exhibition presents the development of Fluman’s practice through three series of works: “Bottleneck” (2016), produced as her graduation project at the MFA program (in Tel Aviv-Yafo) at Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, Jerusalem; “The Perfect Lamina” (2017), showcased at Dvir Gallery in Tel Aviv; and “Souvenir d’amitié” (2020), premiered at CCA – Center for Contemporary Art Tel Aviv.

Following the museum’s architecture, each room is dedicated to one series, presented in its entirety. On the ground floor, the “Bottleneck” series mixes body parts with objects and connects the human and the non-human, as well as biographical elements with scientific materials. In the first gallery on the top floor, “The Perfect Lamina” features works inspired by various toolboxes and containers, enriched by sophisticated and mimetic layers (laminas) and sculptural artist frames. Displayed in the last section of the exhibition, “Souvenir d’amitié” [French: reminders of friendship] are prints of 3D renderings so detailed and meticulous that they could be mistaken for photographs. These works are inspired by historical objects, now in museum collections, usually crafted by anonymous creators as expressions of immaterial values, such as marital love.

The title of this exhibition is taken from the Greek mythological figure of Pandora, the first woman created by the gods and sent to humankind with a box filled with all the illnesses and hardships that the gods had kept secreted from humans. Her name means “all-gifted”, from the combination of pan (all) and doron (gift). Intended as a punishment to humankind after receiving from Prometheus fire he had stolen from the gods, Pandora was asked to keep the box closed. Unable to resist her curiosity, she opened the box, letting all the evil spirits out. Echoing this myth, the exhibition offers reflections on the notions of gifting, divine creation, technology, gender, and secrets.

“Adi Fluman: Pandora's Box” is curated by Nicola Trezzi, Director and Curator of CCA Tel Aviv. Assistant curator: Bar Goren. This project is a collaboration between the Center, the Negev Museum of Art, and the Bar-David Museum of Art and Judaica in Kibbutz Bar’am, where Fluman will present its last chapter. “Talismans”, Fluman’s first monograph, accompanies the entire project, which is supported by OUTSET Contemporary Art Fund (Israel) and Dvir Gallery, Tel Aviv / Brussels.