Monograph dedicated to the films of the Israeli artist Assaf Gruber.
Articulated around eight conversations related to the films' production,
this publication reflects an important theme in Gruber's work: what effects
can art have on individuals far removed from the artistic field.
The publication is composed of eight chapters, each focusing on a discussion
that turned out to be a significant factor in the films' production. The
transcription of each conversation is placed next to film stills with
subtitles superimposed. This conceptual design allows Gruber to present the
films as the third party in each chapter, as if they too are commenting,
questioning, and completing the dialogues.
Assaf Gruber (born 1980 in Jerusalem, lives and works in Berlin) works
mainly with
film and
sculpture.
His projects often question how art affects individuals who are not
inherently drawn to it: an applicant who, due to his religious background,
was rejected multiple times from the East German art academies during the
1970s; a retired security guard from the Old Masters Gallery in Dresden, who
now wants to spend the rest of her life as a volunteer in an Avant-Garde
museum; and Chinese owners of a manufacture company for contemporary art
sculptures based in Poland. These are some of the leading protagonists in
Gruber's projects, that are always navigating between facts and
fabrications. The plots emerged from the personal environments of the
characters and address the manner in which political ideologies of subjects
are intertwined with personal stories and the way in which they shape social
relations within private and public spheres.
