WE the artist, the kabbalist & the circleXperiment Zenita Komad
WE The Artist, the Kabbalist & the CircleXperiment Zenita Komad
WE the artist, the kabbalist & the circleXperiment Zenita Komad
Dedicated to Kayra, Konrad, David, Sara & Jaakov Hoping for a better world for your generation
ARI Publishers
Zenita Komad The Artist, the Kabbalist & the CircleXperiment Copyright Š 2015 by Zenita Komad All rights reserved Published by ARI Publishers www.ariresearch.org, hq@ariresearch.org 1057 Steeles Avenue West, Suite 532, Toronto, ON, M2R 3X1, Canada 2009 85th Street #51, Brooklyn, New York, 11214, USA Printed in the USA No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner without written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. Research: Jßrgen Tabor, Lena Nievers, Beate Ermacora Translation: Nathan Moore Proofreading: Carmela Heilbronner Layout : Patrick Anthofer Cover: Zenita Komad Publishing and Post Production: Uri Laitman First Edition: December 2015 ISBN: 978-1-5195-0914-7
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CONTENTS
Introduction Beate Ermacora 7
Foreword Aaron Chester 8
Zenita Komad in conversation with Beate Ermacora 13, 31, 49, 51, 71, 73, 99
Zenita Komad in conversation with Michael Laitman 15, 25, 35, 65, 77, 81, 93
List of Works 114 Biography 120 Bibliography 123 Colophon 124
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Each of Us Has Only a Desire to Receive for Ourselves; It Is the Source of All the Worries, Suffering, Wars and Slaughter, 2014
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INTRODUCTION When Zenita Komad, born in Klagenfurt in 1980 and currently residing in both Vienna and Tel Aviv, first presented her work, it was under the banner of Zenita Universe. For some time now, however, she has been shifting her focus away from this rather egocentric perspective and toward presenting a world picture that has been woven into a larger We – a we that arises from the ongoing interaction between the I and the you. In a new installation made especially for the exhibition, Zenita Komad, who studied at the University of Applied Arts and the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna, sheds light upon this notion quite literally: the words Ich [I] and Du [you] are presented on the side walls of the space, while the word Wir [we] shines out from the back wall. The entire room is crisscrossed by a geometric grid of black cords, which, according to Komad, represents the social matrix. Her fundamental interest in social questions and processes is shown in the exhibition by a series of interactive object paintings, sculptures and collages with drawing, in which her use of text plays a decisive role. Almost all of the elements we see are interconnected, linked together by red cords extending across the exhibition spaces to converge above the circle of ten chairs that form the circleXperiment at the heart of the show. On thirteen dates, the artist is hosting open talking circles that she will take part in via video chat. The topics for the circles are inspired by the works in the exhibition and concern questions about human existence and relations. In this way, Komad wants to establish a school of mutual regard that highlights connective and positive approaches to solutions, while avoiding the emergence of competition that might ordinarily arise amongst participants. In order to achieve this, she has undergone training as a mediator and drawn up conversation rules that ensure all participants are treated as equals. Quite unusually for a young artist whose work is as cheeky as unconventional in both its form
and aesthetic, she addresses spirituality and aspects of various faiths and religions. One project she has embarked upon in Israel, for example, is called The Artist and the Kabbalist, in which she questions the celebrated Kabbalist Michael Laitman about his concept of God. Time and again, she has translated sayings and epigrams into literal terms and transposed them humorously into her own visual language. Likewise, anagrams and mirror writing appear in her works as mystifying elements, allowing for the content to be deciphered in a playful way while, at the same time, leaving room for personal interpretation. Almost all of her large tableaux, which are not only painted but also adorned with objects and materials that often extend into real space beyond the picture plane, are equipped with interactive sensors so that works recalling Pop Art start to blink, flash and ring as soon as anyone approaches them. I am delighted to see the dedication with which Zenita Komad has realised this exhibition, in which both older and recent works have been incorporated into a broad, encompassing thematic and spatial concept. I wish to express my heartfelt thanks to her not only for this, but also for the conversation we had that is printed in this catalogue and provides fascinating insight into her thoughts and ideas. My thanks go further to Malcolm Green for his precise translations of the texts. Gregor Sailer has photographed the exhibition in rich detail and Harald Richter designed the catalogue with great care and perceptiveness. My sincerest thanks to them as well as to the publishers, Verlag Kettler. I am moreover much indebted to Galerie Krinzinger for the excellent cooperation. Last but not least, I would also like to give special thanks to the entire team at Galerie im Taxispalais for the efficient organisation and realisation of the exhibition. Beate Ermacora Director, Galerie im Taxispalais
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FOREWORD I am a friend of Zenita’s, and I am very honoured to be able to write the foreword to her outstanding work. This special book actually teaches us about how to achieve happiness, which is the reason for which we are living. To attain this happiness, we have to undergo changes and a certain process that is still completely foreign to us. I alone cannot learn or attain anything spiritual, but my good connections and relationships with others are, in fact, what unlock all of the secrets of life for me. Zenita’s book presents a kind of scrutiny that is needed more than ever before. We are living in a world where everything is becoming more and more instantaneous, both for the good and for the bad. The younger the generation, the less they read books and the more smart phone apps they have. Today’s level of development and, in turn, constantly growing egotism demands new forms of education if we want to succeed in guiding people toward experiencing the good transformation we all need so badly today. It is worth noting that the more developed the country, the more widespread depression is amongst its people. Those of us who are engaged in the wisdom of Kabbalah learn that we do not need to expand our intellects or even levels of knowledge. We learn this wisdom in order to change ourselves fundamentally. Zenita’s book gives to people visual stimulation that, in an instant, touches their hearts. This is artwork that heralds the message of unity and connection as a solution to all problems in a contemporary way, as is called for by the times. Zenita’s work illustrates that it is time to take matters into our own hands so we can begin to provide society with good examples. It speaks to us in our current state, with smart imagery that gets us thinking and feeling. She takes today’s vogue and transforms it into beautiful art work, with which she says
to us, ‘Let’s come together and understand why we are living.’ Is that not what all good art tries to do? Beyond the artwork itself, what spoke to me most were her interviews with Michael Laitman. Zenita takes questions and poses them candidly to the greatest Kabbalist of our times. Laitman answers them just as candidly. The best way I can put it is that this book takes a person on a journey into him or herself. Laitman speaks to us from a level of spiritual attainment, meaning feeling phenomena that we do not yet feel. It’s as if there is actually no knowledge to be acquired through this Q&A, but only feeling. If nothing else, the message of Zenita’s book and her work in general is that we have in our power the ability to change everything for the better in our lives. Zenita doesn’t hide anything in her artistic expression. She’s unapologetic so to speak. That is only because she feels the importance of giving to others what she has learned and felt in her own flesh, however. I don’t know the first thing about spirituality, but I’ve felt this feeling too. It’s the feeling that reaching good, warm connections with other people takes us out of ourselves and our own problems, and provides us with a very new sensation. This new sensation is the feeling of true, genuine concern for others who previously meant nothing to one, and our view is that this is what the whole world demands without knowing it. As of now, our best means of fulfilling this demand and thereby giving to one another is by conducting connection circles. Consisting of about ten people, we discuss in them how we can come to unity and mutual concern above all of our differences. I hope each and every person will experience these connection circles for themselves. There is truly nothing like it. Zenita Komad, the Artist and the Kabbalist & the CircleXperiment is a journey that each and every person should embark
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on. I’m sure that a person can’t come away from this book in the same way that he or she started it. With her work, Zenita is striving for neither fame nor notoriety. She is striving to give to people a genuine framework for understanding how we can begin to change this world for the better. She introduces to us the wisdom of how to
One Goal, 2015
exit hatred for one another and enter love. Zenita and I both feel wholeheartedly that this is possible and necessary now, more than at any point in history. As one of her works says, let’s ‘think less and feel more.’ Aaron Chester
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It’s time for spiritual action, 2010 Start L(G)iving, You’re Not Here for Long, 2015
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Beate Ermacora: At the centre of your exhibition We, which you have devised exclusively for Galerie im Taxispalais, is the circleXperiment. How should we envisage this experiment? Zenita Komad: Europe is in a terrible state. 60 million refugees are on the move worldwide. Some European countries are helping with impressive solidarity, while others are putting up barbed wire, retreating into their shells and imagining that doing so will enable them to escape the impact of these developments. But ultimately, everything is connected with everything else. What is growing across the board is fear. Whenever fear rules, people allow themselves to be manipulated and instrumentalised. The countries and their governments are all overtaxed. This crisis differs fundamentally from the crises of the past. What we are seeing now is how strongly humanity is connected. If someone drills a hole in the boat all of us sink. Our egos have grown so rabidly that we are no longer capable of establishing relationships based on respect. We find it hard to join together without pursuing some mutual interest at the same time. Simultaneously, the isolation is making people increasingly despair and even sink into states of misery. Exceptional times like this call for exceptional artistic steps. We have started circleXperiment in order to improve communication between people. CircleXperiment is a school of attentiveness and aims at establishing a new form of education through person-to-person connections and inner work. It highlights the things that connect us rather than any certain topic and its intellectual mastery. The methods employed are intended to facilitate mental and spiritual growth and provide access to positive emotions. The sessions run by circleXperiment
are meticulously prepared and supervised in talking circles with certain rules. These rules give the participants the chance to observe themselves as they open up to others, usually complete strangers. Highly differing people with forthright opinions begin to sense a greater whole. They can overcome their fears of contact and share positive experiences and, in that way, improve their quality of life. Everyone in the circle is equal, everyone adds something to what went before and helps create the possibility of discovering more points in common than were originally thought possible. The participants begin to see the world from the viewpoint of what connects them and no longer from a self-centred, limited vantage point. The collective approach enables complex strata of thoughts and emotions to be perceived and then fused together into an all-encompassing picture. Each and every one of us is an essential part of this whole. Our vision consists of organ足ising these circles throughout a highly diverse range of social strata and thus helping to heal society.
He said that there is some kind of mirror in our brain, which turns everything upside down and it looks as if it would exist outside of us, 2014
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Zenita Komad: You say that matter in the world is only made up of light and frequencies. Are we living in an illusion? You, my teacher – are you an invention of my illusion? Michael Laitman: Our world is referred to as the ‘illusionary world’, because we view it from within our corrupted desires. The moment you begin to correct your desires, however, you also begin to discover higher spiritual forms. Still, this happens only on condition that desire is not used for selffulfillment, but rather for giving – for doing good to others. If I exist in this manner, I will discover the spiritual attributes and begin to traverse the worlds. So, is it an illusion that I currently exist in? Yes, it is. Compared to the spiritual world, I now truly exist in a ‘dream’. That is what it is called.
If not us, who? if not now, when? 2010
The Artist and the Kabbalist
CircleXperiment Talking circle in the exhibition
Rootpainting, 2014; CircleXperiment, 2015; Faith above Reason, 2014; Choose a Good Environment, 2015; ME / WE, 2015
Painting against bad looks, 2004; Start L(G)iving, You’re Not Here for Long, 2015; It’s Time to Change the Record, 2013; One Goal, 2015
Drilling a Hole in The Boat?, 2015 We are all in the same Boat, 2015
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Zenita Komad: You once told me that there was a God. In another talk, however, you said that He first had to be created, because He did not exist. Are both things correct? Michael Laitman: When I say there is a Creator, I mean that it is possible to attain the attributes of bestowal and love which reside in all of reality, and that, whenever I attain a part of them, that part is called ‘Creator’ – from the Hebrew words Bo re’eh, or ‘come and see’. Come and discover, or reveal. And that is my Creator, the Creator that is explained to us by the wisdom of Kabbalah. G-d forbids us to imagine any kind of character, as we have discussed before. Accordingly, if I say that there is no Creator, I mean that there is no Creator in the form that one might imagine. Still, there is a Creator – there is a God that exists in the way He ought to be described. That is why there sometimes is one and sometimes isn’t, depending on the questions I need to answer. That’s just how it is.
God does (n’t) exist, 2013
The Artist and the Kabbalist
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No one has condemned wisdom to poverty, 2013; Suffering is not a holy act, 2013; Pseudo-Existence, 2012; Come and see, 2012 Daddy, Why Do They Suffer?, 2015
Nobody Has the Solution, But Together We Can Find It, 2015; Love is a Beast, 2012; The Future of a(n) Illusion Vision, 2013; BELAZY, Don’t Waste Your Time on Stupid Things, 2015 Humanity Has to Push Europe to Unite, 2015
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Beate Ermacora: You have already tried out the circleXperiment and, in fact, conducted it with human rights workers, philosophers, quantum physicists and other scientists – which is to say, with people who we can expect to give fitting answers to the challenges of our times. Are you referring to them when you say ‘we’? Zenita Komad: We have, in fact, tried out these circles in various formats. Obviously, it’s best to work with homogeneous groups when one wants to explore certain issues, but the method is also well-suited to mixed groups. The power of the circle is based on the principle of collective intelligence. When I say ‘we’, I am simply referring to everyone. Society should not be divided up into people who are either clever or less clever, or into those who are valuable and those who are less so. If one views society as a body, every element is of vital importance. If one organ fails, it might spell the death of the entire organism. We are far too unaware of the importance our individual tasks have within this system. In order to understand these processes, the right connection has to be created with others. In that way, a higher We comes into being – a shared goal that enables us to see answers and feel them. Do you see the circleXperiment as not only an artistic action but also a project that reaches out into life? Do you see yourself here as part of an artistic tradition of utopias?
The paradigm is exhausted, 2012
I use the language I employ as an artist and expand its possibilities in order to draw attention to something. The world has developed to a critical point. I am trying to appeal to people and remind them of the responsibility each of us has. I see communication and good interpersonal connections as serious tools for restoring balance in a true society. Individuals are unable to solve this on their own. We can no longer afford utopias that cannot be realised. The global processes are already too advanced. The structures are all crumbling, the systems collapsing as a result of the outsized ego that humanity has developed. It is time to employ our egoistic energies positively and come up with new systems. Positive relations between people can definitely lead to solutions. I see this as realistic and feasible. It is up to us to decide whether we shall cope with these transformations through suffering, or through responsibility and a willingness to change – because the changes are going to come, whether we like it or not.
WE, 2015
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Zenita Komad: The physical world controls us. How can we let go of our attachments? Michael Laitman: We don’t need to let go of anything. We need to acquire the attributes of bestowal and love. When we have attained these, this world too will appear wonderful to us. We will begin to recognize the Higher Power in it. We will see that the Creator dwells in everything and governs all. We don’t need to give up anything. Think not about ridding yourself of things. When you want to rid yourself of something, it means that you do not agree with what the Creator has done, how He has prepared everything for you. That is forbidden. On the contrary, you need to continue correcting yourself until you are ready to agree that everything which exists does so in the absolutely ideal way.
Freedom from the angel of death, 2012
The Artist and the Kabbalist
Le Chaim, 2012
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ME / WE, 2015
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Egoistmantra, 2012
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The talk of a third kills three: it kills the one who tells, the one who receives and the one who listens., 2012
Happiness Formula, 2012; The key to infinity is connection, 2015; Every Action That Does Not Result in Love Is The Wrong Direction, 2015; How can I stop caring about my troubles so that I can trouble to care for others? 2012 Crisis Obligates Us to Connect, 2014
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May we value the virtues of friends 2015; Don´t be ashamed, 2015; Unity Or Not to Be, That Is the Question, 2011–2015; I Am Not As Great As I Think I Am, 2014 If I Am Not For Myself, Who Will Be For Me? If I Am Not For Others, What Am I? And If Not Now, When?, 2015
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I know is bullshit, 2012 Stabilize your state and give it back to sanctity, 2010
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Beate Ermacora: In the exhibition, you link up the talking circle with visual images, interactive objects or sculptures by means of red cords and, in that way, create an installation, which is to say: you visualise your notion of connection in a playful way. The titles of the works, which are included as integral parts of the pictures, serve, for their part, as topics for the talks: The influence of our surroundings, Giving, What is humanity’s spiritual longing?, If I change myself I change the world, or What does it mean if I place faith above reason? to name but a few. Are these works symbols for mental processes?
ZENITA KOMAD: The works are panels for thinking about topics that affect us all. I see the object paintings as springboards for reflection. In this way the enormous potential that is in all of us should become visible and tangible. There is a drawing, for instance, which says, ‘Please, change yourself, not others’. I also have to struggle quite often with giving effect to these messages. Nevertheless, I try to put them into practice. I am my own guinea pig, I try everything out on myself. It is our nature, which is bound by our five senses, that our inner life is mirrored by the outside. Traits that I find unpleasant or unseemly in others show me what I must work on in myself. If I change myself, the world changes too. Our outward gaze expands, and a benign contact with others becomes possible. The picture Faith above Reason (2014) tells of the struggles with such limitations. Everything I know, perceive or condemn corresponds to myself and says more about me than about the thing I am looking at. That, for me, marks the beginning of the inner work and the daily battle with reason, which can only recognise what it wants to. Above reason is the possibility of seeing the world as a miracle that is there to help us develop. With this outlook I can accept all that comes and work with it.
Halls of Trusting Daughters, 2015
The people who talk with you make up a very wide spectrum of exhibition visitors. Do you think they will be able to come out of their shells so that these topics can be seriously discussed? How far do the pictures help here to underline your concerns? Every one of us is a unique particle in the whole. It is totally irrelevant from which level of society somebody comes. The answers from the individual participants act together as a dimension that produces cohesion. With a speaking time of one minute, honest replies are sometimes more convincing than factual reports. It’s about the degree of cohesion and the readiness to generate the answers in the circle. Ten ‘Einsteins’ will not necessarily come up with a better solution than ten workmen. The focus of our work is not directed at the mind per se but at its expansion. It is basically not about the participants having to let themselves go. Rather, the images of their shared experiences affect everybody and create a bundled energy that becomes tangible through the connection that is made. This constructive kind of communication produces a feeling of being uplifted. But in order to internalise the structures and mechanisms and to observe positive changes in one’s own life, it is necessary to take part at least a few times in the circle. To come back to my artistic work – all of the pieces are based on observing different levels in the inner
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work that is required. In the best case, personal experience becomes generally valid. Sometimes, the microcosm is way ahead of the macrocosm. It is time to act, which is why I dedicate the greater portion of my work to society. Why are there exactly ten participants, including you? Ten people is the maximum that we can take in. We can perceive ten people and take them into our hearts. We have ten fingers and ten toes. But the number ten also has an important spiritual significance
If God Lived on Earth, People Would Break His Windows, 2015
– the point being that ten properties are enough to describe a world completely. Every molecule, every particle can be divided by ten. Mathematically speaking, ten is also the basis of the decimal system. The sequence from zero to nine gives ten numbers. Apart from that, ten is a triangular number as well as a tetrahedral number, and also the sum of the first three prime numbers. This is probably the reason why it stood for the beginning and the end of all numbers. The same principle is constantly repeated. Ten individual perspectives produce an all-Âinclusive picture.
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You & Me, 2015
ME / WE, 2015; Works on paper
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Integral Society, 2012
Faith above Reason, 2014 Dreadnought, 2010
Love is the best medicine, 2012; Let it be! Everything comes and goes by itself 2011; Life is totally wrong, but not tragic, 2012; In His treasury, the Creator has only the treasure of fear of God, 2010 Watch your feelings as they become thoughts, they become words. Watch your words. They become deeds. Watch your deeds. They become habits. Watch your habits. They become your second nature. 2015
Be Cautious of „Know It All“-Philosophers, 2014; Let‘s Be Less Wise, 2015; Put Your Thoughts to Sleep, 2014; A Pen Went Scribbling Along, 2014 Correction, 2015
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Zenita Komad: The past seems to produce shadows, which are constantly chasing me. How can that be overcome – this delving into the past? Michael Laitman: Dealing with the past will continue, until you enter the spiritual world. When you enter the feeling of the spiritual world, you will stop feeling sorry about the past. You will stop thinking about the past, because everything you experienced until you entered the spiritual world – until you have reached the point of feeling the spiritual world – everything will be attributed to the Creator. He planned it; He decreed that you should undergo all these events. Because you will attribute everything to Him, you won’t need to delve into that any more. Today you eat yourself up, saying ‘Why did I do this, and how could I have done that?’ You won’t have any thoughts about that then, so you can relax.
Each of us is a result of thousands of years of development by our ancestors, 2012
The Artist and the Kabbalist
Love Is the Only Force Capable of Transforming an Enemy into a Friend, 2013; We Don’t Even Exist, 2015; This World Is Imaginary, 2015; Think Less, Feel More, 2015 Do you believe that your life has been taken to the extreme? 2011
A New Vision Exists, 2010; A joke need not to be funny but it should be witty, 2011; Life Is a Joke, 2012; Where does intuition come from?, 2010 The Illusory History of Time, 2015
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Beate Ermacora: You are bringing delicate topics into the context of contemporary art and are conjoining them with esoteric, religious and occult issues along with various religious faiths. Precisely in a time when religious topics have long since had their day in art, you are readdressing them in your work, albeit in an altogether new, and, in my opinion, incredibly interesting way. Why is that? Zenita Komad: I bring up topics that concern us all. Spirituality was always high on the agenda in my art. What I have always been concerned with is connection between people and the question of the origins of our existence. The audience interprets my work in accordance with its own various ways of thinking and impressions. For me personally, the spiritual development of humanity is not connected with religion or esotericism. In my view, the ‘secret’ is only secret because we haven’t yet understood it. Basically, there is nothing secret or forbidden in spiritual work. There are simply different levels of perceptibility, and thinking only permits limited understanding. It requires efforts on our part and a setting that enables us to undertake the necessary self-analysis in order to penetrate further into these topics. A lot of people are tired and weighed down by the egoistical developments in the world. They want nothing to do with them. But people have a fundamental longing to inquire into the spiritual levels. They need rituals of self-analysis and connection with others. When one looks back through art history, one finds spiritual reflections in virtually all of the pertinent works of art. The relationship to a higher power is present. From Leonardo da Vinci to Walter De Maria, or, in contemporary art, from James Turell to Bruce Nauman, or from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Antoine de Saint-Exupéry to Jean-Paul Sartre in literature, we find an exploration of dimensions that take us beyond our worldly and physical calculations. This is art that can move and touch us.
Certain motifs that keep recurring in your work include the key and the keyhole, which you use as visual metaphors. What do they stand for? There is the concept of the ‘key work‘ which a lot of collectors and art historians enjoy using. I like joking with it. But naturally, keys also have a far-reaching meaning for me. I am referring to the locks within our inner being, the keys to the attainment of greater awareness. I am concerned with expanding our minds, so I am constantly searching for the right keys.
No Return, 2012
Illusion, 2013
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Drawing and collage take up a great deal of space in your work. Collage, in particular, was also used from the 1920s onward for political ends. Do you want to convey other, more decisive messages in your collages than you do in your paintings? You also, time and again, employ old engravings, which you defamiliarise using text and thus transpose into a new context. Do your slogans, which sound serious in part and, in part, amusing, come from existing texts or are they your own words?
The collages and drawings are trusty companions. All the visual work begins for me on paper first. Preliminary sketches are the signposts for my further working processes. I note down good ideas, which by no means have to be my own – although I most often add something to them. I appropriate the old engravings in order to add corrections, as I call it. Old contents are corrected so as to build up new levels of meaning. The paper soon shows me whether an idea can be expanded. Grouping the drawings makes them like a picture book for adults, which allows trains of thought to become visible.
I don’t care a hoot for all that humility-chatter, 2011
Don’t ask what happiness is, ask what your happiness is, 2012
One Goal, 2015; Choose the Upper Frequency, 2015; Keypainting 2013; Verum gaudium res severa est, 2005; The Key to Infinity Equals Connection, 2015
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Zenita Komad: Sometimes fatal illnesses provide genuine help toward attaining spirituality. Is it possible to avoid such harsh blows by doing internal work? Michael Laitman: Yes, and no. The issue is that it is impossible to avoid all the blows, because we exist in one, global system – all of humanity, including all the previous generations and all the generations that will be until the end of correction. As long as humanity exists, all are within a single system. Each one in this system is perpetually and increasingly dependent on the others, as well as present within them in all kinds of forms. In this system in which all of us are included together, it could be that I do good things, but that there are those near me who do bad things that may affect me (for the system is an integral one). It is like the body. If my leg hurts and I have a problem there, I feel it in my head. I cannot walk, and my arm and back starts to hurt, and so forth. This means that we cannot be rid of troubles until we all attain a comprehensive correction together.
Become a farmer, harvest stars!, 2010
The Artist and the Kabbalist
One Goal, 2015; It’s Time to Change the Record, 2013; Keypainting, 2013
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Zenita Komad: Do we need more feeling? Michael Laitman: We are lacking only in the right kind of feeling. We are developing emotionally. The intellect only serves emotion. The stronger our emotion is, the greater the intellect will be as well.
The Heart is the center of everything, 2012
The Artist and the Kabbalist
Heavens Gate 1, 2014; Root, 2014
Molecules of emotions, 2012; Why Don’t We Do What We Should Be Doing When We Understand What the Problems Are?, 2014; Live, Don’t Just Exist, 2013; Le Monde, 2013 Heartthinker, 2010
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Life Is Totally Wrong But Not Tragic, 2014; Don’t be a sore loser!, 2011; What is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow, 2011; Got an umbrella up your butt?, don’t open it, 2011 Lift Up the Weight, 2013
The Most Hidden Is Given to the Wise at Heart, 2013; Transform Duality, 2014; If It Tastes Bitter, It Is Not Ripe Yet, 2015; Revealing evil is an intrinsic trait of good, 2013 The Middle Line, 2013
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Zenita Komad: It is written that there is no blade of grass below that does not have an angel above who strikes it and tells it to grow. When I hear that, it almost makes me feel I don’t have any freedom of choice. Is everything by divine providence? Am I a marionette, a puppet on strings that has no influence on what happens to it? How can I influence my own development? Michael Laitman: Your entire life is governed from above – everything. Everything that has happened up until today, until this very moment, has all been governed from above. Indeed, it all could not have happened any other way. That is why you must not regret the past or even really take it into consideration. With whatever takes place from now on, you have complete freedom of choice. In what? In trying to be like the Creator as much as possible. The more you try to be like the Creator, the freer you become. What this means is that you begin to govern yourself on your own, rather than being given orders from above. For, if you acquire the attributes of the Creator, He can no longer take care of you, and it is no longer necessary. You have then become independent. To the extent that you become like the Creator, you acquire independence from Him, for you will act as He does, but with understanding and awareness, from within your own desire.
p.p Divinity hides between, 2013; Shine For All Until the End of Your Days, 2015 Exit your comfort zone, 2014
The Artist and the Kabbalist
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All the Changes Are Inside, 2012
Understand, 2013; By changing our intentions we change the entire universe, 2013; Spirituality Is Not Shopping, 2011; True belief is when real experience replaces lip service, 2010; The Creator Is Nobody’s Property, 2015
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Wow, please change yourself, not others! , 2014
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It’s Time to Change the Record, 2013; When Heaven Kisses Earth (Part II), 2009; Exhibition view Galerie Krinzinger, Vienna
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Beate Ermacora: You have linked your piece It’s Time to Change the Record (2013), in which you stretched cords from various geographical points on a 1929 world trade map out into the exhibition space, with the Biblical story of Abraham. The allusion, however, might be obscured to some at first glance. Could you explain this? Zenita Komad: The piece was first shown in an installation at Galerie Krinzinger in Vienna. At that time, I tied the seventy cords that came out of the picture together to form a single bundle. They refer to the seventy peoples of the world in Abraham’s day and the Biblical story in which, according to the Kabbalistic interpretation, Abraham represents the stage of connection in spiritual development. People from each of these nations followed the patriarch, Abraham, to Canaan with the aim of cultivating brotherly love as the highest law and living with mutual responsibility. The map comes from 1929, a significant year that marked the onset of the Great Depression and thus recalls the turbulent times prior to World War Two. With the threads, I have created a link between that time and Abraham’s and recall the Tower of Babel, when people stopped understanding one another. Abraham was a Babylonian and called on people to concentrate on what connected them – on brotherly love and mutual care. Then, a handful from each of the seventy nations followed him into the desert. Much later the religious founders broke away from his tribe – first, Judaism, then the Christians and some time later Islam. Abraham
came long before the religions. I like Abraham because he stands for integration and illumination. The division that took place at that time is mirrored in the trade map from 1929, which is based on the egoism of the colonial power structures back then, and can be felt more than ever today. We are more aware than ever of how the world is globally networked and people are no longer able to keep these powers under control. Nowadays, a new crisis is announced every couple of months. Utilitarian individualism has become its own victim. I see a possible natural development in humanity from an egoistic and private society to an altruistic, humane and social one. Crisis forces us to be more aware of other people and to r ealise that their suffering affects our own fates as well. We must apply ourselves in every possible way to grasp the reasons behind the current, so-called crisis, and, between us, develop new solutions and models for living, using new forms of education. Only with a broad educational initiative can we channel our times positively. If we see the world as a laboratory we have nearly managed to blow to bits, it is very simple for us to do the right calculations.
Things Don’t Change, Only the Way You Look at Them, 2010
Start L(G)iving, You’re Not Here for Long, 2015; It’s Time to Change the Record, 2013; Your Ego Is Blackmailing You, 2008; One Goal, 2015
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Heavens Gate, 2013
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Be grateful, and trust, 2013
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Heavens Gate 2, 2015
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Verum gaudium res severa est, 2005
It’s Time for Mutual Responsibility, 2015; Love is capable to overcome everything, 2011; Patience Please!, 2010; You must as well act from your strength as from your weakness, 2014 What we lack, is love. 2012
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In Honour of the Rabash, 2015 Everyone Is Equally Important, 2013
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Special thanks to my spiritual teacher, Michael Laitman. Zenita Komad interviews Michael Laitman, the renowned scientist and kabbalist, on different topics of existence. The project is ongoing.
MICHAEL LAITMAN Laitman was the disciple and personal assistant to Rabbi Baruch Ashlag, son of Rabbi Yehuda Ashlag, author of the authoritative Sulam (Ladder) Commentary on The ZOHAR. Dr. Laitman follows in the footsteps of his mentor’s mission in life – promoting the dissemination of the wisdom of Kabbalah throughout the world. Laitman’s scientific method provides individuals of all faiths, religions and cultures the precise tools necessary for embarking on an inspiring path of self-discovery and spiritual elevation focusing primarily on inner processes that individuals experience at their own pace. Michael Laitman earned his PhD in Philosophy from the Moscow Institute of Philosophy at the Russian Academy of Sciences, and his MSc in Medical Bio-Cybernetics from St. Petersburg State Polytechnic University. His extensive teaching experience led to his being conferred the title of Professor in Ontology and the Theory of Knowledge by the Highest Interdisciplinary Academic Attestation Commission of the Russian Federation. Laitman collaborated with prominent scientists conducting unique research on modern science
Choose the upper Frequency , 2015
and Kabbalah and in 2005 wrote a joint book on this topic with Prof Vadim Rozin of the Lomonosov Moscow State University, The State University of Human Sciences in the Russian Academy of Sciences Laitman’s thirty years of research into the science of Kabbalah is recognized among renowned scientists and researchers in hard science that adhere to the classical scientific paradigms. In the framework of his scientific and educational program, Laitman participates in international conferences alongside scientists from the world over. He is the founder and the president of the Ashlag Research Institute (ARI), established to research interconnections between the sciences of our world and the science of Kabbalah. Michael Laitman published over 40 books, translated into more than 30 languages and he teaches live daily lessons through www.kab.info to an audience of approximately two million people worldwide, simultaneously interpreted into 36 languages.
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LIST OF WORKS
Object paintings, sculptures, installations Faith above Reason, 2014; Acrylic on wood, boxing gloves, lock, light, motion sensor, electricity, 150 × 110 × 35 cm, p. 16/18 Choose a Good Environment, 2015; Acrylic on canvas, light, electricity, 150 × 110 cm, p. 17/19 Rootpainting, 2006; Canvas, sewn and filled with polystyrene granules, latex paint, light, 150 × 110 × 60 cm, p. 18/83 Painting Against Bad Looks, 2004; Canvas with polystyrene, Acrylics, 150 × 110 × 60 cm, p. 20 It’s Time to Change the Record, 2013; Map on wood, strings, Dimensions variable, p. 21 WIR, 2015; Adhesive letters, strings, 8.7 × 6.7 × 3.4 m, p. 32/33 Le Chaim, 2015; Wax, wick, metal stands, Dimensions variable, 170 × 30 × 50 cm, p. 36/37 ME / WE, 2015; Scales, cardboard, acrylic paint, 59 × 27 × 30 cm, p. 38 / 39
Integral Society, 2012; Acrylic on canvas, 110 × 150 cm, p. 56/57 Start L(G)iving, You’re Not Here for Long, 2015; Acrylic on canvas, electrical wire, light, sound, motion sensor, electricity, 150 × 110 cm, p. 75 Keypainting, 2013; Canvas, iron, light, motion sensor, electricity, 150 × 110 × 90 cm, p. 74/79 Choose the Upper Frequency, 2015; Acrylic on canvas, radio, noise, motion sensor, electricity, 150 × 110 cm, p. 74/112 The Key to Infinity Equals Connection, 2015; Acrylic on canvas, light, electricity, 150 × 110 cm, p. 75 Heaven’s Gate 1, 2014; Acrylic on wood, locks, light, motion sensor, electricity 150 × 110 × 20 cm, p. 82 When Heaven Kisses Earth (Part II), 2009; Installation View, Dimensions variable, p. 98 One Goal, 2015; Wood, varnish, iron, miniature seats, 87 × 59,5 × 12 cm, p. 21/74/103 Your Ego Is Blackmailing You, 2008; Sand on wood, joiner’s glue, 150 × 110 × 30 cm, p. 103
Heaven’s Gate, 2013; 150 × 110 cm, p. 104 Heaven’s Gate 2, 2015; Acrylic on wood, locks, light, motion sensor, electricity, 150 × 110 × 20 cm, p. 106 Verum Gaudium Res Severa Est, 2005; Acrylic on canvas, 150 × 110 cm, p. 107
Works on Paper Each of Us Has Only a Desire to Receive for Ourselves; It Is the Source of All the Worries, Suffering, Wars, and Slaughter, 2014; Ink drawing and collage on handmade paper, 40 × 30 cm, p. 6 It’s time for spiritual action, 2010; Ink drawing on handmade paper, 40 × 30 cm, p. 10 Start L(G)iving, You’re Not Here for Long, 2015; Ink drawing on handmade paper, 40 × 30 cm, p. 11 He said that there is some kind of mirror in our brain, which turns everything upside down and it looks as if it would exist outside of us, 2014; Ink drawing on handmade paper, 40 × 30 cm, p. 12
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If not us, who? if not now, when? 2010; Ink drawing on handmade paper, 40 × 30 cm, p. 15 We are all in the same Boat, 2015; Are you drilling a hole in the boat?, 2014; Ink drawing and collage on paper, 60 × 50 cm, p. 22/23 God does (n’t) exist, 2013; Ink drawing and collage on handmade paper, 40 × 30 cm, p. 24 Daddy, Why Do They Suffer?, 2015; Ink drawing and collage on handmade paper, 40 × 30 cm, p. 26 No one has condemned wisdom to poverty, 2013; Ink drawing and collage on handmade paper, 40 × 30 cm, p. 27 Suffering is not a holy Act, 2013; Ink drawing and collage on handmade paper, 40 × 30 cm, p. 27 Pseudo-Existence, 2012; Drawing and collage on handmade paper, 40 × 30 cm, p. 27 Come and see, 2010; Ink drawing on handmade paper, 40 × 30 cm, 2012, p. 27 Nobody Has the Solution, But Together We Can Find It, 2015; Ink drawing, collage and thread on handmade paper, 40 × 30 cm, p. 28
Love is a Beast, 2012; Ink drawing, collage on paper, 40 × 30 cm , 2012 The Future of a(n) Illusion Vision, 2013, Ink drawing and collage on handmade paper 40 × 30 cm, p. 28 BE LAZY, Don’t Waste Your Time on Stupid Things, 2015; Ink on handmade paper, 40 × 30 cm, p. 28 Humanity Has to Push Europe to Unite, 2015; Ink drawing and collage on handmade paper, 40 × 30 cm, p. 29 The Paradigm is exhausted, 2012; Ink drawing and collage on handmade paper, 40 × 30 cm, p. 30 Freedom from the Angel of Death, 2014; Ink drawing and collage on handmade paper, 40 × 30 cm, p. 34 Egoistmantra, 2012; Ink drawing and collage on handmade paper 40 × 30 cm, p. 40 The talk of a third kills three: it kills the one who tells, the one who receives and the one who listens, 2012; Ink drawing and collage on handmade paper, 40 × 30 cm, p. 41 The Key to infinity is connection, 2012; Ink drawing and collage on handmade paper, 40 × 30 cm, p. 42
Every Action That Does Not Result in Love Is The Wrong Direction, 2015; Ink drawing and collage on handmade paper, 40 × 30 cm, p. 42 How Can I Stop Caring About My Troubles so That I Can Trouble To Care For Others? 2012; Ink drawing and collage on handmade paper, 40 × 30 cm, p. 42 Crisis Obligates Us to Connect, 2014; Ink drawing and collage on handmade paper, 40 × 30 cm, p. 43 If I Am Not For Myself, Who Will Be For Me? If I Am Not For Others, What Am I? And If Not Now, When?, 2015; Ink drawing and collage on handmade paper, 40 × 30 cm, p. 44 May we see the virtues of our friends, 2015; Ink drawing and collage on handmade paper 40 × 30 cm, p. 45 (Don’t) be ashamed, 2015; Ink drawing and collage on handmade paper, 40 × 30 cm, p. 45 Unity Or Not to Be, That Is the Question, 2011–2015; Ink drawing on handmade paper 40 × 30 cm, p. 45 I Am Not As Great As I Think I Am, 2014; Ink drawing on handmade paper 40 × 30 cm, p. 45
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I know is bullshit, 2012; Stabilize your state and give it back to sanctity, 2010; Ink drawing and collage on handmade paper 40 × 30 cm, p. 46/47 Halls of Trusting Daughters, 2015; Ink drawing and collage on handmade paper 40 × 30 cm, p. 48 If God Lived on Earth, People Would Break His Windows, 2015; Ink drawing and collage on handmade paper, 40×30 cm, p. 50 Why don’t we do what we should be doing when we understand what the problems are?, 2013; Ink drawing and collage on handmade paper, 40 × 30 cm, p. 51 You & Me, 2015; Ink drawing and collage on handmade paper, 40 × 30 cm, p. 52/53 Dreadnought, 2010; Ink drawing and collage on handmade paper, 40 × 30 cm, p. 59 Love is the best medicine, 2012; Ink drawing and collage on handmade paper, 40 × 30 cm, p. 60 Everything comes and goes by itself, 2011; Ink drawing and collage on handmade paper, 40 × 30 cm, p. 60
Life is totally wrong but not tragic, 2012; Ink drawing and collage on handmade paper, 40 × 30 cm, p. 60 In His Treasury, The Creator Has Only The Treasure Of Fear Of God, 2010; Ink drawing and collage on handmade paper, 40 × 30 cm, p. 60 Watch your feelings as they become thoughts, watch your thoughts as they become words . Watch your words. They become deeds. Watch your deeds. They become habits. Watch your habits. They become your second nature. 2015; Ink drawing and collage on handmade paper, 40 × 30 cm, p. 61 Be Cautious of „Know It All“Philosophers, 2014; Ink on handmade paper, 40 × 30 cm, p. 62 Let‘s Be Less Wise, 2015; Ink drawing and collage on handmade paper, 40 × 30 cm, p. 62 Put Your Thoughts to Sleep, 2014; Ink drawing and collage on handmade paper, 40 × 30 cm, p. 62 A Pen Went Scribbling Along, 2014; Ink drawing and collage on handmade paper, 40 × 30 cm, p. 62 Correction, 2015; Ink drawing and collage on handmade paper, 40 × 30 cm, p. 63
Each Of Us Is a Result Of Thousands Of Years Of Development By Our Ancestors, 2012; Ink drawing and collage on handmade paper, 40 × 30 cm, p. 64 Love Is the Only Force Capable of Transforming an Enemy into a Friend, 2013; Ink drawing, collage and thread on handmade paper, 40 × 30 cm, p. 66 We Don’t Even Exist, 2015; Ink drawing and collage on handmade paper, 40 × 30 cm, p. 67 Do You Believe That Your Life Has Been Taken To The Extreme? 2011; Ink drawing and collage on handmade paper, 40 × 30 cm, p. 67 This World Is Imaginary, 2015; Ink drawing and collage on handmade paper, 40 × 30 cm, p. 67 Think Less, Feel More, 2015; Ink drawing and collage on handmade paper, 40 × 30 cm, p. 67 A New Vision Exists, 2010; Ink drawing and collage on handmade paper, 40 × 30 cm, p. 68 A Joke Need Not To Be Funny But It Should Be Witty, 2010; Ink drawing and collage on handmade paper 2011; 40 × 30 cm, p. 68
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Life Is a Joke, 2012; Ink drawing on handmade paper, 40 × 30 cm, p. 68 Where Does The Intuition Come From?, 2010; Ink drawing and collage on handmade paper, 40 × 30 cm, p. 68 The Illusory History of Time, 2015; Ink drawing and collage on handmade paper, 40 × 30 cm, p. 69 Illusion, 2013; Ink drawing and collage on handmade paper, 40 × 30 cm, p. 70 No Return, 2012; Ink drawing and collage on handmade paper, 40 × 30 cm, p. 71 Don’t Ask What Happiness Is, Ask What Your Happiness Is, 2012; Ink drawing and collage on handmade paper, 40 × 30 cm, p. 72 I Don’t Care a Hoot For All That Humility-Chatter, 2011; Ink drawing and collage on handmade paper, 40 × 30 cm, p. 73 Become a Farmer, Harvest Stars!, 2010; Ink drawing and collage on handmade paper, 40 × 30 cm, p. 76 The Heart is the Center of Everything, 2012; Ink drawing and collage on handmade paper, 40 × 30 cm, p. 80
Molecules of Emotions, 2012; Ink drawing and collage on handmade paper, 40 × 30 cm, p. 84
Got an umbrella up your butt?, don’t open it, 2011; Ink drawing on handmade paper, 40 × 30 cm, p. 87
Why Don’t We Do What We Should Be Doing When We Understand What the Problems Are?, 2014; Ink drawing and collage on handmade paper, 40 × 30 cm, p. 84
The Most Hidden Is Given to the Wise at Heart, 2013; Ink drawing and collage on handmade paper, 40 × 30 cm, p. 87
Live, Don’t Just Exist, 2013; Ink drawing and collage on handmade paper, 40 × 30 cm, p. 84 Le Monde, 2013; Ink drawing and collage on handmade paper, 40 × 30 cm, p. 84 Heartthinker, 2010; Ink drawing and collage on handmade paper, 40 × 30 cm, p. 85 Lift Up the Weight, 2013; Ink drawing and collage on handmade paper, 40 × 30 cm, p. 86 Life Is Totally Wrong But Not Tragic, 2014; Ink drawing and collage on handmade paper, 40 × 30 cm, p. 87 Don’t Be a Sore Loser !, 2011; Ink drawing and collage on handmade paper, 40 × 30 cm, p. 87 What is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow, 2011; Ink drawing and collage on handmade paper, 40 × 30 cm, p. 87
Transform Duality, 2014; Ink drawing and collage on handmade paper, 40 × 30 cm, p. 88 If It Tastes Bitter, It Is Not Ripe Yet, 2015; Ink drawing and collage on handmade paper, 40 × 30 cm, p. 88 Revealing evil is an intrinsic trait of good, 2013; Ink drawing on handmade paper, 40 × 30 cm, p. 88 The Middle Line, 2013; Ink drawing and collage on handmade paper, 40 × 30 cm, p. 89 Divinity Hides Between, 2015; Ink drawing and collage on handmade paper, 40 × 30 cm, p. 90/91 Exit your comfort zone, 2014; Ink drawing and collage on handmade paper, 40 × 30 cm, p. 92 All the Changes Are Inside, 2012; Ink drawing and collage on handmade paper, 40 × 30 cm, p. 94/95
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Understand, 2013; Ink drawing and collage on handmade paper, 40 × 30 cm, p. 96
Things Don’t Change, Only the Way You Look at Them, 2010; Ink drawing on handmade paper, 40 × 30 cm, p. 99
By changing our intentions we change the entire universe, 2012; Ink drawing on hand made paper, 40 × 30 cm, p. 96
Relinquish Everything, Be Grateful, and Trust, 2013; Ink drawing and collage on handmade paper, 40 × 30 cm, p. 105
Spirituality Is Not Shopping, 2011; Ink drawing on handmade paper, 40 × 30 cm, p. 96 True belief is when real experience replaces lip service, 2010; Ink drawing and collage on handmade paper, 40 × 30 cm, p. 96 The Creator Is Nobody’s Property, 2015; Ink drawing on music manuscript paper, 40 × 30 cm, p. 96 Wow, Please Change Yourself, Not Others!, 2014; Ink drawing and collage on handmade paper, 40 × 30 cm, p. 97
It’s Time for Mutual Responsibility, 2015; Ink drawing and collage on handmade paper, 40 × 30 cm, p. 108 Love is capable to overcome everything, 2011; Ink drawing and collage on handmade paper, 40 × 30 cm, p. 108 Patience Please!, 2010; Ink drawing and collage on handmade paper, 40 × 30 cm, p. 108
You must as well act from your strength as from your weakness, 2014; Ink drawing and collage on handmade paper, 40 × 30 cm, p. 108 What we lack is love, 2012; Ink drawing and collage on handmade paper, 40 × 30 cm, p. 109 In Honour of the Rabash, 2015; Ink drawing and collage on handmade paper, 40 × 30 cm, p. 110 Everyone Is Equally Important, 2013; Ink drawing, collage and thread on handmade paper, 40 × 30 cm, p. 111 The Rod and the Serpent, 2013; Ink drawing and collage on handmade paper, 40 × 30 cm, p. 119 Angel of help, 2015; Ink drawing and collage on handmade paper, 40 × 30 cm, p. 122
For all works: Courtesy Galerie Krinzinger, Vienna
The Rod and the Serpent , 2013
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BIOGRAPHY ZENITA KOMAD
1980 born in Klagenfurt, lives and works in Vienna and Tel Aviv. 1996 studied at the University of Applied Arts Vienna, Austria 1998 studied at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, Austria Grants and Awards 2013 Sponsorship Award for Fine Arts, City of Vienna 2010 Grant of the Federal Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture, Vienna 2007 MAK-Schindler-Scholarship, Los Angeles 2006 Scholarship, La Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris 2004–2005 Fellowship at the International House of Artists Villa Concordia, Bamberg Zenita Komad is a conceptual visual artist. She focuses on spirituality and the perception of reality. Her works are exhibited in Europe, Asia, America and Russia and she is represented by Galerie Krinzinger in Vienna.
EXHIBITIONS Solo Exhibitions (Selection) 2015 Wir, Galerie im Taxispalais, Innsbruck Choose the Upper Frequency, Galerie Clemens Gunzer, Zurich 2014 Kill the Routine, Galerie Zimmermann Kratochwill, Graz 2013 The Work in the Heart, Thomas K. Lang Gallery, Webster University, Vienna Time to Change the Record, Galerie Krinzinger, Vienna 2012 A New Vision Exists, Bourouina Gallery, Berlin Your Thoughts Furnish the World, Rauminhalt, Vienna Liebe ist die beste Medizin, The Essential Collection, Zurich
2011 Spirituality Is Not Shopping, Jewish Museum Vienna. Zeichnung Wien 2011 – Zenita Komad, Galerie Krinzinger, Vienna 2010 Missa Solemnis, Bourouina Gallery, Berlin Bellevue, Galerie Suzanne Tarasiève, Paris Eternally I am Your Yes, The Loft, Mumbai 2009 When Heaven Kisses Earth (Part II) – Residencies (mit with Eva Schlegel), Galerie Krinzinger, Vienna When Heaven Kisses Earth, CIGE09, Beijing 2008 Mericanexpress, Sotheby’s Wien, Vienna Zenita Universe, Galerie Krinzinger, Vienna The Navel of the world, Galerie Konzett, Graz
I Love God, Kulturzentrum bei den Minoriten, Graz
2006 New Works, Galerie Suzanne Tarasiève, Paris
Sei Licht für die Welt, Galerie Anton Gölles, Fürstenfeld
Zenita Grad, Regina Gallery, Moscow
Extended Universe I, The Essential Collection, Zurich
2005 Zenita City – „Operation Philidor“, Kunsthaus Nexus, Saalfelden
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2003 Mir träumt, ich bin der liebe Gott, Krinzinger Projekte, Vienna Freiraum, 4 Filme, MAK – Museum für angewandte Kunst, Vienna 2002 Requiem – eine Installation für Ignaz Kirchner u. v. a., SemperDepot, Vienna
Group Exhibitions (Selection) 2015 Imago Mundi, Luciano Benetton Collection, Venice Vienna for Art’s Sake, Belvedere, Vienna 2014 Tales of 2 Cities, Moscow Museum of Modern Art, Moskau Moscow; Jewish Museum Vienna 2013 Fokus Sammlung, MMKK – Museum Moderner Kunst Kärnten, Klagenfurt Biennale Giovani Monza, Serrone della Villa Reale, Monza 2011 Statements of the Collection Albertina, Albertina Contemporary, Vienna Irrealigious!, Kulturzentrum bei den Minoriten, Graz
Am Ende war das Wort, Ursula Blickle Stiftung, Kraichtal Austria Davaj, A. V. State Museum of Architecture, Moscow 5 Räume, Austrian Cultural Forum, New York 2010 In Between – Austria Contemporary, The Contemporary Art Centre of Montenegro, Podgorica Les Femmes Fatales, Kunsthalle Krems 2009 Cella, Complesso Monumentale di San Michele a Ripa, Rome Trickle-down Theory, Korjaamo Gallery, Helsinki 2008 Best of Austria, Lentos Kunstmuseum Linz In Between – Austria Contemporary, Michel Kikoine Foundation, Tel Aviv Sommerfeld, Kunstforum Montafon, Schruns 30 × 2 Sessel / Stühle, Artelier Contemporary, Graz 2007 The Mystery of Life, MAK Center for Art and Architecture, Los Angeles Salon de la Kakanie, Central House of Artists, Moscow
The Tumult of the Mighty Harmonies, Schindler House, Los Angeles 2006 Erzählungen -35/65+. Zwei Generationen, Kunsthaus Graz am Landesmuseum Joanneum, Graz 2005 Lebt und arbeitet in Wien II – Operation Capablanca, Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna
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BIBLIOGRAPHY ZENITA KOMAD (SELECTION)
The artist, the kabbalist & the circleXperiment by Zenita Komad: WE, ARI Publishers, USA 2015.
Exh. cat. In Between. Austria Contemporary, Federal Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture, Vienna 2009.
Exh. cat. Zenita Komad & das circleXperiment: WIR, Galerie im Taxispalais, Innsbruck 2015.
Phaidon (Hg. ed.), Younger Than Jesus. Artist Directory – The Essential Handbook to the Future of Art, New York 2009.
Colouring Book, Art Brussels, Brussels 2014.
Peter Weibel, Ralph Schilcher (eds.), 30 × 2 Sessel / Stühle, Literaturverlag Droschl, Graz 2008.
Exh. cat. Vienna for Art’s Sake! – Archive Austria / Contemporary Art, Luciano Benetton Collection, Treviso 2014. Exh. cat. A New Vision Exists, Bourouina Gallery, Berlin 2012. Exh. cat. Spirituality Is Not Shopping, Jewish Museum Vienna, 2011. Exh. cat. Christoph Bertsch, Silvia Höller (Hg. eds.), Cella, Complesso Monumentale di San Michele a Ripa Grande, Rome 2010. Exh. cat. Missa Solemnis, Bourouina Gallery, Berlin 2010. Exh. cat. Best of Austria, Lentos Kunstmuseum Linz, 2009.
Angel of help , 2015
Ralph Schilcher, Markus Mittringer (eds.), Zenita Komad – Opus IV. Selected Works, Vienna 2008. Gerald Matt (ed.), Interviews 2, Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna 2007. Exh. cat. Erzählungen -35/65+. Zwei Generationen, Kunsthaus Graz am Landesmuseum Joanneum, Graz 2006. Exh. cat. Zenita Komad – New Works, Galerie Suzanne Tarasiève, Paris 2006. Exh. cat. Lebt und arbeitet in Wien II. 25 Positionen aktueller Kunst, Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna 2005.
Exh. cat. Superstars. Das Prinzip Prominenz. Von Warhol bis Madonna, Kunsthalle Wien / BA-CA Kunstforum, Vienna 2005. Ralph Schilcher, Zenita Komad (eds.), Faites l’impossible!, Vienna 2004. Peter Noever (ed.), Referenzen an das Unbestimmte. Die Kunst, die Künstler, das Kunstmuseum, MAK – Museum für angewandte Kunst, Vienna 2004. Ralph Schilcher, Zenita Komad (eds.), Symphonie der fröhlichen Klagelieder, Vienna 2003. Ralph Schilcher, Zenita Komad (eds.), Requiem. Kyriai Doxai, Vienna 2002.
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the artist, the kabbalist & the circleXperiment by Zenita Komad
WE
CATALOG Editors Studio Zenita Komad Copyediting Julia Brennacher, Beate Ermacora, Lena Nievers, Jürgen Tabor, Carmela Heilbronner, Smirna Hagg-Komad. Proofreading Carmela Heilbronner Translations German – English Nathan Moore, Berlin Aviram Gottfried, Tel Aviv Photography Antonia Mayer Gregor Sailer Design, lithography Patrick Anthofer, Vienna Cover Reality Resembles a Mirror. Every Deed We Perform, Each Emotion We Display and Every Word We Speak Is Reflected Back to Our Lives in Equal Measure, 2015
Published by ARI Publishers Publishing and Postproduction Uri Laitman © 2015 Authors, editor, artist, ARI Publishers All rights reserved Contact Information: www.ariresearch.org info@ariresearch.org 1057 Steeles Avenue West, Suite 532, Toronto, ON, M2R 3X1, Canada 2009 85th Street #51, Brooklyn, New York, 11214, USA
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner without written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.
Picture credits: © Zenita Komad 2015 Bildrecht, Vienna Printed in the USA ISBN 978-1-5195-0914-7
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The Artist and the Kabbalist credits: Jonas Zahler Pnina Zahler Christiane Reinstrom Jakob Heilbronner Shai Livnat
Works from the following collections: Albertina, Vienna Collection Angerlehner Collection Sandra and Avraham Berkson Collection Fuchs Collection Hainz Collection Hauser Collection Hellebart Collection P Collection Polak Collection Soravia Collection Spera Collection Widl
www.zenita-universe.com www.theartistandthekabbalist.com www.circlexperience.com www.ariresearch.org
Special thanks: Thanks to all friends for their continued support and participation. Thanks to BMUKK and Karin Zimmer for the support.
For a young artist whose work is as cheeky as unconventional in both its form and aesthetics, Zenita Komad is untypically straightforward in addressing spirituality. In her project The Artist and the Kabbalist, she speaks with celebrated scientist and Kabbalist Michael Laitman. Sayings and epigrams are transposed into her own visual language with humor and spiritual scrutiny. The Artist, The Kabbalist & The CircleXperiment by Zenita Komad provides people with visual stimulation that immediately touches their hearts. This is art that heralds the message of unity and connection as a solution to all problems with absolute contemporaneity and the urgency the times demand. It speaks to us with intelligent imagery that gets us, and keeps us, thinking and feeling.