Tonus

The Art Lab Gallery / Curator Sharon Tuval

“Tonus is muscular tension, the degree of resistance that allows the body to stand and move with stability, to function properly. Mirsky constructed a world within the spectrum between hypertonia (increased muscle tone) and hypotonia (low muscle tone). She implants metaphorical representations in a space that references children’s soft play, such as a swing with flexible ropes that cannot actually support a human body, large cushions made of rigid foam casting, a blue rope ladder that seems incapable of carrying weight – it leads to the wall, as if cascading into an empty pool. Moreover, the space is enveloped in an amorphous instrumental sound created by Nir Jacob Younessi. Younessi created a sound piece using various string instruments, resembling the tension created by sounds produced by stretched or relaxed strings, a disturbing yet pleasant sound that one can immerse oneself in.The specific story that led Mirsky to the course of the exhibition is her family’s life experiences. Two parents and three children, one of whom has Down syndrome, where low muscle tone is one of her symptoms. The overlap created by Mirsky between the playground space and the therapeutic space is not coincidental: tracking the parental “tonus” moves between treatments, tests, bureaucracy, therapy, feelings of guilt, and longing for a simple game rather than a system of cognitive to motor impairments.

The exhibition is constructed as a path that progresses (as befits paramedical therapy or aspirations seeking fulfillment) in a continuous space of light foamed tiles connecting to each other. The white space evokes feelings of frustration and loneliness. The sculptures are arranged as a system, as they remain fragments. The exhibition has a highly precise quality of randomness, which gives it a sad reliability. The vibrancy within it is full of life yet measured, not truly captivating, not truly joyful, and yet, the ensemble invites one to stay inside it, to wander, to contemplate, to try to hold one’s ground and find balance. The exhibition invites an experience that grasps the malfunction without correcting it, and it also does not point to the breaking points. Each visitor is invited to discover where they will fall.

The exhibition examines a non-normative life trajectory and society’s attitude towards differences in appearance, in gaps in the perception of reality. Its goal is to illustrate and sensitize these gaps and bring them to public discourse.”

Excerpts from “Normal Functioning” by Gilli Zaidman, Erev-Rav, 2.2023
Click Here for the full review (Hebrew)

Installation view: Inon Khalfon