Exhibition: In Praise of Shadows | The Silence of the Time of Light

Curator: Shoshi Chechnover In 1933, Jun'ichirō Tanizaki wrote the essay "In Praise of Shadows" – a text born out of a profound sense of loss for the old, traditional world. What is at stake here is not merely an aesthetic outlook, but an entire way of experiencing the world. The decades following Japan's opening to the West during the Meiji era (1868-1912) brought rapid industrialization, electric lighting, new architecture and modern technology. In a short span of time, not only the streets and houses changed, but the very conditions of perception itself. The dimness of wooden houses, the muted light of paper lanterns, and the spaces built for shadow gradually faded away. The essay is not only a discussion of aesthetics, but an allegory about the loss of sensitivity, subtlety and a changing rhythm of life. Tanizaki speaks of the way light settles on old wood, the way gold flashes out of dimness, the way soft shadow is absorbed into paper, and the way silence arises when things are not revealed all at once. In Tanizaki's eyes, Western modernity is not merely a technological change, but a change in the very conditions of vision itself, in a world where everything is too exposed, too illuminated, too immediate and too fast. Photography: Jenny Katzner The exhibition "In Praise of Shadows" moves through a space that seeks to look at shadow not as an absence of light, but as a place where memory (the shadow of time), mystery and imagination reside – a place where things are not revealed in full. It unfolds as a movement between tradition and modernity, between the classic Japanese print and contemporary print, photography, paper, ink and clay works. The exhibition seeks to trace one elusive quality – the way shadow lends the world aesthetic, emotional and spiritual depth. The exhibition is also infused with the spirit of the concept of "mono no aware" – the sensitivity to the transience of things. This is a beauty that is always bound up with the knowledge that it is destined to fade and disappear. The blossoming of the cherry tree, the patina of time on old wood, the fading of paper – none of these are flaws, but conditions of beauty. Shadow, in this sense, is also the shadow of time. This feeling resonates especially through the concepts of wabi-sabi. Unlike an aesthetic outlook that seeks to polish, shine and illuminate every corner, this aesthetic offers a different relationship to material and to time – not hiding the crack, but recognizing its beauty; not perfection, but vulnerability. Perhaps this is also the enduring power of Japanese aesthetics – the ability to leave room for what is not fully visible. In a world that seeks total clarity, it offers the value of ambiguity. In a world that seeks exposure, it offers the power of suggestion, and in a world rushing to illuminate everything, it reminds us that sometimes it is precisely within the shadow that the true depth of things is revealed. Photography: Jenny Katzner Artists participating in the exhibition: Ehud Tzafati, Takahashi Yu, Tali Ben Bassat, Yamamoto Keisuke, Yehudit Sasportas, Maya Smira, Meir Mohaban, Miriam Kabasa, Noa Yaffe, Nishimoto Akio, Susan Eikins, Tzadok Ben David, Shuli Bornstein Wolf, Shimada Setsuko, Tamana Tzafati Neumann. Utagawa Hiroshige, Utagawa Kuniyoshi, Katsushika Hokusai, Kawase Hasui, Kobayashi Kiyochika and other artists from the Tikotin Museum collection.