The exhibition cluster “Adhesion” consists of two solo shows presented side by side, connected by fine threads of color, matter, content, and a shared fate.

Orly Sever and Maria Saleh Mahameed worked at Artport in the summer of 2020 as part of the short-term Israeli Residency Program. The program, which replaced Artport’s International Residency Program canceled due to flight restrictions to Israel, provided a studio and accommodation for artists living more than 100 km from Tel Aviv. Sever, from Kibbutz Cabri, and Saleh Mahameed, from Ein Mahil, reunited at Artport and became neighbors for a moment. Each in her studio created a differentiated whole world. Both, however, created a world predominated by thick black that swallows the viewer up like a black hole, requiring a closer look to discover the hidden colors and layers seeking to break forth.

In “Adhesion” they present new site-specific works created especially for Artport gallery. In both exhibitions, the private world infiltrates the space, interrupting and disrupting the flow of everyday life, indicating the lack of natural movement, and confronting us with the total concentration we would have liked to dedicate to the work of art, to the moment itself. At a time when many are engaged in meditation, mindfulness, concentration, and centeredness, the works on view introduce the disturbances and incessant background noises; our inability to do only what we would have liked to do.