Tomer Sapir

Fetal Baby

2016

 

Mixed media

 

150 x 70 x 50 cm

 

Commission for Group exhibition Between Synapses: Where Art And Brain Sciences Intersect, collaboration with Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Brain Sciences, Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

The work is a fruit of a dialogue with Prof. Leon Deouell.

 

Curator: Michal Mor

 

 

From the curator's text:

 

When does consciousness begin? Tomer Sapir pondered upon this problem during his conversations with Prof. Leon Deouell, a scientist researching subjective consciousness, a difficult subject for objective study. The helpless, lifeless creature on exhibit arouses a dual attitude of simultaneous terror and pity. We experience helplessness when faced with the possibility that others do not share our own consciousness. Facing such a creature may stir up feelings of identification, compassion and pity; conversely, its placement, eyes wide open, in the container -  which looks like an imprisoning installation, a museum display case or a scientific research apparatus – arouses sensations of threat, deterrence and distancing. 

 

Michal Mor