︎

Naama Arad 
naamaarad@gmail.com
CV





7 Minutes in Heaven (Co-curated with Ishai Shapira Kalter)
Saturday, November 23, 2019, Independence Park, Tel Aviv

Participating artists: Naama Arad, Eden Bannet, Micha Bar-Am,
Pietro Cascella, Ruti de Vries, Noa Glazer, Omer Halperin, Adam Kaplan,
Michal Makaresco, Eran Nave, Lior Ophir, Doron Rabina, Tchelet Ram,
Ishai Shapira Kalter

In 1972, the artist Pietro Cascella together with the baron and baroness Urvater gifted the sculpture “Gate of Peace” to the city of Tel Aviv where it was installed in The Independence Garden. Twenty-three years later, Yehuda Poliker released “Names Bageshem (Melts in the Rain),” his hit song about the story of a street kid who was kicked out of his parents' house and froze to death on a park bench. Poliker’s song echoed a wide phenomenon in Tel Aviv in the 80s and 90s: homeless LGBTQ youth sleeping in parks. At the same time, in The Independence Garden, an ongoing search for sex and intimacy formed a community that safeguarded itself from pink lists and police raids. Up until 2010, the year the city renovated the park, Independence Garden functioned as the main site for cruising, facilitated by its multiple hiding places as well as its proximity to the city center. The city knocked down all the park’s hiding places. However, Cascella’s sculpture, still in use as a location for casual sex, could not be demolished due to its status as a work of art.
7 Minutes in Heaven is a game we used to play as teenagers at parties where two people are selected to go into a dark enclosed space and do whatever they like for seven minutes. In the context of this exhibition, the analogy between sex and art is clear—in both cases, the desire to make is the result of a strong impulse followed by satisfaction. It is art that deals with the urgency of the urge itself: to sleep, eat, get drunk, and fuck, as well as the need to survive. 7 Minutes in Heaven is a place where two opposite urges meet; while the sexual drive symbolizes the instinct to live, heaven is postmortem.

Naama Arad & Ishai Shapira Kalter

︎ Arnon Ben Dror, Spike Art Magazine

Pietro Cascella
Gate of Peace
1972
Travertine stone
Variable dimensions



Michal Makaresco
Untitled
2017
Clay, comb
Variable dimensions



Adam Kaplan
A Huge Steve’s Jerusalem Pack
2016-2019
Huge backpack filled with hard boiled egg sandwiches
Variable dimensions



Lior Ophir
עחיעכיעדעינעגמהמי
 Ongoing
Xerox print
29.7 x 21 cm



Ishai Shapira Kalter
1948#
2019
Bronze
Variable dimensions 



Doron Rabina
Birds’ Drinking Dispenser and Gold Paint
2006
Spray paint on birds’ drinking dispenser
28 x 8 x 5 cm


7 Minutes in Heaven
2019
Installation view



Ruti de Vries
Savage
2017
Raffia, rope, table, nylon, newspapers, 150X70X90 cm



Eran Nave
Time
2011
Mixed media
8.8 x 32 x 2.3



7 Minutes in Heaven
2019
Installation view



Naama Arad
Pour it Up II
2019
Wood, kitchen towel, rubber bands, caulk
44.5 x 50.5 x 1.5 cm 



Noa Glazer
Oblivion bubbles
2015
Urethane rubber and vodka
17 x 20.5 x 23 each



Noa Glazer
2 ½
2018
Paper mache made with 2 ½ rolls of toilet paper
27 x 34 x 4 cm 



Eran Nave
666
2011
Mixed media
Variable dimensions



Michal Makaresco
Untitled
 2017
Clay, artificial nails, high heel shoe, palm frond, powder makeup, nail polish
Variable dimensions



7 Minutes in Heaven
2019
Installation view



Eden Bannet
Untitled
2019
Mixed media
Variable dimensions



Micha Bar-Am
Hotel Alexander (Beirut)
1982
Silver gelatin print
17.5 x 26.5 cm,



Eran Nave
Erotic Field
2019
Ink on paper
30 x 30 cm



Omer Halperin
Kissing
2018
Charcoal on paper
46 x 61 cm 



Tchelet Ram
Living in a Movie
2018
Bench, projection screen, lamp, hooks, copper tubes, string, drawer, pillow
Variable dimensions