Archaeology – a scientific field that studies the past of human culture through the discovery, documentation, and analysis of information. The goal of archaeology is to document and explain the origins and development of human culture; to reconstruct a picture of daily life from the findings.

This exhibition presents various connections between art and archaeology, expressed through content, materials, and work processes. The works in the exhibition explore two main approaches to archaeology: observing the remnants of human culture and daily life, and architectural investigations of the archaeological environment.

The participating artists create archaeological artifacts using various techniques, drawing on stories, myths, or ancient memories. Archaeological findings are revealed through the excavation of layers in the tell (archaeological mound), with each layer representing a different period and culture. The works in the exhibition evoke cultures of another era — cultures that once existed and are now gone, imagined cultures, or those yet to be discovered.

Dina Shenhav’s City is an archaeological site that reveals an environment seemingly once buried or destroyed — either by human hands or natural forces. Like a scorched city, similar to Pompeii, covered in molten lava that destroyed but also preserved it.

Uri Noam created a floating base made of bricks composed of mud and stones. By combining natural materials with man-made ones, he simulates an earthquake in which the ground splits and the layers of the tell are exposed to the world above.

Liat Livni constructs all the layers of the archaeological tell herself, through repetitive actions of cutting and gluing. Her work Ein Kerem depicts a city built upon the ruins of those that came before it, while simultaneously revealing its foundations and collapsing inward.

Sigalit Landau’s video work Casting a Knot shows the act of excavation itself, as the sealed archaeological mound is opened up and absorbs materials from the present. Digging hands carve a path and make room for something new.

Amanda Mehl creates elements that simulate weapons, hunting tools, or ritual objects — man-made and for human use. She frequently incorporates found objects, combining signs of contemporary culture with mythological and religious references.

Rivka Kave presents an object made from a mixture of glue and industrial paint. She piles amorphous mounds of material atop one another — possibly the remnants of an artificial tell, possibly a testimony to extinct life.

Varda Getzow preserves memory in her work while simultaneously blurring it. She wraps objects in layers until they lose their shape and identity. Getzow employs preservation practices, simulating the shrouding of a body before burial.

Avishai Elisha Edenburg bases his work on the Birds’ Head Haggadah, a 13th-century illustrated manuscript found in southern Germany. Edenburg presents a central piece of Ashkenazi culture in the style of early cave paintings, thus sending the Haggadah further back in time — deeper into the archaeological tell.