"If and only if" is a conditional statement. But what if not? What kind of existence do artists Orit Adar-Becker and Vard Levy point to? In their joint exhibition at the Binyamin Gallery, they offer us aspects of survival that take into account possibilities of destruction and displacement at any given moment.

The two artists create conceptual models that do not present a plan for execution: Levy creates objects that simulate rafts that cannot float, thus turning into weights. Adar-Becker creates miniature spaces, usually underground, resembling mazes, which can also be seen as weights.

Orit Adar-Becker’s installation is a fascinating continuation of processes that began in her work in the 1990s. Adar-Becker explores the tension between vision and knowledge, between illusion and concreteness, between memory and imagination. The installation is specifically designed for the gallery space, utilizing its shape and dimensions. The slightly darkened space acts as an echo and an analogy to what occurs in the internal space of the objects. Visitors are invited to enter the installation through a narrow opening, replicating the peep-holes in the works themselves. In the space, they will encounter several architectural objects placed on special stands, alongside stools for sitting. Each object is available for a glimpse, thus functioning as an optical device that engages the viewer and their senses. The works are attached with handles, allowing them to be taken in hand, used with a flashlight, and explored internally. The movement of the hand with the flashlight and the body’s movement in the space turn the viewer into a participant in the experience taking place within the object itself.

Artist Vard Levy presents a series of objects, models, that are either rafts or structures. Made from plaster, metals, and parts of objects, they are positioned on a structure that cuts across the exhibition space, creating a diagonal movement into the interior of the space. Levy’s current installation references another exhibition, The Architecture of the Next Time, presented at the Kibbutz Gallery in 2005. There, Levy constructed a full-sized raft that appeared to sail into the gallery space and get stuck in it. In the installation at the Binyamin Gallery, Levy continues her exploration of the contrast between stagnation and movement. The objects appear light, but they are heavy and made of plaster. Levy focuses on increasingly abstract design, sharpening the tension between horizontal and vertical: between what stretches and rises upwards and what sinks. She abandons formulated narratives in search of a minimalist, quiet, and refined design, leaving the conditional phrase "if and only if" without a recipient.