Sports fields and courts are places filled with masculinity, competitiveness, and strength. Noa Klagsbald, a magna cum laude graduate of the School of Multidisciplinary Art, is a fan who lives and breathes sports. In her works, she disrupts the game, with its appearance and original behaviors; using her camera and her own physical presence, she manufactures situations that change the game and its balance of power.

In her exhibition, Klagsbald builds tennis courts and relates to the scoring system used in the sport. The name of the exhibition, Deuce, indicates a crucial moment in the game: when the score is tied and the game cannot end until one of the players scores and gains an advantage.

The process of building the tennis courts and the presence of the camera served as a way for Klagsbald to gain an advantage and lead the “game”, thus breaking the deadlock. Klagsbald directed and photographed ten men who built the tennis court for her while she made use of objects such as an umpire’s chair, a giant tennis racket, and a megaphone. The gender-related tension regarding the division of labor on the set, which was photographed in the middle of an active flour mill, can be counted as a “win” on this court, but it is only a temporary victory – much like deuce in a tennis game. Will it cease to exist when the camera is turned off?

Photographs of the ten men also appear on two garments that Klagsbald created, garments that themselves belong to the world of tennis: a pleated skirt and dress. She wears them during the construction of an additional tennis court that she built as an installation in the gallery space. These garments can be considered an additional part of her effort to score an advantage.

Like professional players stepping onto the court, Klagsbald gives her all in her performance on the set, responsible for every detail and filling all the roles on the court.

Two pillars standing over two meters high are placed in the exhibition, made of the same cardboard that served for the creation of the hand-made pleated skirt, anchored with a decorative base and protected by a tennis net. The presence of these pillars in the gallery space offers an additional perspective about ceremony and ritual in the sports world.

The exhibition was curated by Professor Roi Kuper, an artist, researcher, and teacher and one of Israel’s top photographers. He served as the head of the School of Multidisciplinary Art. 

Prof. Kuper has displayed his works in solo and group exhibitions in Israel and around the world, including at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, and the Tate Modern in London. His impressive works have earned him a range of prestigious awards, including: the Gerard Levi Prize from the Israel Museum (1995), the Ministry of Education & Culture Prize for Arts (2004), the Enrique Kavlin Lifetime Achievement Award in Photography from the Israel Museum (2006), and the Leon Constantiner Award from the Tel Aviv Museum of Art (2006). 

From 1994 to 1998, Kuper served as head of the photography department at the Camera Obscura School of Art. Until 2009, he served as a senior lecturer in the photography department of the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design. Kuper has been a senior lecturer at the School of Multidisciplinary Art at Shenkar since 2008. 

In his work, Kuper touches on broad philosophical issues which he explores through the medium of photography, examining the act of photography and its status. Among his most prominent series and exhibitions: Vanishing Zones (1990-1994), Necropolis (1996-2000, with Gilad Ophir), Citrus (1999-2001), Ansar (2003), Like Stars in the Water (2005), War Situations (2006), To Eat of the Leviathan Flesh trilogy (2007), It Could Have Been Otherwise (2010) and Gaza Dream (2015).

The exhibition will be held at the Fein 3 Gallery, Fein St 3, Tel Aviv

Opening: 1 October 2021, 11:00

Opening Hours: Sunday-Thursday, 11:00-18:00 // Saturday and Sunday, 11:00-16:00

The exhibition will run until 6 November

Photography: Noa Klagsbald