Where Science Meets Art

Shony Rivnay
" Travel Diary"
Stone Administration Building, ground floor
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As the act of documenting and sharing personal experiences on social networks with anyone who may be interested becomes ever more prevalent, it might be difficult to recall how, in the not too distant past, we used to send our loved ones colorful postcards from the places we visited. And going back even further, ancient painters shared their experiences with their descendants through cave paintings. The difference between these modes of documentation and reporting, in particular, in the pace and continuity of communication, as well as the effort required on the part of those seeking to share their experiences, is a case in point of Marshall McLuhan’s assertion that “the medium is the message.”

Shony Rivnay tries to report and share his travel notes with us. But his is an inner journey, amid thoughts and feelings. We do not know where and when this journey took place. We do not receive continuous reporting, but flashes of vague instances along the journey or occurrence. It could be said that Rivnay is not making an effort to convey a detailed message. In fact, he is trying to reduce, summarize or distill his reporting to the bare minimum that would still convey the information. It is an aspiration reminiscent of the tendency of any physical system to reach the lowest energy level at which it can exist. A kind of “serenity” that one could often only hope for.

Thus, on the one hand, Rivnay wishes to share his feelings and thoughts with us: He sends us postcards from the stops he chooses along the journey. On the other hand, the minimalism he embraces does not allow for any explanations. What remains – that is, what actually finds its way into our inbox – is a riddle of sorts which, while doubtfully solvable, may be allowed to motivate viewers to embark on internal explorations of their own, with hidden paths and unknown conclusions.

 

Curator: Yivsam Azgad