Sharon Ya’ari: The Romantic Trail and the Concrete House Cat. Kunstmuseen Krefeld. Haus Esters

In what way do ­formal and ideal influences continue in another reality of life? The Israeli photographer explores such questions in his first solo show in Germany at Haus Esters. Built by architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe in the late nineteen twenties, Haus ­Esters is one of the most iconic structures of modernist architecture in Germany and can be associated with notions of an open, forward-looking society. The special atmosphere and architecture of these former private homes have regularly inspired artists since being repurposed as exhibition venues for contemporary art. Sharon Ya’ari builds on this site-specific tradition to the extent that he developed new works and series for Haus Esters based on the reality of his own life. The starting point of Ya’ari’s photographic exploration is the connection between the ideas of European modernism between the World Wars and the effort to implement them in the young State of Israel. Sharon Ya’ari traces the legacy of modernist formal language in his native country. He is not concerned with the perspective of architectural photography but rather with marginalia, the relics of everyday life.

Magdalena Holzhey (born 1974) is curator of the Krefeld Kunstmuseen. She was previously curator at the Kunsthalle Düsseldorf. In 2009 she did her doctorate on Beuys. With Snoeck she co-edited the volume The Forces behind the Forms. Sharon Ya’ari (born 1966, lives and works in Tel Aviv, teaches at the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem) is one of the most renowned Israeli artists of his generation. Sharon Ya’ari’s work is characterized by a precise as well as versatile use of the photographic medium that he comprehends as a means of cultural and political research. He has been represented in numerous international solo and group exhibitions, including at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art (IL), National Gallery Museum, Vilnius (LT), Kunsthaus Baselland, Basel (CH), and Drexler University Art Gallery, Philadelphia (US). Markus Heinzelmann (born 1965) is a German art historian and curator. From 2006 to 2018 he was director of the Museum Morsbroich in Leverkusen. He is particularly interested in classical modernism and contemporary art, and has been successful with several excellent photo exhibitions, including Gerhard Richter in 2008. Matthia Loebke (born 1963) is the artistic director of the Kunstverein Heilbronn and curator. She publishes monographic catalogs, among others about Yoshitaka Amano, Markus Lüpertz, Olaf Metzel, Enoc Perez, Michael Schmidt, Michael Venezia, and Silke Wagner. In Cologne she was an assistant to Donald Judd and gained her doctorate on Dan Flavin.