Uri Tzaig, Avi Shaham

Cultural, anthropological and political questions have stood at the centre of Uri Tzaig's works since the early 1990s. And for several years now Tzaig has worked closely with Israeli sculptor Avi Shaham. In these joint projects the two artists combine their respective media - image and object.

Ancient Camera, 2003 - a sculpture in the shape of a hugely over-sized camera on a gargantuan tripod - has so far been the largest and most important of these collaborative efforts. The gigantic, lead-covered sculpture has a disquieting effect. as it inverts the object's actual function. The replica of a camera does not take any pictures. By contrast. it projects them. The video Look at me, 2003, shows, in close-up, senescent people who confront the viewer. These images alternate with texts that raise the themes of transitoriness, the disintegration of identity and consciousness, but also the responsibility for others. Owing to its size, weight and sheen the sculpture Ancient Camera seems reminiscent of ages past. In combination with Look at me this installation explores and investigates the relationship between temporality and reality.

Similarly, in Master Lucas, 2002, it is the direct and palpably physical, penetrating gaze that forms the dominant theme. The projection of an over-sized gorilla head in combination with textual fare references theories of evolution and conjectures about the human genomic code.