Helm Of Hades

Exhibition at Tel Aviv Museum of Art

Curated by Ruth Direktor

​

In Greek mythology, those who wore the helm of Hades, became invisible. Among those who wore it were Athene, Perseus, who wore the it to escape the gorgons after he slayed Medusa, and Hermes, the messenger of the gods. This audio walk takes its participants in the footsteps of invisible creatures, those who wear the helm of Hades and share our internal space and external environment: microbes. Participants access it through a WebApp on their cellphones, and the artist’s voice guides the participants via headphones, leading them to follow these invisible microorganisms without whom we cannot live yet which repel us. The museum space, carefully preserved as a sterile location, is perfect for recognizing their existence and the heroic attempts to thwart them, to thrust them far from the museum’s controlled systems. Using the conventional headphone tours held in museums, the visitor’s attention is drawn to the undiscussed aspects of the museum existence: the museum as a climate bubble, the efforts made to control the sterile space for the sake of the works of art deposited in it, and the basic conflict arising from this, between museum and visitor. While the museum is charged with preserving works of art, its role is also to expose them to the public.

​

However, since the public is comprised of living humans, the museum must protect itself from them too — from the living, breathing visitor, whose body contains countless bacterial cells. Thus, the audio walk revolves around an unsolved conflict in liminal areas, not necessarily the representative parts of the museum.