Magnum Opus II

68elf Gallery, Cologne, Germany 1996

Magnum Opus II focused on immigration. The two artists, Ashery and Rubinstein, emigrated and camped in the gallery for the duration of the show. One of the exhibits was a data from the office of Internal Affairs in Israel attained through family connection, indicating the level of immigration out of Israel since 1986. Each year the number of those who left was represent by box matches showing the fluctuating wave of immigration relating to economical and political events. In the basement that was full of smoke, large scale photocopies from the Israeli photographic news agency Flash90 were displayed. The images were of Jews and Palestinians waving their hands in despair or anger. All the original images were given to Ashery by the photographer Nati Shochat and were never published in the Israeli newspapers.