ROI CARMELI | «Pressed to Remember»
18 Abril 2025 16h00
ROI CARMELI | Pressed to Remember
Open Studio | 18-19 Abril 2025,16:00-20:00
Artist Talk | 28 Abril 2025, at 18:00
Artist Talk | 28 Abril 2025, at 18:00
Zaratan is pleased to present Pressed to Remember, a video-installation developed by Roi Carmeli during his residency in Lisbon.
The video on display consists of self-made clay objects, field recordings and digital manipulation. It creates a space where the distinctions between the organism and machine, physical and virtual have become increasingly leaky.
This sculptural objects, floating in the digital realm through AI manipulation, are traces of a forgotten buildings pressed into clay—fragments of space, memory, and ritual, fossilized through touch. The impressions are not merely records of physical textures, but quiet testimonies to power, spectacle, and erasure. Each of the pieces scrolling on the screen is a tactile encounter with absence: what was once center-stage now lies silent The marks in the clay are open to interpretation: are they remnants of ceremony, scars of conflict, or echoes of resistance?
By integrating tangible imagery within a digital realm, enveloping static objects in dynamic, swirling visuals, the artwork breathes new life into these inherent forms.
The digital space appears capable of generating its own nascent entities, which may later contemplate their own being. These nascent virtual subjects possess a sense of familiarity yet remain enigmatic, holding untold stories that gradually reveal themselves. Ultimately, these organic-inspired characters will integrate into a virtual world and a long-term project exploring senses, gestures, and connection in the interplay between digital and analog realities.
The exhibition will also feature an artist talk with Roi Carmeli on April 28th at 6:00 PM.
The video on display consists of self-made clay objects, field recordings and digital manipulation. It creates a space where the distinctions between the organism and machine, physical and virtual have become increasingly leaky.
This sculptural objects, floating in the digital realm through AI manipulation, are traces of a forgotten buildings pressed into clay—fragments of space, memory, and ritual, fossilized through touch. The impressions are not merely records of physical textures, but quiet testimonies to power, spectacle, and erasure. Each of the pieces scrolling on the screen is a tactile encounter with absence: what was once center-stage now lies silent The marks in the clay are open to interpretation: are they remnants of ceremony, scars of conflict, or echoes of resistance?
By integrating tangible imagery within a digital realm, enveloping static objects in dynamic, swirling visuals, the artwork breathes new life into these inherent forms.
The digital space appears capable of generating its own nascent entities, which may later contemplate their own being. These nascent virtual subjects possess a sense of familiarity yet remain enigmatic, holding untold stories that gradually reveal themselves. Ultimately, these organic-inspired characters will integrate into a virtual world and a long-term project exploring senses, gestures, and connection in the interplay between digital and analog realities.
The exhibition will also feature an artist talk with Roi Carmeli on April 28th at 6:00 PM.
BIOGRAPHY | ROI CARMELI (Tel Aviv, 1982) is a visual artist and musician currently based in Greece. He graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design,Jerusalem (2010) and obtained a master degree in Fine Arts from the Glasgow School of Art, Glasgow (2015).During his education, Roi spent a year as exchange student at the California College of Art, San Francisco, as well as residencies at Corning museum for glass, NY (2012), Scottish sculpture workshop, UK (2016) and Tenjiamyama art studio, JP (2018), among other places. He was a committee member at Market Gallery (Glasgow) and he is the founder of of Bulb, a seasonal and artist-led ResidencyGallery (Tel Aviv). Since 2022 and until the beginning of the war, he was an invited professor at Musrara new media department (Jerusalem) and Shenkar art Department (Ramat Gan). He completed in January 2025 a residency at Via Farini (Milan). In his work, Roi links present times to early civilizations, reconnecting humans and bridging the modern day singularities defined by race, nations, or states. His curiosity at the fragility of memory, the nature of time, spatial rhythm, and movement is conveyed through the use of sculpture and audiovisual narratives. He distinctively uses sound not as background, but as a tangible material in and of itself.
SUPPORT | Zaratan – Arte Contemporânea is a structure supported by República Portuguesa – Cultura / Direção-Geral das Artes. Roi’s residency is supported by the European Union and Goethe-Institut, through the program Culture Moves Europe.