Tamar Harpaz
Winner of Kiefer Scholarship 2013
The Ingeborg Bachmann Scholarship, founded by Anselm Kiefer, for the year 2013 is awarded to the artist Tamar Harpaz for the creativity and uniqueness of her work, which draws on the history of art and cinema, as well as her exploration, curiosity, and experimentation with forms and materials, resulting in complex and intriguing compositions.
Tamar Harpaz, born in 1979, is a sculptor and installation artist who holds both a bachelor’s and master’s degree in art from the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design.
Harpaz creates dynamic sculptural arrangements that evoke a sense of mystery and magic. Her works feature optical illusions while simultaneously revealing the techniques behind them, offering a glimpse “behind the scenes” of the mystery. Viewers are invited to explore laboratory-like spaces composed of slide projectors, glass panels, lighting fixtures, semi-transparent partitions, mirrors, household furniture, work tools, and objects imbued with symbolic and emotional significance.
The themes of her works relate to the history of cinema and the immediate domestic environment, where everyday objects are infused with symbolic and poetic values. Old projection devices and slide projectors play a central role in her creations. These devices, which have long been replaced by modern technologies, are resurrected in her work, embodying a nostalgic yet enigmatic and mysterious dimension.