דאָיִקייט - doikayt - “hereness”
Here and then exists simultaneously in the present as it is retold, rehearsed, reshaped. Through archiving Jewish folktales, studying incantation bowls and Jewish households from the Aramaic period to now, When Souls Stick collages and interprets Jewish history and mysticism to discuss the human impulse, throughout time, to imbue matter with souls and purposes.
The exhibition, corresponding performances and workshops explore how non-conscious objects come to life through mystical encounters, making bonds through human attachments.
In our tale, the Dybbuk (the vengeful ghost), Golem (the savior and destroyer), Ziz (sky and ruler of all birds) and Leviathan (the primordial sea monster) join in a familial affair, connected yet estranged, woven through the sharing of space. Through activated encounters, demons and angels appear.
The audience is asked to engage and move with the performers, following the Anti-Zionist diasporic concept of Doikayt, translated from Yiddish as “hereness.”
Image by Stephen L. Garrett
Jess Bass has exhibited at SPRING/BREAK Art Show (2020, 2022), PLAY/GROUND (2022), Hyde Park Art Center (2022), Terrain Biennial (2021), SITE Gallery (2020), and Detroit Art Week (2019); and featured in The New York Times, Hyperallergic, ArtNews, PASTE, Fader and MTV.
@partly_spring
Gabriel Chalfin-Piney has exhibited at Bird Show (2023), Speedwell Projects (2022), Buoy Gallery (2022), Chicago Artists Coalition (2021, 2020), Terrain Exhibitions (2020), High Concept Labs (2019), The Kleinert James Center for the Arts (2017), The Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art (2017); and featured in New City Magazine, Spaces Archive, and Chicago Reader.
@citrus.history
Image by Stephen L. Garrett
Special thanks to the Logan Square Chamber of Commerce for sponsoring our September exhibition & related programming.