Ivo Bisignano’s Exhibition 'Human Forms' set in an Ancient Israel Cave.

Ivo Bisignano’s solo exhibition ‘Human Forms’ has found a temporary home within an ancient cave in Israel’s Beit Guvrin National Park. The cave will reopen to the public for the first time in 25 years, creating possibly the most beautiful and theatrical location for an exhibition we can think of.

The rough, undulating surface of the cave mirrors the grainy body of the seven timber human sculptures that now shelter within its cavernous form, along with hand-drawn animations that span the contemporary Italian artist’s decades-long career. Five video artworks are also cast onto the limestone surfaces creating a wonderful tension between the ancient and the contemporary, the inanimate and the human.

Bisignano’s sculptures are monolithic in their form, the artist imagining them as “old as thoughts, and as imposing as wind or rain”. This exhibition was born out of his desire to display his pieces in an archaic context, creating symbiotic energy between the elements.

The network of the 800 bell-shaped caves in Israel was once mined as a marble quarry during the Byzantine and early Muslim periods. The forms transform the space, dating as far back as 112 BCE, into a museum for the first time. The hand-crafted walls of the cave hold prehistoric stories that are now layered with projected video works that reference pop art, creating an ever-evolving narrative that speaks to the evolving human experience.

The ‘Human Forms’ exhibition will be running throughout November 2020 as a picture-perfect answer to a socially distanced exhibition, allowing observers to appreciate the artwork in a deeply unique and surreal way.

The showcase is accompanied by texts from art and creative luminaries, including Robert C. Morgan, Binnie A. Dansby, Sir Peter Cook and Yotam Ottolenghi.