born in Israel, 1980
lives and works in Zbeidat


One of the radical aspects of readymade lies in the tension between the museum space and the everyday objects displayed in it. The act of Duchamp presented a challenge for the museum space and for the values of the art world that derive from it, and endowed the industrial objects with new meanings. Ruth Oppenheim addresses this aspect in Duchamp's work through a simple action - she pastes vinyl wallpaper on the museum floor, making it look like wood parquet. A simple action, a convoluted intention - the exposed concrete floor, so modern and Israeli, takes on the splendor of wood-covered exhibition spaces from other places and other times; readymade European heaviness and respectability.

Another aspect stems from the fact that the floor was turned into a work of art. The viewer must decide: Is it permissible or forbidden to walk on the wallpaper that is pretending to be a wooden floor? While looking at the floor (not the way one usually looks in a museum), the viewers are likely to find themselves contemplating the history and architecture of museum buildings in Israel. At the same time, the viewers are also liable to wonder about the absurdity of a work that was painstakingly created, piece by piece, and which will be peeled off and discarded at the end of the exhibition.