PROJECT MELISSA

Artist: Eden Auerbach Ofrat

SOLO SHOW ZAZ10TS GALLERY
September 15 - December 12, 2022
10 TIMES SQUARE | 1441 Broadway, New York, NY 10018

Build a house, ten cubits high, with all the sides of equal dimensions, with one door, and four windows, one on each side; put an ox into it, thirty months old, very fat and fleshy; let a number of young men kill him by beating him violently with clubs, so as to mangle both flesh and bones, but taking care not to shed any blood; let all the orifices, mouth, eyes, nose etc. be stopped up with clean and fine linen, impregnated with pitch; let a quantity of thyme be strewed under the reclining animal, and then let windows and doors be closed and covered with a thick coating of clay, to prevent the access of air or wind. After three weeks have passed, let the house be opened, and let light and fresh air get access to it, except from the side from which the wind blows strongest. Eleven days afterwards, you will find the house full of bees, hanging together in clusters, and nothing left of the ox but horns, bones and hair.

(Geoponika, Bizantium, 10th Century)

Entering The Columbarium cave, Eden Auerbach Ofrat carries wooden logs, metal poles, and two bull skeletons - from which she constructs a flying machine. When operated, the Skeleton’s ribs will turn into mechanical wings upon which thousands of bees are released, an echo of an ancient ritual, The Bugonia (mentioned above). The death of the bull - a symbol of masculine aggression, begets the spirit’s ascension, the swarm of bees (The Melissa - the messengers of the gods.  In Greek Melissa = bee).

Between one wing swinging to another life emerges out of death, from within a dark power - a sublime tenderness will rise.

Featured on ZAZ Corner’s In Between | September 15 - October 16

In conjunction with Eden Auerbach Ofrat’s exhibition of “Project Melissa”, a 15 second video of “Project Melissa”, adapted by Auerbach Ofrat, will be presented on the billboard on the ZAZ Corner billboard as part of the In Between program.

It will run on the southeast corner of 41st Street and 7th Avenue in Times Square from September 15 to October 16, 2022.

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