Because \\ Despite
Solo Exhibition
Curated by Sharon Tuval · Art Lab, Tel Aviv · Aug.13 – Sep.13, 2025
Because // Despite explores the smile as a fragile yet powerful human gesture, one that feels urgently needed in the present social and political climate. The exhibition asks a deceptively simple question:
What makes you smile?
This question became the basis of an open statistical survey answered by 160 anonymous participants. Their responses were collected, studied, and processed through a custom-developed algorithm, created in collaboration with artificial intelligence tools. The data was translated into a series of fictional composite portraits, imagined “identikits” that reflect emotional states, age, gender, memory, and hope.
The exhibition presents a visual and technological interpretation of this experiment. Graphic systems map the research process, while two opposing screens display a rhythmic sequence: each generated portrait appears alongside the personal reason for smiling that shaped it. The result is a dynamic dialogue between image and causality, face and feeling.
At the center of the space stands a large-scale installation composed of 1,248 3D-printed bear heads, all variations of the iconic Otso character. Surrounding interactive elements invite visitors to add their own reasons for smiling, allowing the archive to grow continuously throughout the exhibition and transforming the installation into a living, participatory system.
Created during a period of painful human and social transformation, the exhibition does not offer escape from reality. Instead, it insists on emotional and intellectual presence. The smile is reframed not merely as a symbol of happiness, but as a reflective, cultural, and potentially political act.
“Even in the darkest times, the smile is always there,” the artist notes. “Sometimes only as a spark of thought. It is a translation of light. A way not just to survive, but to connect, to share, to recognize one another.”
Because // Despite is an invitation to pause, reflect, and reconsider the smile as an act of resilience, compassion, and shared humanity, precisely when these qualities are most needed.
