About

In Shachaf Pereg's practice, she delves into the intricate interplay of sociological elements, often left unspoken, while striving to give an interpretation of autobiographical narratives. As she creates sculptural installations and spatial-monumental representations, her work deals with space as a formative force and patterns of commemoration in public space as awarding recognition. Using the very materiality and architectural language of the institution, Pereg seeks to illuminate contradictions with text and structural material.

Making interventions in the social norms of public space suggests questions of power enforced within society. By utilising tests and games, she invites a reassessment of the way individuals adapt to symbolic systems such as language and signs, ultimately becoming unable to oppose the structures that constrain their autonomy. Thereby, her works engage with the systems that uphold their norms by marginalising those who deviate from them.

Examining institutional structures as a dictating infrastructure for exclusion, while emphasising the role of monuments, has led Pereg to develop the term Awarding Objects. It refers to objects that function as mechanisms that influence the perception of individual worthiness in society through conditional granting. Focusing on their role in preserving the immortalisation of hierarchical structures makes it possible to undermine them. By disrupting these accepted notions, the works aim to encourage viewers to reconsider the criteria by which they are perceived as valuable.

Just as individual identity can be conditioned by recognition, so too the existence of a structure is tied to social approval. The installations function as an embodiment of an individual’s dream, represented by the structure, and are charged with meanings of self-fulfilment, belonging, and permanence. Yet this dream surrenders to physical wear and value shifts, and at times remains only as a material trace. Thus, the works become an array of unfulfilled utopian hopes, hinting at new realities.