Born in Israel, Noa Giniger graduated from the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris (2005) and attended the School of Art at Carnegie Mellon University as an exchange student (2003-2004). She was a participant in the two-year program De Ateliers, Amsterdam (2006-2008), a Royal Dutch Institute Affiliated Fellow at the American Academy, Rome (2011) and recently, an artist in residence at Villa Empain – Fondation Bogossain, Brussels (2019). Noa has received Stipendium for Established Artists from Mondriaan Funds (2018-2022) and Development Grant from Amsterdam Fonds voor de Kunst (AFK) (2016) . Her work has been presented in various international solo and group exhibitions. She is also a board member at Tohu– an independent online art magazine dedicated to promoting clear and engaged writing about art and culture in Hebrew, Arabic, and English; and at puntWG – an artist-run experimental community and presentation space in Amsterdam. Additionally, Noa represents half of the spoken-word-poetry duo Noon & Ain with musician Anat Spiegel. Noa Giniger lives and works in Amsterdam.
CONTACT
WG-Plein 33C
Amsterdam 1054 RA
Netherlands
neshama@gmail.com
@noa.giniger
CREDITS
Clare Butcher
fanfare & Haris Hadžić
Mondriaan Fonds
Open skies | Group Show
Curator: Avi Lubin
12 – 14 November 2020
Loving Art. Making Art. Tel Aviv, IL
The Sorrow the Joy Brings | Online contribution
Invitation by Tal Yahas and Rinat Edelstein
המצאת הטבע Issue #30, Harama (on-line magazine), 2020
Poeticising Leisure | Group show
29 May – 11 July 2020
Althuis Hofland Fine Arts, Amsterdam, NL
Viral Self-Portraits | Online Exhibition
Invited by Galit Eilat
15 May – 31 December 2020
MG+MSUM, Ljubljana, SI
Chapter 3HREE | Artist Talk
8 March 2020, 4 – 5 p.m.
With Desiree Dolron, Noa Giniger and Maria Roosen
Het Hem, Zaandam, NL
Limited Edition Art Fair | Prints and Multiples
14 – 16 February 2020
Fondation Boghossian – Villa Empain, Brussles, BE
Chapter 3HREE | Group show
Curated by Rieke Vos and Maarten Spruyt
14 January – 3 May 2020
Het Hem, Zandaam, NL
Mondriaan Fonds | Grant
Receiver of Stipendium for Established Artists
(Werkbijdrage Bewezen Talent)
2018 – 2022
Flowers of Our Land | Group Show
Curator: Udi Edelman
16 February – 18 May 2019
Israeli Centre for Digital art in Holon, IL
Get Lost Dreams | Online contribution
Invitation by Tal Yahas and Rinat Edelstein
Futures Issue #25, Harama (on-line magazine), 2019
Noon & Ain in Nanopoetica | Special contribution
Edited by alex Ben-Ari
Second Hebrew Anthology of Conceptual Poetry
Launch: 21 November 2019
Print screen Festival, Israeli Centre for Digital art in Holon, Israel
Leaving Living | Screening
Curator: Jean-Marie Gallais
9 December 2018, 6 p.m.
Centre Pompidou-Mertz, Mertz, FR
Cool Loneliness | Solo Exhibition
Initiated and organized by Sascha Pohle and Tao G. Vrhovec Sambolec
Exhibition: 14 – 15 July 2018
Opening: 13 July 2008, 6 – 9 p.m.
Home Sequence
בשנים האחרונות, הבוץ גדל | Online contribution
Invitation by Tal Yahas and Rinat Edelstein
Chain Reaction, Issue #21, Harama (on-line magazine), 2018
Unwilling: Exercise in Melancholy | Group show
Curators: Vanessa Kwan and Kimberly Phillips
Exhibition: 12 March – 28 April 2018
Artists talk: 21 March 2018, 5 p.m.
Cantor Fitzgerald Gallery, Haverford College, PA, USA
Multiples and Editions | Group show
The Hazenstraat Biennale: 15 – 31 March 2018
Gallery Martin van Zomeren, Amsterdam, NL
The Merry-Go-Round (part 2) | Group Show
Curator: Jeanine Holfland
Exhibition: 16 February – 3 March 2018
Juliette Jongma Gallery, Amsterdam, NL
As Long As | Limited Edition ⏳?
NU NU NU NOW NOW NOW
Stedelijk Museum Shop, Amsterdam, NL
Glow-in-the-dark paint on A4 Xerox copies
Performance, Installation, Sequence of drawings
Variable dimensions and presentation formats
Since 2006
Glow-in-the-dark paint on A4 Xerox copies
Performance, Installation, Sequence of drawings
Variable dimensions and presentation formats
Since 2006
The space is dark.
One copy machine, one standard piece of paper, glow-in-the-dark paint and a brush.The lid of the copy machine is open and it’s going to stay that way for the duration of the event. A brushstroke is applied to one piece of paper, crossing it horizontally. The paint is wet. When the paper is placed on the machine it’s done without touching the scanning surface – a few millimeters above the glass so as not to leave a trace.Once the copy button is pressed, the scanning light briefly illuminates the space, and charging the glow-in-the-dark paint. A copy is made. Let’s call it: Copy no. 1. The original piece of paper is placed aside. It glows in the dark space.Now a glow-in-the-dark brushstroke is applied to Copy no. 1, which is then placed on the copy machine – without touching its scanning surface. A flash of light illuminates the space once more as the scan-charge-copy happens. The glowing Copy no. 1 is placed next to the original piece of paper.This repetitive process continues, as a sequence of drawings emerges. Each one depending on its predecessor. Each in its own fading countdown. The last copy remains with no glow-in-the-dark layer on it: the promise of an infinite process.
related works:
2004
Slide, slide projector, timer
Projected image: 10 x 15 cm
2004
Slide, slide projector, timer
Projected image: 10 x 15 cm
A found scene in the suburbs of Philadelphia; a shadow in the form of a house is created by the angle of the sun on the façade of this building. The projector is programmed to turn on for one minute every 24 hours, at the precise hour when the photo was originally taken. The rest of the time, the projector is off.
related works:
Installation, passive infrared motion sensor, sound
Device size 9 x 6 x 0.25 cm
2008
Installation, passive infrared motion sensor, sound
Device size 9 x 6 x 0.25 cm
2008
In music, an interval is considered unstable or unresolved when it suggests a successive note to bring it to an end. Otherwise it remains hanging in the air, creating a sense of anticipation for a coming event. The “ding-dong” of a traditional doorbell can be considered a static interval. The listener’s expectations are met. Here, an unresolved interval is slowed down and played on a piano.This work was originally made for the occasion of the exhibition Master Humphrey’s Clockat Het Gebouw: the pavilion dedicated to artist Stanley Brouwn. Placed at the entrance of the pavilion, the interval plays every time a person walks through the door, entering or exiting the space, thus acting as a soundtrack accompanying the exhibition.
related works:
Sound installation, 3’42” in loop
2008
Sound installation, 3’42” in loop
2008
The song Everybody Loves Somebody Sometime, performed by Frank Sinatra, is played in the empty space. Only this line is heard accompanied by silent intervals in respect to its original recurrence in the song’s lyrics. The “sometime” and the “somebody” which were concrete in the original song and referred to a specific temporality and person, here become arbitrary and impersonal, as they echo in the empty bright space.
related works:
Four engraved metal plaques, chairs
1.8 x 9 cm each plaque, 85 x 45 x 45 cm each chair
2018
Four engraved metal plaques, chairs
1.8 x 9 cm each plaque, 85 x 45 x 45 cm each chair
2018
Situated in my living room, the dining table and chairs act as an orientation apparatus; compass. On the backs of each seat, on the wooden frame, a metal plaque indicates the name of the street located behind this chair. The typeface New West on each plaque relates further to the piece’s location in the Old West neighbourhood of Amsterdam. Compass echoes the past and future circulation of such items as furniture – remnants of belonging, souvenirs.
related works:
Wall carving
14 x 430 cm
2014
Black gel ink on a Moleskine daily planner
25 x 29 cm, framed
2014
Wall carving
14 x 430 cm
2014
Black gel ink on a Moleskine daily planner
25 x 29 cm, framed
2014
An isolated phrase from Hebrew poet Leah Goldberg’s poem There is No Mercy reads: “Years go by and more words are forbidden”. Due to its isolation, the origin of this prohibition remains unclear: is this an internal interdiction imposed by the speaker (the poet or the artist), or perhaps an external one?This work first appeared in my solo show Durational Boundaries as part of a series of solo exhibitions celebrating the 50th anniversary of the ICA in Philadelphia. The sentence was inscribed into the exhibition’s wall, performing as part of the exhibition structure, it confronts its own unstable and fragile content.Later that year, another version appeared in the exhibition Dark Times where the sentence was written by hand in Hebrew onto the page of a Moleskine notebook I have used in recent years as a personal journal
related works:
Graphite, two cotton pillowcases, bedding set
55 x 65 cm each
2018
Graphite, two cotton pillowcases, bedding set
55 x 65 cm each
2018
“It’s easy to get lost in your own dreams”: this sentence is taken from my daily horoscope as it appeared on the online work Recalculating Route. The text is traced in graphite onto two pillowcases, dividing any reading of the original sentence. The piece was made site-specificity for my bed room for the exhibition Cool Loneliness.
related works:
Installation, mirror, tripod, sunlight, ceiling
Variable dimensions, 5 hours duration
2018
Installation, mirror, tripod, sunlight, ceiling
Variable dimensions, 5 hours duration
2018
Tuned precisely to follow the opening hours of the exhibition Cool Loneliness, this spatial sundial liberates me from regularly checking the hour. The mirror is positioned in such a way that at 2 p.m., the opening hour, a ray of sunlight that enters through the window is directed to the ceiling. During the following five hours, the projected sun beam traverses the living room space until precisely 7 p.m. – the closing hour – when it exits the space.
related works:
Mirror on tripod, switched off light bulb, sunlight
Variable dimensions
2005
Archival pigment print
80 x 120 cm
2005
Mirror on tripod, switched off light bulb, sunlight
Variable dimensions
2005
Archival pigment print
80 x 120 cm
2005
Catching (day) Light was made in a private residency in Paris: via a mirror placed on the floor, a ray of sunlight illuminates the light bulb until the ray moves away and the bulb is turned off again. While in the another space, applying the same trick, a ray of sunlight fills in the middle of the ceiling molding ornament for a short period of the day.
related works:
Garden solar lights, glass and wood showcase with permanent light, two daylight fluorescent tubes
Vitrine: 156 x 140 x 50 cm
Ongoing (Since 2008)
Garden solar lights, glass and wood showcase with permanent light, two daylight fluorescent tubes
Vitrine: 156 x 140 x 50 cm
Ongoing (Since 2008)
A garden solar light is placed where its solar panel can collect the maximum amount of full, direct sunlight. During the day, the solar panel converts sunlight into electricity and recharges the battery. The more sunlight it receives; the more power can be stored for the light to use at nighttime. Once night falls, a sensor turns the light on automatically. The solar lights in Ongoing Collection are placed in a glass showcase illuminated by daylight temperature fluorescent lamps. Here, night never falls and the collection never sees daylight. This artificial light does not operate merely to make the collection visible but to incessantly energize it and consequently prevent the lights from turning on. Every time the work is exhibited, a new and varied combination of the growing solar light collection is presented.
related works:
A daily alternating installation, various objects
De Inkijk and different locations around Amsterdam
2009
A daily alternating installation, various objects
De Inkijk and different locations around Amsterdam
2009
On Temporary Loan comprises a selection of items from twenty-one windowsill displays, collected from homes in different parts of Amsterdam. Every day another display was unveiled and exhibited in its original state. While these objects were on display at de Inkijk space, a sign was placed on the empty windowsill of the objects’ owner, indicating the objects’ absence to passersby. The title of the work refers to the signs that hang in museums when a particular work from the permanent collection is on loan.On Temporary Loan was the fourth and last project for The Precarious State, a series of projects that was initiated by SKOR in 2008 and held at De Inkijk reflecting upon the concept of identity.
related works:
Three paper stacks, offset print on paper
Installation dimensions variable (Stacks here 24 x 70 x 50 cm)
2009
Three paper stacks, offset print on paper
Installation dimensions variable (Stacks here 24 x 70 x 50 cm)
2009
The installation consists of three paper stacks, which invite viewer to take a sheet. On each is printed one of the pairs in the title. The stacks are positioned throughout the space so that “TOO LATE” is the last, thereby guiding the viewer through the space to face each proposition singularly.The impetus for the work came from a found record featuring on one side a song called Too Much, Too Little, Too Late and on the other Emotion; two sides of the same single. The resulting sculpture inevitably changes, diminishing in height and weight throughout the course of the exhibition.
related works:
With Robin Vanbesien
Site specific installation, mixed media, website (active for the duration of the project only)
2009
With Robin Vanbesien
Site specific installation, mixed media, website (active for the duration of the project only)
2009
Empty Orchestra took place in two synchronized locations: Square St. Denis in Brussels and the website [www.PlacestDenis-SintDenijsplein.be] that was active for the duration of the project only. The term “Empty Orchestra” is the definition for the Japanese word “karaoke”. The concept started as a form of entertainment in which amateur singers sing along with recorded music using a microphone and public address system. Today, karaoke service is no longer found only in special bars but can be downloaded and uploaded on mobile phones.For the duration of the project an instrumental karaoke version of a song was played at set times (09:00, 13:00, 17:00) from the existing mega-phones located in the square and the nearby streets. Every day a different song played. In parallel the lyrics of the song of the day were streamed on the website: without melody only the words appeared in sync with the song’s tempo.The physical elements located on the Square St. Denis functioned as a décor for the project. The launderette’s display mirrored the plants seen in the Square. The next-door billboard feature da homogeneous green surface that suggested both a green surface and at the same time a Green Screen with the potential to reveal more images behind it, other places. Combined with the daily soundtrack of the square, these elements emphasized the potential of the square to host multiple scenes and prevented the site from becoming static.Empty Orchestra was the fifth project as part of Wiels hors les mursprogram, held in Speedy Wash at Square St. Denis.
related works:
Light installation, 15 min, daily
Dimensions variable
2009
Light installation, 15 min, daily
Dimensions variable
2009
During the exhibition :-)-: daylight was removed from the gallery and the only light sources were spotlights directed towards stacks of paper featuring the phrases “TOO MUCH”, “TOO LITTLE”, “TOO LATE”. This theatrical and artificial ambiance was interrupted daily when, fifteen minutes before the exhibition closed, all the lights in the space were switched on. A signal for closing time.Controllar, an experimental pop duo, were commissioned to compose a piece to be performed live in the space at the same time as INTERVENTION. Their composition was inspired by this moment of “lights-on”, a familiar finale in bars and clubs at the end of a night out. As soon as the performance ended, Controllar left and the gallery was immediately closed.
related works:
Installation, dimmed space, 5 blade-ceiling fan, paint, light bulb
132 cm diameter blade sweep
2008
Installation, dimmed space, 5 blade-ceiling fan, paint, light bulb
132 cm diameter blade sweep
2008
A ceiling fan turns in the space. The only light source comes from the bulb of the fan. The blades of the fan have been painted black in such a way that as the blades turn, a flickering reflection of the bulb is created once in every cycle. An endless loop of ambition and despair, hinting at, but not limited to, this moment when an idea comes to mind – also referred to as a “light bulb moment”.
related works:
Sound installation, melody card module, space corner
9 x 4 x 0.5 cm, variable durations
2007
Sound installation, melody card module, space corner
9 x 4 x 0.5 cm, variable durations
2007
The melody card module was originally used in greeting cards: a small six pin processor is programmed with a melody to be played back through a piezo speaker. A lithium button cell provides the power and a leaf switch closes when the card is opened turning the music on. Here, the module is installed in the corner of the gallery space at 90 degrees, resulting in an extract of the song Home, Sweet Home being played in a loop. This process will last until either the battery runs out or the walls of the space are no longer standing still.An outcome of the audio installation is FLATTEN SOUND made especially for The Book of Intensions, Issue 4 of F.R.David. Here, the melody card module is scanned and printed on a double spread – inspired by the image-editing software Photoshop’s term “flatten image” where the individual layers of an image are merged into one.
related works:
Light installation, vertical blinds, cellophane papers, daylight, daylight bulbs
Variable dimensions
2007
Light installation, vertical blinds, cellophane papers, daylight, daylight bulbs
Variable dimensions
2007
This work is based on a 24-hour cycle. Colour cellophane papers cover the window in a room and creates a full color spectrum on the nearby wall. As the daylight fades so does the spectrum until only the white light, coming from the daylight bulbs, remains.
related works:
Installation, black spray on wall, sunlight
Painting on the wall: 160 x 240 cm
2005
Installation, black spray on wall, sunlight
Painting on the wall: 160 x 240 cm
2005
The term “fata morgana” means more than just an optical phenomenon. The interpretation of the image is up to the fantasy of the viewer. Yet, it will always disappear once approached and will immediately reappear in the far horizon. A black painting on the wall is made. An imaginary landscape with the help of handmade stencil – a palm tree, lake and two mountains – and does not disappear once approached. A ray of sunlight, which cycles through the space daily, from the ground towards the image and away, marks time and links this seemingly motionless space to the outside world.
This work was made specifically for atelier Barbara Leisgen in ENSBA and exhibited on 21 June 2005; the summer solstice.
related works:
Single slide, slide projector
Variable dimensions and durations
2008
Single slide, slide projector
Variable dimensions and durations
2008
Don’t Convert the Scientific Problem to an Insignificant Love Story is composed of a single photographic slide projection. The image is a frozen frame from Andrei Tarkovsky’s 1972 film Solarisin which the dead body of the protagonist’s wife lies on the floor: a moment after she had committed suicide and a minute before she will come back to life. The text in the title of the work is the English subtitle which appears against this backdrop. Isolated from its continuity, this piece of text – said in the film by Snaut the scientist to Kelvin the psychologist – calls for a clear and hierarchal dichotomy between science and emotion. During the period of the exhibition, the intense light of the slide projector’s lamp scorches the slide causing it to gradually fade.
related works:
Hair
25 x 17 cm
2018
Hair
25 x 17 cm
2018
Georgia was formed and placed on the tiles of my bathroom, while the audience had only a restricted view of the work via the partially open door. This piece – on view during Cool Loneliness – is a personal homage to Georgia O’Keeffe’s body of work and Marcel Duchamp’s Etant Donnés (1946-66). This piece is a bitter-sweet praise to my own hair and the cycle of life. A way to say goodbye
related works:
Exhibition with Bas Jan Ader, Halina Kliem, Jennifer Tee
Curated by Noa Giniger
puntWG, Amsterdam, NL
2014
Exhibition with Bas Jan Ader, Halina Kliem, Jennifer Tee
Curated by Noa Giniger
puntWG, Amsterdam, NL
2014
The word ‘status’, by definition, refers to a given now which does not necessarily guarantee its relevance for the moments to follow. Therefore, it expresses a position that is subject to constant examination and change. Social media has appropriated the word status and incorporated it into today’s jargon as a space for sharing one’s feelings, thoughts and actions with friends and followers — ‘What is on your mind?’. This endless verbose time-line is an attempt to not let any moment be forgotten or left behind.Status brings together works by three artists in which text – the written word – performs as solid matter and confronts its own unstable and fragile content. Words are presented in different techniques: installation, video and sculpture, thus offering different encounters with text; hand-written, typed, and engraved. The pieces shift between temporary and permanent, laconic and wordy, restless and stillness, awareness and oblivion, spirit and matte. Thoughts Unsaid, Then Forgotten (1973) by Bas Jan Ader is a wall-text installation, illuminated by a lamp and paired with flowers in a vase. This reconstruction of the piece is following drafted instructions; the sentence is traced, based on the original handwriting. The decaying flowers and the text about forgetting, emphasize Ader’s attraction to the inescapability of loss in fleeting moments. Thoughts will be forgotten, whether unsaid or spoken aloud, and Ader’s laconic phrase does not guarantee otherwise.The two videos from the series Real World (2007-2008) by Halina Kliem are fast and intensive. The restless typing creates a rhythm that is occasionally disrupted by re-writing and correcting. Each video lasts a few minutes before repeating itself. Here, the linear time-line is replaced by an eternal loop. Expressed as an inner monologue, Real World explores the boundaries between art and life, fiction and truth, and as the videos are simultaneously watched and read, the text turns into a form of poetry.As if observing from the mezzanine, a collection of works by Jennifer Tee is displayed; nine pairs of ceramic urns, colorful in a spectrum of glazed soft pastels. The sculptures, among which are Thought~Forms, Wild~Patience, and Occult~Geometry (all 2014), are arranged on a long table. They are a hybrid of a tomb and a totem, striving for eternal duration beyond decay. One word is stamped on each of them. Isolated but paired, the urns do not tell a narrative but a riddle. Hence, by placing them outside of their regular context, the words resonate different vibrations that transcend their common use.
Status was made possible with the support of Amsterdams Fonds voor de Kunt (AFK).
related works:
Watercolor on paper
Variable dimensions, 29.7 x 21 cm each
Ongoing
Watercolor on paper
Variable dimensions, 29.7 x 21 cm each
Ongoing
Spells is a text writing system that I developed based on the structure of stencil lettering: a ready-to-use plastic sheet consisting of the whole alphabet.Since Summer 2017 I have been making watercolor drawings of words – carriers of meanings – on paper. When drawing a word, when spelling it, the letters are forced on the paper according to the stencil’s structure. Depending on the spelling, one stencil can form the whole or a part of a word. Once a letter repeats the drawing continues one level below. As I draw the words chronologically, letter after letter, the different intensities of the watercolor range from opacity to increased transparency, suggesting the order of the reading. The choice of words is both calculated and intuitive. My sources vary from books, podcasts, conversations, dictionaries, newspapers, etc. Sometimes a word stays solo or can lead to a pairing or longer sequence. In order for me to have an account of this collection of words, or as I refer to them: “words in my possession”, I have an alphabetic book where I keep a record of each word.
related works: