Dimension: 9m long, 2.3m wide and 5.2m high
Materials: plaster, wood, smoked glass, PVC, photograph/vinyl stickers on PVC
Stairway is based on a typical entrance to a Tel Avivian residential building.
The work is hidden behind a corridor built in the actual staircase of the museum, changing the whole perception of it and bringing the viewer to a different spatial situation; canceling the real architecture of the museum. One walks through a dark tunnel before confronting a glass door.
The tunnel is created by plaster walls that hide the large window of the museum entirely and slightly changes the gallery’s proportions; narrowing the corridor and lowering the ceiling. This purposely unbalanced stage gives one a feeling of instability as if on a construction site. The darkness and the unknown create a total disorientation. As well, a hidden air conditioning system lowers the temperature drastically as one descends into the viewing spot which is a sealed glass door.
The entrance, with its staircase, is enclosed in a kind of architectural box built at the end of this tunnel. One has the feeling of arrival at the entrance of the foyer of a private apartment building, but cannot enter.
The building’s entrance and staircase are built as a set, both artificial and realistic, like a model scale 1/1. The real dimensions are a bit distorted to create a strange, uncanny feeling. There is an illusion of realism, however, because of the erasure of some functional detail (for example the light switch or the handrail of the second floor) the feeling of a model exists.
The staircase is built in a box 5m high and 8m deep, made out of a thin wood construction, as used in sets. All the materials in this work are fake, giving the illusion of original materials typical of local style (from immigrant housing projects built in the 1950 and 60 to residential buildings in Tel Aviv) . Terrazzo tiles and Travertine stone paneling are created by the use of photography (printed on vinyl stickers). The mirror is made of PVC, the door frames from wood imitating aluminum, and handrail from wood imitating iron.
At the end of the buildings entrance, another door gives a hint of a dimly fluorescent lit parking lot. The door is left opened as if the place was violated and vulnerable.
Various situations of lighting are created in the work, changing between cool and warm to very dark moments. A neon light coming from the elevator window and an occasional turned on incandescent light from the apartment upstairs give a rhythm of an entire night. Stairs leading down, hint at the presence of a basement (shelter).