Assaf Hinden: A Site for Sore Eyes: Solo Exhibition at the Petach Tikva Museum

The new series of works, A Site for Sore Eyes, merges three distinct geographical and conceptual anchors: the archaeological site of Pompeii, the volcanic landscape of the Ōwakudani Valley in Japan, and a sculpture studio. Together, they are fused into a fictional archaeological site. The project examines how surfaces of destruction and preservation are transformed into cultural exhibits, and how human intervention and mechanisms of display shape both memory and the gaze. By highlighting the stages of mediation, covering, and exposure, the work shifts the focus from the historical event itself to the way it is framed, mediated, and consumed.

Pompeii

The photographs from Pompeii, a site that functions simultaneously as a historical ruin and an active exhibition space, juxtapose ancient stone with metallic walkways and original walls with contemporary railings. The images focus on the friction between weathered, chemically-scarred matter and the new engineering additions attempting to reconstruct the "original." Hinden refers to these interventions as "temporal prostheses": components designed to stabilize and frame the past through a cold, almost alien technological language. The "bridge" photographs are mounted in checkered plate steel frames, serving as a physical extension of the documented elements.

the Ōwakudani Valley

In the Ōwakudani Valley, Hinden documented active volcanic landscapes where gas emissions crystallize into vivid yellow sulfur deposits. This intense hue lends the images a futuristic quality, emphasizing how surfaces evolve through both natural phenomena and tourist infrastructure. These sites raise the question of how we experience a landscape changing in real-time as a curated, consumable experience.

studio

The third site is an art studio, where Hinden documented sculptures-in-progress shrouded in protective plastic sheets. These images echo scenes of bodies frozen in time (reminiscent of Pompeii) and classical art-historical motifs—such as Michelangelo’s Rebellious Slave or Botticelli’s Venus—yet they exist within a mundane workspace, surrounded by brooms and trash cans. The act of "covering" in the studio links the archaeological process to the artistic act; both generate contextual knowledge through selection, editing, and staging, ultimately constructing a visual and historical narrative.