TIME CAPSULE

Ronit Porat • Man Ray

April - May, 2025

Opening April 10th

Artist talk April 26th, 3pm

RSVP

L’Space Gallery is proud to present TIME CAPSULE, the first U.S. solo exhibition by Israeli artist Ronit Porat, on view from April 10 to May 31, 2025. TIME CAPSULE will also feature a curated collection of 1920s era vintage photographs by Man Ray. Time Capsule opens with a public reception on Thursday, April 10th.

Porat’s work delves into the interwar period in Germany (1919–1933), a time of profound societal transformation and photographic innovation. Through a meticulous process of collecting, layering, and reassembling archival materials—such as postcards, magazines, and maps—she creates poetic collages and immersive installations that blur the boundaries between personal memory and historical narrative. Porat is particularly drawn to Berlin’s Weimar Republic era, a period of social upheaval and artistic innovation. It was an age when the human body took on new roles in photography studios and advertising, reflecting empowerment and objectification. This historical period resonates deeply with Porat’s personal experiences and the history of the kibbutz where she was born. TIME CAPSULE derives from Porat’s major series from the past decade, offering a multi-layered visual dialogue that examines identity construction, control mechanisms, and the intersections of personal and collective memory.

A key component of the exhibition is Porat’s investigation into crime photography. Particularly a murder that took place in Berlin in January 1931. Fritz Ulbrich, a local watchmaker, was murdered in his shop by a sixteen-yearold named Lieschen Neumann, her boyfriend, and another youth. The murder investigation and trial revealed that during the decade preceding the murder, Ulbrich had turned the backroom office of his workshop into a por nogr aph i c photogr aph y s t udio, wh e r e h e photographed hundreds of young girls, among them Neumann. These unsettling images, taken at a time when photography played an increasing role in surveillance and power dynamics, serve as a foundation for Porat’s exploration of visual manipulation and historical narrative.

Porat’s work unfolds in a fragmentary, non-linear, non-narrative manner. Incorporating elements of forensic photography, criminal investigation, and historical archives. Her artistic practice begins with extensive research in photo archives, collecting images from various sources, merging different taxonomies and periodical ready-mades with personal autobiographical references. She initially assembles the images in what she refers to as “index sheets,” which subsequently crystallize into the exhibited photographic collages and mural installations. More than recounting the factual elements of the historical case, through the period’s multitude of historical threads and photographic mechanisms, she seeks to trace and outline human behavioral patterns and the emotional passage from victim to perpetrator, in which the photographic gaze plays an imminent role. TIME CAPSULE challenges the audience to question the reliability of images and the stories they tell.

The Man Ray photographs serve as a compliment to Porat’s. These works, taken during the same period (1920s–30s) after Man Ray moved to Paris in 1921, reflect a similar spirit of experimentation, exploring the connection between nature and the human form. The dichotomy of the female figure in Man Ray’s art—both as an object of desire and a subject of creative expression—mirrors Porat’s interrogation of gaze, power, and control in historical imagery.

Man Ray’s work, with its poetic study of desire, fantasy, and sexuality within the framework of historical documentation, resonates with Porat’s investigations. Each Artist grapples with the ambiguity of sexuality, illustrating how identity and perception are fluid rather than fixed. The interplay between Porat’s archival compositions and Man Ray’s avant-garde imagery creates a dialogue about the evolving representation of the female form—its objectification, liberation, and transformation.