Have a Nice Day
Haifa Museum
Part of the group show 'The Readymade Centennial' curated by Ruth Direktor
Dozens of used double mattresses were collected from the streets of Gush Dan over the course of a month. Until recently, each of them was part of someone's life, and now they are an installation in a museum.
Hacmon dug a tunnel-like space in them, with a gaping opening that exposes the layers of the mattresses. It beckons the viewer to enter and even dig into it, but it is not accessible. Next to the mattresses are used steel-reinforced doors that create a closed, square space. The space becomes a prison that is still visible to the viewer, who can look through the peephole in the security door. Hacmon chooses used objects that are charged with meaning, full of revealing signs, objects that have completed their functions. In another work, he photographs an abandoned bike frame, from which all of its parts have been stolen, and which blends into the urban landscape.
The frame, which has no owner, identifying marks or any useful aspect, becomes a superfluous object. Hacmon documents its theft (in itself, an outlandish act) and presents it in the museum space. Hanging from the ceiling is a dense bundle of colored nylon bags; they represent the moment before the purchase, prior to choosing, and the potential in everything they might contain. They are hung as bait, deceiving us by their trivial and spectacular beauty.