Ofer Laufer is an artist and craftsman who builds structures, objects, and machines. The artifacts he produces with his own hands, carry a very personal, technical, and poetic signature. He often places his sculptures in public spaces, creating interventions that respond to and influence the environment. Additionally, he works as a lighting and set designer, and as a performer who collaborates with artists in the fields of theater, music, and dance.
As someone who regularly embarks on adventures in Israel and abroad, Laufer operates as a hunter-gatherer, collecting intense, radical, and poetic experiences in the wild. These are gathered during arduous physical journeys, minimizing dependence on resources, sometimes to the point of survival. In his interaction with nature and the environment, he examines various boundaries, inviting encounters with human helplessness. Thus, images are crafted into sculptural, performative, and theatrical actions. For Laufer, there is no real separation between life and artistic activity; one is intertwined with and nourishes the other.
A few years ago, Laufer relocated his life to a small caravan, the iconic Hymer Motorhome model mounted on a Mitsubishi L300. Through this he redefines the ways in which he resists and submits to life in the Israeli urban-urban-capitalist space. Living in the caravan is a way to escape the clutches of real estate straight into the pseudo-wild nature of national parks or the silence of the coastline, which is likely to be disturbed by a group of drunk teenagers or a curious security guard of a nearby construction site. It is a solitary lifestyle that allows nomadic wandering, settling in nature or on the outskirts of the city. Freedom is great, seemingly. The physical-mystical relationship between Laufer and the caravan is akin to the mythical bond between a rider and his horse. They move in an intimacy that at its peak reaches complete symbiosis.
At the center of the work Auto is a life-size model of the caravan Laufer lives in. Placing it on the theater stage is an invitation to embark on an adventure. The vehicle is surrounded by artificial natural forces and elements: water, fire, smoke, and earth, as the stage transforms into a living and active landscape. It is a fantastic journey through natural phenomena that can only exist in the ephemeral reality of the theater, with its unique means and mechanisms.
Auto will be on display between march 21 – march 27, 2025
