The Counterpointed Medium (and the Amorous Twin). On the Recent Works of Uri Tzaig

Is contemporary art really art or something else entirely, and, if it is art, then what does that say about art’s place in the world? These are some of the most frequent questions and criticisms raised against contemporary art. Such claims testify not only to the often tense relationship between the general audience and contemporary artistic practice, but they also emphasise that contemporary art is once again an ‘ivory tower’, a hermetic and esoteric enclave that persists despite the history of the twentieth century and the apparent shift from modernism to postmodernism. This persistence of a form of the avant-garde, albeit a debated and controversial one, is not just a theoretical issue within critical discourse but also an important subject matter for contemporary artworks themselves.