Sun Stand Still, Gal Weinstein’s project for the Israeli pavilion at the 57th International Art Exhibition – la Biennale di Venezia, was a new, site-specific installation exploring the human desire to stop time. Reflecting a fascination with actual and potential forms of creation and destruction, progress and devastation, this project critically engaged with the mythological and Romantic images embedded in Israel’s collective memory. Each part of the exhibition related to works created by Weinstein over the past decade, so that his entire oeuvre was woven into a single, cohesive installation.
The installation's title refers to the biblical miracle performed by the ancient Israelite leader Joshua Bin-Nun, who sought to win his battle against the kings of Canaan before darkness fell. By commanding the sun to stop in its course, Bin-Nun attempted to arrest the passage of time. The central axis of the project – Moon over Ayalon Valley – is a representation of this biblical miracle. The exhibition transformed the national pavilion – both physically and metaphorically – into an abandoned site; a desolate, moldy and decaying building whose days of glory have long passed, a ghostly space pervaded by signs of decline.
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