Potter’s Will is a multimedia project by Ben Hagari that merges video, performance, and kinetic sculpture into a poetic, tragi-comic meditation on creation and control. In the installation, the artist’s clay-covered figure revolves endlessly on a potter’s wheel – an ancient tool turned into a stage for myth and absurdity. Reborn within an automated loop, he explores themes of identity, ritual, and failure through physical transformation. The exhibition was held concurrently at the Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA.
The artist book, co-published by the Rose Art Museum and the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, reflects the tactile and conceptual layers of the project. Designed in a double-sided, spiral-bound format – one side in Hebrew, one in English – it mirrors the dualities embedded in the work. The process required close coordination between two major institutions and a range of contributors, including writers, translators, and photographers.
The result is an unconventional object: a hardcover book with transparent PVC covers, exposed materials, and inventive elements like a 180 cm foldout insert. Featuring full-bleed photographs, archival images, and illustrations, the book becomes a sculptural extension of the installation – circular, visceral, and alive in the hands of the reader.
