{"id":23096,"date":"2005-05-14T17:12:00","date_gmt":"2005-05-14T14:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pan.pics\/gateway-to-the-desert-sculpture-arad\/"},"modified":"2026-01-31T15:58:04","modified_gmt":"2026-01-31T13:58:04","slug":"aradred","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pan.pics\/en\/aradred\/","title":{"rendered":"“Gateway to the Desert” sculpture, Arad"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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\"Gateway to the Desert\" sculpture, Arad<\/h4> \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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    On a desolate ridge at the edge of Arad, where the asphalt ends and the earth begins to speak its own language, stands Israel Hadany’s sculpture like a symbolic gateway\u2014red metal beams intersecting at a high, serrated apex, serving as a perceptual, not just geographical, passage. Named “Gateway to the Desert,” it does exactly that\u2014opening a portal to a landscape without beginning or end. <\/p>\n

    From here, one can see the eastern edge of Arad: a few low houses, some metal antennas, and in the center\u2014the abandoned Masada Hotel (at the time of the photograph – since demolished, and perhaps someday a new hotel will be built). To its right, within a circular clearing, stands Tommarkin’s white sculpture, overlooking the gateway and the landscape behind it. On the other side, to the right of the red sculpture, on a square platform, stands a black sculpture about which I have not inquired\u2014a frozen and silent figure that from afar appears almost human, like someone who sat down to gaze at the infinite silence. <\/p>\n

    The landscape itself is mesmerizing. Yellow and brown hills roll in gentle waves, like a Sea that has frozen just as the wind calmed. The skies are bright and open, almost transparent. In this desert, there is no drama\u2014there is presence. There are no sharp edges\u2014there is continuity. Every small detail\u2014a rock, a depression in the ground, a thin shadow of a cloud\u2014stands out from the general silence like an echo of another past. <\/p>\n

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    Here, on the outskirts of Arad, among modern sculptures, ancient landscape, and a sleepy town, a space is created where time becomes confused. You are not sure if you are standing in the 2000s or facing an ancient Nabataean caravan. The sculptures draw lines, indicate directions, but it is the landscape that decides where to go\u2014and it says: surrender. Forget. Listen. <\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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