Moral Turgeman’s journey to Los Angeles began with what could be described as an existential calling, one that brought the multidisciplinary artist to Southern California, ushered by the same intuitive, sensorial compass that guides her work. After five years on the road working as a commissioned artist, it was California’s landscape that convinced her she had found a new home. “Combined with the existing network I built here during my formative years, Los Angeles became the clear choice.”
Heinrich’s Dreamscape – One is just as apt to crawl into Turgeman’s work as peer in. Photo: Masha Matveyeva
Settled into a dedicated Los Angeles studio, the prolific Turgeman now focuses on fabricating small furniture and objects that operate as both tangible and sustainable art pieces – “some functional, some interactive” – multi-sensory installations emphasizing the physical relation between work, visitor and site.
The Little House, at Mama Gallery, “a vessel of ascension” equipped with 8 stations that emit binaural sound waves. Photo: Moral Turgeman
Works like The Little House – a full-scale mirrored house enriched with aural experiences uniquely choreographed to each of its exhibition venues – the synesthesia-inducing architecture of Heinrich’s Dreamscape, alongside a series of wind chime sculptures altered in site-specific iterations, all delve into relationships between the sensorial and our surroundings.
Sixth Hue – a wind chime installation. Photo: Michael Krieger
I believe people engage me because of my ability to execute a vision. I am grateful for my days working in commercial production and the lessons learned. Now, I have the opportunity to assemble teams of various creatives. The teams scale and diversify depending on each project, whether site-specific or bespoke.
The Sensory Lab – Part experiment. Part Installation. Part Performance. The singular experience is designed to excite your senses while measuring your mind and heart. Photo: Andrew Hardy
With the widespread changes related to the pandemic, Turgeman finds herself investigating new methods of engaging and fostering human connection and emotion. “Most of the time, these large-scale activations can be experienced by hundreds of people per day. This pandemic has frozen our ability to gather, but it has encouraged us to connect in new ways.”
Photo: Braulio Sotomayor
Redirected by this upheaval, Turgeman has shifted her focus from temporal works toward living or permanent installations where the elements of the experiential and sensorial remains to be discovered like a “new language”, awaiting our eventual reemergence. “In my spare time, I’ve been dreaming up a traveling outdoor sculpture exhibition,” notes Turgeman, “I hope to debut it in 2021. The concept comes to life through participatory art.”
The artist has taken a similar approach to her Squarespace website, which operates as equal parts portfolio and conversational medium, prompting visitors to “Experience” and “Discover” with parallel intent.
I have created multiple websites using Squarespace, and I wanted to communicate the message of the power of our own thought-forms [online]. I use these words to inspire people to engage in their own artistry.
Photo: Braulio Sotomayor
The artist cites the seamless process Squarespace offers, “from start to finish“, aided by templates that simplified designing a website without previous experience. The simplicity has invited Turgeman to further experiment with the medium: “At present, I have the most fun by injecting CSS code, which allows for further customization and user engagement.”
Looking ahead to the new year, Turgeman’s plans are painted with optimism, with the reemergence of projects like The Blind Portrait Experience and Heinrich’s Dreamscape as artistic statements of hope. The former is a series of expressive soul-illuminating portraitures revealed in 45 second sessions between artist and subject. The latter is a full-scale installation utilizing multi-sensorial architecture as a mode of self-discovery.
“We have a responsibility to return to harmony. Harmony always underlines chaos. By accessing the creative forces within us, we can heal our planet.”
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Gregory Han is Tech Editor of Design Milk. A Los Angeles native with a profound love and curiosity for design, hiking, tide pools, and road trips, a selection of his adventures and musings can be found at gregoryhan.com.
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