Code Muse
2026 Video Loop 2:10
Edition 3 + 1 AP
1 of 3 sold
About the Work
The video work moves between worlds of labor and consciousness, translating cycles of nature and work into a visual language that bridges traditions of craftsmanship and artificial intelligence.
Inspired by Hesiod’s Works and Days, Rotem constructs an algorithmic weave of images, transforming allegories from Hesiod’s mythopoetic universe into a contemporary visual meditation centered on the relationship between the handmade object and the digital image.
Rotem approaches the studio as a sacred field of labor, where he weaves, braids, and layers imagined mythological imagery alongside remnants of material culture drawn from the museum’s collections, reanimating them through a slow and hypnotic ritual of continual transformation.
Code Muse was created especially for the ongoing "Works and Days" Biennale for Arts and Design at the Eretz Israel Museum, titled Works and Days. Inspired by Hesiod's ancient poem, the Biennale explores themes of labor, craftsmanship, nature, time, and human ethics, inviting contemporary artists to respond through their own practices. Created within this curatorial framework, Code Muse offers a contemporary interpretation of the relationship between tradition, technology, and human creativity.
Text by Henrietta Eliezer Brunner
Code Muse is available as a limited edition of the complete video work, alongside 12 individual works drawn from the series. Each of these is available either as a video loop, intended for display on a screen, or as a fine art print. Each work is produced in an edition of three copies only.
01 / 12
After the Harvest, 2026
Endless Video Loop
Fine art print
After the Harvest continues the encounter between the agricultural world and the artist's studio. Inspired by Hesiod's Works and Days, it reflects the moment when labor comes to an end and rest becomes possible. Within this pause, the work invites the viewer to reflect on the freedom that emerges when work ceases, and what it may give rise to.
Edition 3 + 1 AP
02 / 12
In Order, 2026
Endless Video Loop
Fine art print
The braided hair serves as a symbol of order, repetition, and control, while also embodying an act of weaving - a traditional handcraft existing within an algorithmically generated world. Echoing the Moirai of Greek mythology, who wove the threads of fate, the gesture of braiding becomes a meeting point between craft, mythology, and code.
Edition 3 + 1 AP
03 / 12
Repose, 2026
Endless Video Loop
Fine art print
Repose reflects on time within the creative process through the metaphor of the seasons. There comes a moment when a work has entered the world and must be left to exist on its own. Inside the studio, wind moves through hanging laundry, dissolving the boundary between interior and exterior and turning rest itself into part of the creative cycle.
Edition 3 + 1 AP
04 / 12
The Hawk, 2026
Endless Video Loop
Fine art print
Inspired by Hesiod’s fable of the hawk and the nightingale, the work reflects on the act of creation in times of powerlessness. Carried high into the sky by the hawk, the captured nightingale sings rather than struggles to escape. Here, the song becomes an act of persistence, a way of continuing to create amid war and an unbearable reality.
Edition 3 + 1 AP
05 / 12
The Weaver, 2026
Endless Video Loop
Fine art print
The Weaver draws on the Moirai, the ancient weavers of fate. Removed from the cycles, hierarchies and struggles for power unfolding around her, she quietly weaves the threads that bind them together. Through her, the craft of the hand becomes a reflection of life itself, each thread shaping and connecting a larger, unseen order.
Edition 3 + 1 AP
06 / 12
The Shepherd, 2026
Endless Video Loop
Fine art print
The Shepherd explores the fragile relationship between guidance and trust. The figure meant to lead the flock has his own eyes covered, while the horns blur the distinction between shepherd and animal. This reversal raises a simple question: who is leading whom, and can we trust those we choose to follow?
Edition 3 + 1 AP
07 / 12
The Nightingale, 2026
Endless Video Loop
Fine art print
Inspired by Hesiod’s fable of the hawk and the nightingale, the work reflects on the act of creation in times of powerlessness. Carried high into the sky by the hawk, the captured nightingale sings rather than struggles to escape. Here, the song becomes an act of persistence, a way of continuing to create amid war and an unbearable reality.
Edition 3 + 1 AP
08 / 12
Bound, 2026
Endless Video Loop
Fine art print
Bound draws on the nine Muses of Greek mythology, reimagined here through ten hands bound together, evoking a tenth muse, the Muse of Code. The work explores the tension between ritual and tradition, bringing code based creation into dialogue with the intimacy and materiality of handcraft. Together, they form a new kind of ritual, where ancient gestures and contemporary tools become intertwined.
Edition 3 + 1 AP
09 / 12
Labor, 2026
Endless Video Loop
Fine art print
Labor draws on the repetitive gestures of Buddhist ritual, returning to questions of belief, devotion and repetition. The work collapses the boundary between field and studio, bringing the physical labor of working the earth into the controlled space of image making. In this encounter, manual labor and handcraft meet the seemingly immaterial labor of code, turning the studio into a site where different forms of work, ritual and creation coexist.
Edition 3 + 1 AP
10 / 12
The Muses, 2026
Endless Video Loop
Fine art print
The Muses draws on Hesiod’s invocation of the Muses, whom he presents as the source through which creation becomes possible. Gathering in a circle, the figures evoke the recurring cycles of nature, labor and the seasons, while embodying a call for inspiration. The ancient Muses are reimagined through the Muse of Code, a tenth muse that carries their legacy into a new form of creation.
Edition 3 + 1 AP
11 / 12
The Seasons, 2026
Endless Video Loop
Fine art print
Inspired by a terracotta relief from the collection of the Eretz Israel Museum, The Seasons presents spring and autumn in an endless cycle of appearance and return. The recurring rhythm of the agricultural year enters the artist's sterile studio, bringing the cyclical passage of nature into dialogue with the constructed space where the images are created.
Edition 3 + 1 AP
12 / 12
Figurine, 2026
Endless Video Loop
Fine art print
Figurine emerges from the invented rituals of the work as an artifact belonging to its imagined world. Its form echoes recurring symbols within the series, bringing together the labor of the earth with the realm of the Muses, represented through their thick, braided hair. The figurine becomes a symbolic object in which labor, ritual and creation are woven together.
Edition 3 + 1 AP
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