Micol Assaël works across media to locate “the dark zones of our understanding,” she says. Her large installation works, which are rooted in her study of philosophy and her experiences living in such places as Siberia and Iceland, often ask viewers to meditate on extreme conditions. She uses electricity, sound, and organic materials like wood and water to evoke nature’s unexpected dangers and discomforts. She is influenced by conceptual artists such as Gordon Matta-Clark and Lawrence Weiner, whose destabilizing work questions norms and accepted structures. “I just think that taking risks and facing your fears brings you into a zone where it’s necessary to react and consequently live an epistemological experience,” she says.