Over curator Manfred Schneckenburger's objections, Neustein's work was "withdrawn" from Documenta, after the German government advised the artist that his piece caused "consternation among specialists" about what they described as the "complicated relationship between West Berlin and the German Democratic Republic." In the mid-80's, Neustein produced maps painted on canvas and cardboard, or etched into rusted metal. In the 1990s, Neustein returned to large-scale installation, with a series of environmental works he called the "Five Ash Cities". He worked closely with Wendy Shafir, who was alternately his dealer, curator, and collaborator. The "Ash Cities" were immersive, room-sized relief maps of cities, constructed out of packed ashes that rested on the floor of the exhibition space. They often included crystal chandeliers installed to hang low to the ground, so they nearly touched the ash-covered floor. "Ash Cities" were realized at Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art, North Carolina; the Ujazdów Castle, Warsaw; moCa, Cleveland, curated by Jill Snyder; "Bilder Sind Verboten" at Martin Gropius-bau, Berlin, curated by Eckhart Gillen and Amnon Barzel; and the Herzliya Museum, curated by Wendy Shafir. In 1990, another chandelier work, "How History Became Geography" was exhibited at the Barbican Centre, London. Documentation was later shown by the Israel Museum. In 1995, Neustein was selected to represent Israel in the Venice Biennale. For "The Possessed Library", curated by Gideon Ofrat, Neustein had two large cranes parked nearby the Israeli Pavilion, the facade of which he surrounded with construction scaffolding. Plexiglas panels etched with book titles lined the scaffolding, resembling books on shelves, while bubble wrap sacks hung suspended from the cranes, one just above the pavilion's roof, the other dipping in through a skylight in "The Tosca Room". "The Tosca Room" walls were covered in soot, while its floors were strewn with terra-cotta letters under plexiglass. A soundtrack played a whistled verison of the "E Lucevan Le Stelle" aria from Tosca. Neustein later used recycled components from the Biennale in "The Blind Library" (1998) at Bet Ariella Library.