Dozens of artists to the Ramat Gan Museum: If the work that was removed does not return - remove our works as well

After the removal of David Rib's work "Jerusalem" from the Ramat Gan Museum, 43 artists, the overwhelming majority of the exhibitors, sent a letter to the museum demanding that they follow the judge's recommendation and seek a compromise to return the work.

If no immediate compromise is found, they demand that their works be removed, and the museum walls be emptied almost completely.

Sagi Ben Nun

01/01/2022

Saturday, 01 January 2022, 20:41 Updated: 21:05

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Artists cover works at the Ramat Gan Museum of Art in protest of the removal of the work of artist David Riv on the orders of Ramat Gan Mayor Carmel Shama HaCohen (Tali Kayem)

Following the storm of the removal of David Riv's work "Jerusalem" from the Ramat Gan Museum of Art, today (Saturday) 43 artists, out of 50 exhibitors at the museum, sent a letter to the museum demanding that their works be removed immediately.

In a letter sent to the museum's chairman of the board, Roy Barzilai, and chief curator Svetlana Reingold, they demand that the judge's recommendation be followed and that a respectable compromise be sought to allow Reeb's work to be returned.

To the extent that you do not find such an immediate compromise, they demand that their works be removed, and if that happens he will leave the museum walls empty of almost all the works.

"We watched closely and sadly the chain of events at the Mossad exhibition," the artists wrote. - The painting 'Jerusalem' by the painter David Rib was downloaded from the exhibition.

"An exhibition and an art museum are an arena for a meeting and a dialogue, even if it is sometimes poignant and controversial. And the independence of the museum reflect the resilience of our society and culture.We, and with us a long list of artists, museums, galleries, art institutions, the Curators Association, the Plastic Artists Association, regret that political intervention has damaged the renewed museum and its professional status in Israel and around the world. "And we demand our professional integrity. We will remove our works from the exhibition immediately. We will be blessed with an agreed compromise that will allow the return of David Riv's painting and our works."

More on Walla!

The court decided not to intervene in the decision to remove the work from the Ramat Gan Museum

To the full article

The work "Jerusalem" by David Rib (Photo: Official website, David Rib)

The letter was sent after Shalom (Thursday) rejected the petition of David Rib and the Association for Civil Rights in Israel against the Ramat Gan Museum, the mayor of Ramat Gan, Carmel Shama HaCohen and the Ramat Gan municipality. In the petition, they demanded that the mayor be instructed to inform the Ramat Gan Museum that there is no impediment to presenting Riv's work "Jerusalem." The judge dismissed the petition.

"In my opinion," he wrote in the verdict, "even if indeed the beginning of the process in 'sin' should be apologized to the mayor for it, since after internalizing it, he continued the process as required by law and at the end of the day, it was not proven that he forced his position on The members of the board only tried to influence in accordance with its authority and law, and a decision was made by the professional body legally authorized to make the decision due to hurting public sentiment, on the grounds that presenting the work would classify Jerusalem as the capital of Israel "Attempt and even quarrel, and there is no room for the court to intervene in this decision, in which there is no material defect that justifies the court's intervention."

However, on the sidelines of the verdict, the judge advised the board to consider taking less drastic measures such as presenting the work in a closed room, in a way that would not be visible and exposed to the public and only those who want can enter the room, with a warning sign at the entrance. Reduce the violation of freedom of expression on the one hand and reduce the violation of emotions on the other.

In David Rib's work that caused the storm, an ultra-Orthodox man is seen praying at the Western Wall in Jerusalem, and next to it are the captions "Jerusalem of gold" and "Jerusalem of shit."

After the reopening of the Ramat Gan Museum with an exhibition that includes the work, the mayor of Ramat Gan Carmel Shama Hacohen noticed it and claimed that the work has a border crossing from legitimate criticism of blasphemy against Jerusalem and the Western Wall and racism against the ultra-Orthodox.

Following his request, the work was removed.

After its removal, about 40 artists covered most of the works in the museum as a protest in black cloth.

Later, Carmel Mayor Shama HaCohen arrived at the museum and ordered the museum staff to remove the fabrics immediately.

Museum staff did so, in a confrontation with the artists.

• culture

Tags

• Freedom of Expression

• Ramat Gan Museum

• David Reeb

• Carmel Shama HaCohen