A sad birthday for Kfir Bibs at the Kidnapped Square: "He can still be saved"/Niv Aharonson
The proof of the power of art to touch the depths of the heart can be found today at the entrance to the Tel Aviv Museum.
In the saddest square in Tel Aviv, it is found in every corner: from figurines to a model of a tunnel, dozens of installations in the Kidnapped Square do everything to instill in passers-by the need to shout, and demand that the nightmare end.
These initiatives grew independently, without a direct connection to the museum, although it provides the families headquarters with gathering spaces and assistance as much as possible.
Be that as it may, the echoes of the war and the disaster of October 7 are also well felt within the Tel Aviv institution, as well as in its plans for the coming year, which were presented at a press conference last Thursday.
Ironically, the war took hold of the Tel Aviv Museum while presenting the exhibition "Amos Gitai: Kippur, Requiem for War", on the 50th anniversary of that war and following the director's famous film.
The surprise attack by Hamas put the Mossad into emergency mode.
Alberto Giacomotti's exhibition was quickly dismantled.
Particularly valuable pictures, by Picasso or Van Gogh for example, were quickly moved to warehouses, where they still lie waiting for peacetime.
The museum itself was even closed for a few weeks.
With its reopening, the Tel Aviv Museum began to return to normal, but a little differently.
Along with several exhibitions currently showing, for example the exhibition of Shalom Saba's works that was planned in advance, the museum looks ahead and tries to steer the ship in an unpredictable era, when peace is not in sight and it is difficult to plan for a distance.
Among the challenges at hand: a decrease in income and the number of visitors, the public climate that is not necessarily free for culture, and also the cold shoulder that the international art community shows to Israel.
The museum says that no artist from around the world has asked to have his works removed, but they point out that one artist, who previously exhibited at the museum, preferred that his work not be screened again now.
From the work "Cypress" by Daniel Kitchels/courtesy of the Tel Aviv Museum
In the meantime, the museum is focusing inward, re-examining its role as an Israeli institution in this period.
Beyond the assistance to the family headquarters in the entrance plaza, this is reflected in a variety of activities for displaced communities in the north and south, in their temporary accommodation and accommodation in the institution itself, and in the distribution of tens of thousands of activity kits to such centers throughout the country.
At the same time, the museum announces the "healing space" initiative, within the framework of which the museum's education department is looking for ways to provide a space for art therapy, creativity and recovery for the survivors, the injured and the many victims of trauma from the disaster.
This, in collaboration with the Civil Defense, arts schools, therapists and medical teams.
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"The entrance through the 'Kirak Hatofim' square creates a direct and open line between the general public and the museum, and the physical and emotional distance between the interior and the exterior is shrinking, and naturally, the museum displays are all charged with additional layers of meaning," says Tanya Cohen-Uziali, CEO of the Tel Museum Aviv for Art. "We are constantly working to initiate, assist and ensure for the hundreds of thousands of visitors who pass through the museum's gates every year, that this iconic cultural institution will be responsive to the spirit of the times and accessible to all."
Neta Lieber Shafer, "The Boat of Metaphysical Exile 2023"/Avi Amsalem, courtesy of the Tel Aviv Museum
And what's next?
Several exhibitions planned for the coming year directly and indirectly echo the events of Black Saturday and the days of war that followed.
Among these you can find "Having everything dear - a look at a collection during wartime", which will re-examine a number of drawings and prints from the museum's collections, from the end of the 19th century to the present day, which deal with issues such as death, refugees, experienced and loss, and now evoke other feelings and expressions. Lament about the situation", according to the press release.
Another intriguing exhibition that responds to the here and now, by the Israeli artist Muhammad Abu Salma, is "Ashad": which will present a huge waterfall made up of disks, which remind both the soldiers and the symbol of the struggle to return the kidnapped.
And also: the group exhibition "Seeing Green Sees Transparent" at the Eil Ofer Pavilion, which corresponds with the garden outside and the relationship between the urban space and the surrounding nature;
A solo exhibition of the Algerian-French artist Adel Abdesmed, a retrospective of the artist Moshe Warubichik-Raviv, who was also known as Moy Ware and worked in Russia, Germany, France and Israel;
"Distant Lights", an exhibition of the photographs of Neta Laufer, winner of the Presser Prize for Young Photographer for 2022, which also deals with the influence of man on nature;
"Other Hopes and Alternatives", which includes huge drawings by Neta Lieber Shafer, winner of the 2023 Schiff Prize for figurative-realist art, dealing with alternative visions to Zionism that did not materialize;
A comprehensive exhibition for the Israeli artist Bella Brizel;
"War and Peace", a tribute to mark the 50th anniversary of the print workshop in Jerusalem;
A joint exhibition for Ethi Yaakovi and Avi Sabah, winners of the Rapport Awards for 2022;
The "Animal Theater" intended for the whole family, with a 400-year-old huge tapestry woven into it with scenes of hunting in the forests;
the video exhibition "To the Unknown", which consists entirely of works by Israeli artists, including Siglit Landau and Daniel Kitchels;
And also two exhibitions from the field of architecture: "Building the Sea" dedicated to the design of the buildings along Tel Aviv's coastline and especially dedicated to Warner Yosef Wittkober, and a comprehensive retrospective to the architect Ram Karmi, known for being behind a series of iconic buildings - from the Supreme Court through the center of the Negev to the new central station in Tel Spring.
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