09.06.2023 - 01.03.2024
The exhibition presents acts of protest, resistance, and civil disobedience in Israel since the 1970s, connecting and contextualizing them to offer new perspectives on their social and political significance.
Viewing the images and the events they represent in sequence invites contemplation of the efficacy of protest and of the conceptual and technological shifts which occurred in photography, documentation and representation, such as the active participation of photographers in protests. The exhibition reveals photography’s increasing place as integral to acts of protest and demonstration, claiming both a communicative and consciousness-changing role for the art. Examining photographers’ modes of operation and the tools at their disposal exposes diverse artistic strategies and raises questions regarding the role and mission of the artist/photographer, and the relationship between the medium and the message.
Walter Benjamin warned against aestheticizing the political. He foresaw the mobilization of images in the service of fascism, their aesthetic influence used to mask or embellish oppressive and authoritarian mechanisms. In contrast, Benjamin called for the politicization of the aesthetic: a critical and politically aware use of art to stimulate the senses and the mind.
The photographs in the exhibition present diverse aspects of the politics and practice of protest photography, which bears witness to the limitations of freedom of expression and action. By connecting a range of viewpoints, the photographs trace the social and activist aspects of the protests they depict, revealing their visual language and the scope of their influence. At the same time, the images reflect a dissolution of solidarity and mutual responsibility in Israeli society.
The exhibition was kindly supported by:
Lauren and Mitchell Presser
The Jerusalem Foundation
Nurith Stavy, In memory of her brother, the pilot, Major Yigal Stavy
Sara and Benjamin Glaser
Curator: Chen Shapira
Or Adar
Gidon Agaza
Oren Alon
Yuval Amit
Tomer Appelbaum
Mossi Armon
Tomer Asayag
Ben Cohen
Natan Dvir
Amir Goldstein
Keren Gueller
Barak Heymann & Alon Levi
Vardi Kahana
Efrat Klipshtein
Miki Kratsman
Shira Marek
Rali Margalit
Ayelet Ofarim
Hadas Parush
Uzi Porat
Shmuel Rachmani
Eldad Rafaeli
Uri Rosenwaks
Anat Saragusti
Tal Sharon
Rachel Shaul
Yasmin Steinmetz & Maya Ben David
Abir Sultan
Dafna Talmon
Meir Wigoder
Pavel Wolberg
Naama Yiron
04.08.2023 - 01.03.2024

Continuity
Torsten and Katja, a middle-aged couple, go to a train station and pick up Daniel, a young soldier, who has just returned from Afghanistan. The intimacy between parents and son is ambiguous, and the atmosphere feels unsettling. The next day, the couple sit in their car again and drive to the station. Another young soldier is waiting at the same place.
Through a series of shadowy encounters and reenactments, which make it difficult to distinguish the real from the unreal, Continuity explores experiences of loss, memory, and haunting within the specific familial-historical setting on-screen, extending to encompass individual and collective traumas from other places and times.
Fast’s films and video installations often blur the boundaries between factual and fictional elements, reality and fantasy, creating hybrid genres that simultaneously examine and defy cinematic conventions. Through repetition, fragmentation, and creative storytelling, his works explore how narratives, personal, as well as cultural and political, are constructed and transformed, making the viewer aware of the multiple perspectives any communicated experience entails.
Curator: Dr. Shir Aloni Yaari
Artist: Omer Fast