The Second Jerusalem Biennale for Contemporary Jewish Art 2015

Contemporary Jewish art is finally enjoying the recognition it deserves, and has found an important home in The Jerusalem Biennale for Contemporary Jewish Art, which was held for the second time from September 24 through November 5, 2015. This year’s Biennale, twice the size of the first one in 2013, was the outcome of concentrated efforts by its founder, Rami Ozeri, and an advisory board of scholars and museum professionals that guided the selection process. Forty-six proposals were submitted, of which nine were accepted. The various works in a wide range of subjects and materials were exhibited in venues throughout Jerusalem. Nearly 200 artists were represented, with groups coming from as far away as Los Angeles, New York, and Buenos Aires. Not all of the artists were religiously observant Jews, or even Jewish, but all of the exhibits dealt in some way with the contemporary Jewish experience, including the Israeli experience. Among the Biennale’s venues this year were representatives of all the streams of Judaism: Reform (Hebrew Union College), Conservative (The Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies), Orthodox (Hechal Shlomo), and Ultra-Orthodox (The Shelter for Art).¹ One unique feature of the Jerusalem Biennale is its use of a variety of unique Jerusalem venues as opposed to the “white cubes” built temporarily for exhibits at many other biennales.

The principal venue was the Tower of David Museum, which exhibited pieces by the iconic Israeli artists Sigalit Landau and Motti Mizrachi, as well as works by Dov Abramson, Pablo Lobato, and Ynin Shillo, all curated by the advisory committee and shown under the title Jerusalem/Passages. Abramson created a graphic map of Jerusalem with seventy identically sized tiles for the seventy biblical names of Jerusalem, according to Midrash.² He displayed unique graphic logos for each area of the city, one on each tile, thus citing both Jewish texts and ceramic tile, which is the traditional medium of decorative art in Jerusalem. Lobato photographed soldiers standing at attention at the Western Wall, and Shillo filmed the Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives, capturing the silence of eternity in a meditative piece. Several articles about the Tower of David exhibits appear in the catalogue: Emily Bilski’s essay “Images of Jerusalem”³ deals with the works of Shillo, Lobato, and Abramson, and Amitai Mendelssohn’s piece is about “Sigalit Landau and Yotam From, Salt-Crystal Bridal Gown, 2014.” ⁴

There were three exhibits in downtown Jerusalem: one at Hebrew Union College, another at the Worldwide North Africa Jewish Heritage Center, and one at Hechal Shlomo. The exhibit at the Heritage Center, Bezalel School: In & Out, which was curated by Shirat-Miriam Shamir and Ido Noy, focused on contemporary ritual objects created by Bezalel teachers and graduates. These included items for both synagogue and home use, such as Haggadot, mezuzot, Hanukkah menorahs, and wedding rings. The various objects were made with a wide range of materials using different techniques, some with a touch of humor, such as Ido Noy’s Hanukkah menorah, which was styled as a model of a typical apartment building in Tel Aviv.

The exhibit at Hebrew Union College, Transparent/Opaque, curated by Avital Naor Wexler, adopted a quote about the windows of the Temple (1 Kings 6:4) as a basis for exploring the nature of art in general and more specifically the qualities of transparency and opaqueness. The exhibit included several videos, including one by the artist Maya Zack. The placement of the various works among the archaeological relics of the Tel Dan excavations carried out by Hebrew Union College archaeologists resulted in an interesting interplay between past and present and between Judaism and idolatry. This backdrop also raised questions about the survival of art and objects in general: are these works the relics of the future, and if so, what do they say about our culture today?

Hechal Shlomo hosted the exhibit Ima Iyla’a – The Art of Motherhood,⁵ curated by Nurit Sirkis Banks and Noa Leah Cohen. The building’s spacious entry hall was the backdrop for a large group of works on the subject...