Art

The Israel Museum, Jerusalem

The Israel Museum is the largest cultural institution in the State of Israel and is ranked among the leading art and archaeology museums in the world. Founded in 1965, the Museum houses encyclopedic collections, including the most extensive archive of biblical and Holy Land archaeology in the world. In just forty years, the Museum has built a collection of nearly 500,000 objects thanks to a legacy of gifts and the support from its circle of patrons worldwide. The uncontested stars of the Museum’s collection are the Dead Sea Scrolls, the oldest biblical manuscripts in the world. Housed in the Shrine of the Book, the scrolls date from the 2nd century BCE to the 1st century CE and include books of the Hebrew Bible as well as other non-canonical texts. Counted among the finest sculpture gardens of the twentieth century, the Museum’s Billy Rose Art Garden, designed by the Japanese-American sculptor Isamu Noguchi, is a synthesis of different cultures—those of the Far East, the Near East and the West—against the backdrop of Jerusalem’s dramatic landscape. The collection displayed in the garden includes works by the great sculptors Menashe Kadishman, Henry Moore, Claes Oldenburg, Pablo Picasso, Auguste Rodin and James Turrell, among others. (Photo: Tim Hursley, courtesy of The Israel Museum, Jerusalem)

The Israel Museum’s Youtube channel
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Eretz Israel Museum, Tel Aviv

The Eretz Israel Museum in Tel Aviv is a multi-disciplinary museum focusing on the history and culture of the Land of Israel through an array of extensive permanent exhibitions and temporary exhibits in archaeology, ethnography, folklore, Judaica, cultural history and local identity, traditional crafts and practical arts. The pavilions have an expansive garden surrounding Tell Qasile, an ancient mound rich in archaeological treasures that is found in the heart of the museum complex. On display at the museum are reconstructed and working manufacturing installations, including wine and oil presses, a flour mill, and a “craft arcade,” where one can see the traditional working tools common to the Land of Israel and the region.

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Tel Aviv Museum of Art

The Tel Aviv Museum of Art is Israel’s leading museum of modern and contemporary art, and home to one of the world’s largest collections of Israeli art. Since it’s founding in 1932, the Museum has served as one of Tel Aviv’s major cultural hubs, displaying a vibrant mix of permanent collections and temporary exhibitions in a wide variety of fields – painting, sculpture, prints and drawings, photography, video, architecture and design. Each year, the Tel Aviv Museum of Art welcomes more than 500,000 visitors, offering them over twenty annual Israeli and international art exhibitions. The fully computerized art library and its Documentation Center for Art in Israel serve over 15,000 students, scholars and curators each year. The Museum’s original building on Rothschild Boulevard has great historical significance: it was there that Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion proclaimed the establishment of the State of Israel on 14 May 1948. Each week some 1,500 children, youth and adults from all walks of life attend classes in painting, drawing, ceramics, sculpture, photography, video and computer art, and printmaking at the Museum’s Joseph and Rebecca Meyerhoff Art Education Center.

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Haifa Museum of Art

The Haifa Museum of Art, is dedicated to exploring the arena of local and international contemporary art. The Haifa Museum of Art was founded in 1951, and was inaugurated with an exhibition in homage to Marc Chagall. Since 1977, it has been operating at its current location – a unique stone building designated for preservation, which was built during the 1930s as a high school. The building’s historical importance derives from its topographic location on the southern border of Wadi Nisnas. Situated at the intersection of the city’s diverse communities, the Museum is surrounded by Jewish, Muslim and Christian neighborhoods; it has thus come to function as an intercultural bridge, which reflects the city’s unique urban and social texture. The Museum’s collection, which is considered to be one of the finest art collections in Israel, includes over 7,000 works (paintings, drawings, sculptures, photographs and prints) from various periods in Israeli art.

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Nahum Gutman Museum of Art

The Nahum Gutman Museum of Art was opened on May 3rd 1988 by the Nahum Gutman Society and the Tel Aviv Foundation, in the presence of Israeli President Ezer Weizman. The entire museum collection was donated by the artist’s family who wished to illuminate Nahum Gutman’s multi-dimensional character and portray him as painter, illustrator, sculptor and children’s author, thus allowing the public to become acquainted with his work. The museum was established in a historical house, built by the Schulman family in 1887, one of the first 48 houses forming the nucleus of Neve-Zedek. The museum exhibitions create a meeting space between Gutman and young Israeli contemporary artists, creating a cultural dialogue between old and new works of art. A visit to the museum exposes the visitor to a wide range of Israeli artistic endeavors, including an inner cultural dialogue between the different eras and perspectives.

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Design Museum Holon

Design Museum Holon is part of a long-standing commitment to culture and education in the city of Holon. The establishment of Design Museum Holon in 2010 is a high point in the ongoing process of transforming the city of Holon into an epicenter of culture and education. Over the past decade, the city has introduced a wealth of edification programs, launched cultural festivals, opened new museums and introduced urban art installations, all leading to the enrichment of municipal life. The primary goals of Design Museum Holon are to inspire and challenge the design community and the general public’s perception of design and the way it affects their lives. The museum is housed in an iconic building designed and created by Ron Arad Architects who met the challenge of creating a structure to encompass and express the principles of design. It has already been internationally lauded as one of the most innovative architectural achievements of the 21st century’s first decade.

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Petach Tikva Museum of Art

Petach Tikva Museum of Art, established in 1964, is a museum of contemporary art, featuring works by Israeli and international artists in diverse media: painting, sculpture, photography, video, film, architecture, installation, and performance. The museum strives to foster young artists while offering a platform for seasoned artists who have not received museum exposure. The exhibitions presented at the Museum address a wide spectrum of themes from the Israeli cultural sphere, alongside universal issues pertaining to contemporary global society. The Museum boasts a collection of art works, illustrating the development of Israeli art from the 1920s to the present. The collection consists of several rare collections, forming an invaluable asset also to exhibitions in other museums in Israel and overseas. The Museum’s Education Department, whose team includes artists and educators, offers a wide range of activities.

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Herzliya Museum of Contemporary Art

Founded in 1965, Herzliya Museum of Contemporary Art is dedicated to Israeli and international Contemporary art. The museum focuses mainly on art works that offer different perspectives on the social and political situation, alongside works that explore the intra-artistic discourse, all the while nurturing the future generation of Israeli art. Each year the museum presents four exhibitions cycles comprised of some fifty solo shows, linked by their relevance to current events. These is a cluster of different perspectives by various artists, a platform which strengthen each work by itself, expands the contexts and opens further channels for interpretation and deeper layers of meanings.

(Nahum Tevet, Several Things, Herzliya version, sculpture installation, 2008; Photo: Oded Lobel)

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The Museum of Israeli Art, Ramat-Gan

The Ramat-Gan Museum of Israeli Art was founded in 1987, and since, has been dedicated himself only to the Israeli art. The museum is displaying works of six fields of arts: painting, sculpturing, photography, video and 2 and 3 dimension design. In addition, an education department has been developed for young audience as well as for guided tours.

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Madatech

Israel’s National Museum of Science, Technology & Space

Established in 1983, Madatech is housed in historic landmark buildings, located in the heart of a 7 acres green campus in mid-town Haifa. Madatech sparks the curiosity and inspires inventive brains in 400,000 guests, who visit over 20 exhibits featuring more than 600 hands-on exhibits, and watch 7 Cinematrix multi-sense 3-D movies. 362 days a year visitors can look and feel, explore and enjoy an unforgettable experience. Within a school year, Madatech delivers 300 educational sessions to more than 2000 groups, in their 7 educational centers, operating 6 demonstration halls and 12 advanced and well equipped labs. Madatech operates unique outreach activities. 3 designed and equipped mobile labs, travel through Israel, bring science to life and inspire the young minds of 150,000 students countrywide.

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The Israeli Cartoon Museum

A first of its kind in the country, the Israeli Cartoon Museum is the home for cartoon artists, caricaturists and also for the tens of thousands of comics lovers who now have a permanent platform for activity in this field. The museum exposes visitors to the various facets, contexts and qualities of the art of caricature with the aim of promoting a better understanding and awareness of the need for caricatures in society. The museum is part of the Mediatheque, a cultural complexe in Holon.

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The Museum for the Art of Puppetry

Being one of a kind in Israel and one of a few in the world, The Israel Museum For the Art Of Puppetry offers a permanent collection of dozens of traditional and contemporary puppets and masks from Israel and abroad, temporary exhibitions devoted to special types of puppets or artists of the stage and photographic media from Israel and abroad, interactive corners, installations, as well as computer and projection corners.

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The Israeli Centre for Digital Art

The Israeli Centre for Digital Art is a dynamic platform for thinking, researching, producing, presenting, and analyzing contemporary art, as well as providing a meeting point for exchange between contemporary artists, curators, critics and the public. Since it was established in 2001 in an abandoned school building in the industrial area of Holon, the centre has grown quite rapidly from a one-room gallery a few years ago. The centre is a non-profit organization supported by the city of Holon. As a public art space it consistently questions the place of art institutions within their society, and brings to the front political and social issues that are believed art should not be ignoring. By expressing views that do not correlate in many cases with policies of the state, the definition of an art institute and a publicly financed art space are examined and put into test. In an effort to stimulate discourse in Israeli society, the centre devotes a significant part of its work to art projects that foster questions about identity, ethnicity, nationalism and cultural exchange. The activities of the centre are concentrated in five main areas: the video archive, public presentations, the residency program, publications, and education.

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Dvir Gallery

For over twenty years, Dvir Gallery – specializing in contemporary art – has been exhibiting, promoting and representing Israeli artists in and outside of Israel. Over a decade ago the gallery exceeded its local boundaries and began to exhibit and represent international art as well.

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Umm el-Fahem Art Gallery

The Umm el-Fahem Art Gallery was founded in 1996, on the initiative of local residents and artists who wanted to bring quality contemporary art to the city and its population and to exhibit original Arab and Palestinian art. The gallery has become an important social and cultural meeting place. Contemporary art exhibits, symposiums, creative workshops and seminars have established the gallery as an important center in the local and international culture scene.

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Israel Children’s Museum

The Israel Children’s Museum in Holon invites children and parents to enjoy a unique creative experience – The Museum’s exhibitions encourage children to touch the objects, feel their textures, and step right into the world they represent. Interactive participation draws children into the realm of imagination and fantasy, as they assume a shaping role in the stories that spring to life. Children participate in fun, hands-on activities that stimulate their imagination and let them explore their emotions, thoughts and feelings. Visitors learn about nature cycles and become familiar with different textures, shapes and colors.

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The International Biennale of Landscape Urbanism

The biennale of landscape urbanism is a continuation and expansion of a process taking place in Bat-Yam in recent years, which has focused on actual and perceived transformations via the upgrading of the city’s open areas as well as the development of the city’s cultural life. The primary objective of the international biennale of landscape urbanism is to initiate extensive public debate regarding urban activities that influence the quality of life in the city. The biennale will deal with the urban experience and activities that have the power to transform the city into a higher quality, optimistic and vital place. The exhibition, to be held every two years throughout Bat-Yam, will offer exciting solutions to issues related to the urban landscape. Innovative urban approaches based on sustainable urban culture and collaboration between planners, artists, residents and municipal representatives will be presented.

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Houses From Within

“Houses From Within” is one of several “Open House” events that take place in cities around the world. One weekend a year, Tel Aviv opens up typically private spaces – interior designers’ lofts, urban villas, unique synagogues, architecturally significant public buildings, intriguing construction sites, plazas and parks. Throughout the weekend, the public can visit, explore and hold discussions about these sites. Thanks to their contribution, many people are enabling all of us to discover Tel Aviv from within during the weekend, among them architects, developers, property owners, managers of various institutions, and numerous other individuals who live and breathe the city, including some who work tirelessly to try and improve it.

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Hutzot Hayotzer

Held at various places in Jerusalem, The International Arts and Crafts Fair which has taken place for more than thirty years, has become a tradition in Jerusalem and the largest tourist attraction of the Jerusalem summer season. More than one hundred and fifty of the best of Israel’s artist and artisans exhibit paintings, prints, ceramics, metalwork and jewelry, weaving and textiles, Judaica, toys, crafts in various techniques, works in wood and more. Guest artists and artisans from abroad exhibit their crafts and works of art at the Festival in unique booths and exhibits and demonstrate their creative process.

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Fresh Paint

Since its inauguration in 2008, Fresh Paint contemporary art fair has become Israel’s largest, most influential art event. The fair brings together all of the most significant players in the Israeli art world, enjoys the support of leading art institutions and attracts the local and international art crowds. Each year, the fair takes place in a new, surprise venue. Fresh Paint is an extraordinary opportunity to broadly explore Israel’s vital art scene.

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Traces Biennale for Drawing

Traces Biennale for Drawing was initiated by the Jerusalem Artists’ House in 2001. The biennale is been held across galleries in Jerusalem and includes exhibitions of many artists from different generations and styles. Each biennale has different concept that is manifested in several exhibitions, staged by independent curators in artistic venues throughout central Jerusalem.

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