Exhibitions

In the fashion arena, consumerism is most explicitly demonstrated as an accepted lifestyle. The contemporary fashion industry seems to be constantly reinventing itself, thereby perpetuating its systemic dependence on the desire to acquire items in different styles. This industry reflects the inherent traits of modern society, characterized by constant flux and the search for meaning in an unstable reality.

The bicycles around which this installation is built are associated with the inspiration Olaf Kuhnemann draws from the streets of Berlin – the city he is residing in recent years. As the seasons change, with winter's depression replaced by the mania of spring and summer, the city's boulevards fill with bicycles.

In her works, Addie Wagenknecht addresses the ethos of the hacker culture and the dark side of the data systems that construct contemporary reality. In the installation Shrine for iPhones (2018) the artist creates a kind of monument to outdated mobile phones that are discarded after each technological update.

Hannan Abu-Hussein's installation consists of used brassieres fixed in cast concrete. This technique is characteristic of her works, which often use unconventional raw materials. The artist employs these materials in order to express her personal-feminist voice on the issues of religion, capitalism, sexual exploitation, love, and personal freedom.

Eyal Assulin's visual language explores the culture of prosperity with reference to global socio-economic aspects. His works engage with Eastern culture, featuring a matrix of historical, gender, and artistic status symbols. These are presented in a forthright manner that parodies the bulimic impulse of contemporary consumerism.

The desire for objects, the passion for "shopping," is translated today into a popular pastime. Indeed, a large part of happy humanity solemnly attends the rituals of consumption, equipped with credit cards. Its goal is to find meaning and discover a new identity: "I consume, therefore I am"; I am inseparable from a large group of happy beings – consumers of merchandise and opportunities.

In prehistoric times, human beings and animals roamed the Earth as equals. Like the animals, human beings were subject to the forces of nature, adapting to far-reaching climate change, wandering in search of water and food, hunting and being hunted.

At the heart of the present exhibition are fifty paintings by Jewish children in Germany on the eve of the Second World War. The pictures were selected from a unique collection of over 1,800 items, part of the estate of artist and teacher Julo Levin (born 1901, perished in Auschwitz, 1943). His close friends worked hard to save Levin’s works and preserve his legacy, and donated the collection to the Stadtmuseum of Düsseldorf.

Today's art world, in Israel and worldwide, evinces an increased interest in the intersection of art and social activism. Known as artivism, this new form of expression aspires to blend art and activism in equal degree. Contemporary art criticism emphasizes the power of art to function as an arena for political protest. Artistic activism, a new phenomenon that has become a staple of our time, is different from the type of critical art that dominated modernist discourse in the 20th century, as pointed out by curator and philosopher Boris Grois.

Dede's activity as a street artist spans over a decade, and his works are exhibited in galleries and museums. He draws inspiration from the pulse of the cityscape – architecture, rhythms, voices, and passers-by. He is motivated by a desire to leave his own mark on the city, which has become an integral part of his work.