Israel Museum Announces its Summer Events and Exhibitions AUGUST-SEPTEMBER 2017

 by Shrutee K/DNS

Tourists and visitors to Jerusalem this summer can enjoy several special events and guided tours in various languages at the Israel Museum, in addition to the permanent and temporary exhibitions on display.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu, also recently visited the Israel Museum for an exhibition of Indian Jewish heritage during Mr. Modi’s visit to Israel. Both the leaders visited the gallery displaying the religious and secular culture of the Jewish community in Kochi in Kerala, where one of the exhibits was a bridal dress which was later inserted in a Torah ark curtain used on Yom Kippur. The best part of their visit was the replica of the Kadavumbagam synagogue from Kochi, of which the main wooden structure was brought in from the original synagogue. They also visited a set of Torah scrolls in silver casings.

Listed below is a selection that would be suitable for tourists.

Special Events

Klezmer in the Gallery

The melodies of the shtetl meet a range of cultures and musical styles from around the world, featuring musicians from Israel and abroad. Short Klezmer concerts throughout the Museum

Classical, Tango, and Gypsy Classical and Klezmer. In conjunction with the International Klezmer Festival in Jerusalem Tickets at the front desk and on the Museum's website

August 2: Wed | Springer Auditorium and throughout the Museum

Wine Festival

Continuing the Wine Festival tradition for its 14th year: A celebration of the leading Israeli and international wineries in the enchanted atmosphere of the Art Garden, with musical performances. Tickets at the front desk and on the Museum's website

August 7–10 | Mon – Thurs, 7–11 pm | NIS 95 | Includes wine glass and unlimited tastings. On Tues includes entrance to the Museum until 9 pm  

  

Guided Tours

English tours available throughout the week:

Ai Weiwei: Maybe, Maybe Not,

Jewish Art & Life and Synagogue Route,

Israeli Art,

Museum Highlights,

Ilit Azoulay: No Thing Dies,

Shrine of the Book & Model of Jerusalem during Second Temple period.

In addition, the museum provides tours in Spanish, French and Russian, on Thursdays, 11:00am. 

For details see: http://www.imj.org.il/en

Ongoing Exhibitions

Ai Weiwei: Maybe, Maybe Not

On display for the first time in Israel are works by Chinese artist Ai Weiwei, one of the most influential and esteemed members of the international contemporary art scene. Weiwei’s artworks combine sculpture, photography, video, and large-scale installations. This exhibition – spread out over a number of galleries – features powerful and visually captivating works exploring issues facing contemporary culture, such as the accelerated production processes which are eradicating both traditional Chinese handcrafting and lifestyles. Weiwei was imprisoned without trial in his native China, and his movements were restricted by the government due to his political activism and outspoken stance on human rights and freedom of expression, messages which are central themes in his art.

Micha Bar-Am: 1967

This exhibition presents a comprehensive survey of 1967, one of the most significant years in Israeli history, as documented by renowned Israeli photographer Micha Bar-Am. The 100 works on display are rare original prints from the artist’s personal collection that depict seminal national events alongside scenes of everyday Israeli life and of Bar-Am’s own family, illuminating the society, economy, and culture of the time. Also on display are original magazines in which some of Bar-Am’s most iconic images were published, as well as the artist’s diary from 1967, which provides a rare glimpse into the artistic and editorial choices behind his work.

Faces of Power

An astounding collection of 75 gold coins never before displayed to the public, bearing the portraits of Roman Emperors and their wives. These coins offer a rare glimpse into the world of the rulers of the Roman Empire, as well as revealing the great artistic skill involved in their creation and the use of portraiture to reflect a person’s character, mostly as a means of propaganda. The exhibition follows the development of portraits on coinage over a period of 350 years, from the establishment of the Empire to its acceptance of Christianity as its official religion. The slogans on the coins – the majority of which include words relating to victory, security, and peace – display how little propaganda has changed over two thousand years.

Cats and Dogs

Are you a cat person or a dog person? Who is truly man's best friend? Are cats and dogs really natural enemies? This exhibition for the whole family is devoted to pets, as depicted in artworks from antiquity to the present day. Some of these works invite the visitors to play, interact, and even wag their tails. The range of artworks on display offer surprising perspectives on these animals, and portray the deep connections between cats, dogs, and humans both under a critical and humorous light.

Ilit Azoulay: No Thing Dies

Ilit Azoulay’s first solo exhibition in the Israel Museum is the culmination of her ongoing project exploring the Museum itself. Azoulay interviewed past and present Museum employees, learning how rare objects made their way to the Museum’s collections and how the institution has changed over the years. Inspired by these stories, the artist created large-scale collages comprised of photographs of artifacts in the collections and hidden corners on the Museum’s campus, combined with paper, wood, glass, and gold leaf. The resulting series of works is shrouded in mystery, breathing life into objects that have not been displayed to the public for many years and imbuing them with a new and contemporary purpose.

In Full Color: 60 Years of Design by Dan Reisinger

This exhibition presents an extensive survey of the colorful and innovative work of Dan Reisinger. Born in 1934, Reisinger is considered the most prolific Israeli designer of his generation; his significant impact on the development of design in Israel continues to be felt today. This exhibition highlights the wide range of his work in both style and size: from business cards and keychains to buildings and large-scale supergraphics. The designs Reisinger created for private companies, as well as public organizations such as the Tel Aviv Municipality, IDF, HaBimah National Theater, and El Al, became integral elements on the Israeli visual landscape. In Full Color examines the origins of these icons and the societal shifts they reflect.

Design Matters

The Department of Design and Architecture has amassed a collection of over 10,000 objects – including works from past exhibitions and donor gifts - each reflecting the taste and style of the department’s curators over the years. Featuring hundreds of these objects, this interactive exhibition illuminates the complex system of decisions, connections, and coincidences behind the collection and emphasizes its variety: from mass-produced consumer products such as iPods to unique objects such as cookie molds from the 1930s designed by Franzisca Baruch; from pieces by renowned designer Ettore Sottsass to works by anonymous designers.

License to Paint: French Academic Art in the 19th Century

The creative lives of many 19th-century French artists followed a similar route, beginning with academic studies, followed by a privileged apprenticeship in Rome, and culminating with the display of their work in the Paris Salon. These artists’ paintings depicted religious and mythological themes, including portraits and still lifes. Intended primarily to decorate the homes of the bourgeois or the aristocracy, their work followed the Academy of Art’s strict guidelines for defining tasteful art. This exhibition features works by leading artists of the time including Dominique Ingres, Eugène Delacroix, and Gustav Moreau, whose paintings exemplify the period’s stringent academic standards. As the focus shifted to the Impressionists and their successors, the fame of these artists faded. License to Paint presents a rare opportunity to re-encounter the artistic style which at one time reigned in France.

Venetian Splendor: Marking 500 Years of the Venice Ghetto

Commemorating the world’s first ghetto, established in Venice 500 years ago, this exhibition marks the unique history of the Jews of Venice. Despite the difficulties of life in the Ghetto, great effort was devoted to beautifying synagogue interiors and adorning them with lavish ceremonial objects which embodied a distinctive Venetian taste. The display showcases elaborately decorated silver objects such as Torah crowns and finials, and an ornately embroidered silk velvet Torah curtain, on view for the first time. At the display’s center is the Baroque style Vittorio Veneto synagogue, which reflects the cultural environment of Venetian places of worship, capturing their age-old essence and majesty. Closes August 28, 2017.

New Sounds: Purim Noisemakers by Yaacov Kaufman

The European Jewish community adopted the noisemaker from their Christian neighbors, using it during the Purim holiday's reading of the Book of Esther to drown out each mention of the villainous Haman. The noisemaker has since become a central component in the holiday's celebrations. This exhibition displays 150 noisemakers created by industrial designed Yaacov Kaufman, presenting a wide range of iterations of this simple object. Using disposable utensils, basic materials, and found objects, Kaufman has produced a colorful, diverse, and amusing series capturing the joyous atmosphere of the holiday. Closes September 9, 2017

Ticho House

European Imprint: Jacob Pins and German Expressionism

Marking the centenary of Israeli woodcut artist Jacob Pins, this exhibition displays his works alongside those of pioneering German Expressionist artists from the early twentieth century, including Emil Nolde and Karl Schmidt-Rottluff. Thus the exhibition examines these artists' significant influence on Pins, whose style is characterized by an ironic and poignant world view, as well as revealing his complex relationship with his native Germany. In conjunction, the Jerusalem Print Workshop presents two exhibitions: a display of woodcuts by Israeli artists who carry on the tradition of using this medium as a means of protest, as well as a display of works by the winners of the Jacob Pins Prize for an Israeli Graphic Artist, awarded bi-annually by the Israel Museum.

Rockefeller Archaeological Museum

Ashkelon: A Retrospective: 30 Years of the Leon Levy Expedition

A wide-ranging selection of marble statues, coins, jewelry, figurines, and pottery are displayed together for the first time in this comprehensive exhibition devoted to ancient Ashkelon, whose history spans 5,000 years. Situated at the crossroads of major land and sea routes, Ashkelon, with its bustling port, was a meeting ground for many peoples and cultures, from Canaanites, Philistines, and Phoenicians to Greeks, Romans, and Crusaders. The artifacts on display were found over the course of two centuries of archaeological excavation, including three decades of intensive investigation by the Leon Levy Expedition. Highlights include a silver calf found in a Canaanite temple adjacent to the oldest arched gate in the world and Egyptian ritual vessels (situlae) from the period of the city’s destruction at the hands of Nebuchadnezzar.