Exhibitions
A jewel to corrupt
Dates: September 5, 2024 – March 27, 2025
curators: Nitza Peri and Merev Shay
Jewelry is often discovered in archaeological excavations and is an important component of material culture. Their importance is related to the archaeological context; knowing where jewelry was discovered and in what surroundings can clarify the meaning of the single jewel or the collection of jewels.
Information about the role of jewelry in the ancient world can be found in the objects themselves, in their depictions in paintings, reliefs and more. In addition to being beautiful objects that arouse curiosity and wonder, jewelry in ancient times had many meanings beyond adorning the body. Among other things, jewelry symbolized wealth and social status, signified ethnic, religious or cultural affiliation, and expressed hierarchy and power. Yet another function of jewelry was as amulets for worship and protection.
The exhibition examines the power inherent in jewelry to disrupt social orders in the past and present, in archeology and contemporary art, and deals with the use of jewelry as an object that subverts and influences movements from both reality and thinking, and secrets that pass between cultures.
Participants: Avner Finchover, Eyal Sasson, Shay Eid Aloni, Mira Mailor, Bracha Guy, Dafna Alon, Edith Ben Gira, Shaian Rose Ben Sira, Dania Chilminsky
"What Will You Drink?" - Water, Tea, and Coffee in Art and Archeology
Dates: January 25, 2024 – August 30, 2024
Curators: Sigal Manor Banga, Meyrav Shay
What will you drink? water? tea? coffee? A trivial question addressed to a guest entering the house and conveying hospitality. Hospitality customs vary in different cultures, but in all cultures offering a guest a drink of water is the simplest way to make friends with him or her. In the exhibition, we explored our culture of hospitality through art and archaeology.
In the archaeological part of the exhibition, artifacts from a variety of periods are presented that teach about the different uses and customs throughout the ages. Compared to the archaeological finds, in the artistic part of the exhibition, the artworks wander between the physical and realistic images of water, tea and coffee, and their metaphorical meaning. The exhibition was supposed to open on the sixteenth of November, 2023, but time froze on the seventh of October, and it was not clear when it would begin to thaw.
Eight female artists and a male artist were chosen and only one space in the exhibition space was not occupied yet. Then we came across Anat Or Magal’s article in “Portfolio” magazine about the paintings of Talia Kotz Shamir, who lost her brother Aviv’s family on the seventh of October 2023. The work of Talia Kotz Shamir is a monument to the everyday domestic moments, to the pieces of life that were cruelly torn from our world. The national disaster that befell us as individuals and as a nation shook the foundations. The house, which was a fortress, meeting and entertaining space, was destroyed.
Participating artists: Chanchal Banga, Shlomit Bauman, Lili Fisher, Dalia Hay Acco, Miho Kataoka Erlich, Talya Kutz Shamir, Debbie Oshrat, Yaara Rabinovitch, Hilla Spitzer, Vera Wallerstein
The archeological findings are courtesy of the Israel Antiquities Authority.
jug and now - contemporary art
Dates: January 11, 2023 – June 30, 2023
curators: Nitza Peri and Merev Shay
jug and now is the first exhibition of contemporary art in the museum.
It is an exhibition of Israeli art chosen to correspond with archeology and with the museum space where the exhibits are placed.
It is shown in the halls and among the exhibits, holding a dialogue with the permanent exhibition in the museum. The exhibition examines the findings of the past versus contemporary creation, while raising questions about the essence of creation and discovery, tradition and innovation, the study of the ancient past and the interpretation of the present. Pottery is the most common find in archaeological digs. Fragments and pottery are the physical remains left behind by man, as opposed to the spiritual remains (such as poetry, philosophy and more).
The exhibition seeks to examine the Jug as a visual expression, as a message conveying information that teaches about the different layers of culture.
The works of the artists in the exhibition examine various perspectives, including the role of the Jug In today’s consumer culture, and anthropological issues that come to us from the dirt and from a distance of thousands of years back. These are questions that lead us to examine ourselves today and to ponder how and whether a culture can continue to preserve itself or fail.
Participating artists: Etti Abergel, Liat Elbeling, Raanan Haralaf, Orit Yishai, Yitzhak Livna, Ila Netzer,
David Adika, Ruth Patir, Yosef Crispel, Lehi Turgeman
