Tal Ben-Zvi / Lecture

Dr. Tal Ben-Zvi, guest in Kamov residency, will hold the lecture on 30/3/2023 at 6 pm, MMSU.

Dr. Tal Ben-Zvi is a cultural researcher and curator of contemporary art; Senior lecturer at Bezalel Academy of Art and Design Jerusalem.

She is a curator in Kamov residency during March 2023 and she is currently completing her book titled Testimony – The Performance Art of Smadar Yaaron, which concerns the thirty-five-year-long artistic work of the multidisciplinary artist and one of the founders of the Accra Theatre. Besides writing the book and developing a curatorial proposal related to the book, Ben-Zvi explores Rijeka’s and Croatia’s contemporary art scene.

Tal Ben-Zvi will hold a lecture on Thursday, March 30 at 6 pm. at the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art. During the lecture she will talk about Middle East port cities and local artistic expression after 1948., and in the second part of the lecture she will present the work of theatre and performance artist Samdar Yaaron.

First part of the lecture deals with the port towns as a test case of mixed cities in the 20th and 21st centuries and aims to examine the “New artistic history” in visual culture, focusing on artistic creation of the Palestinian artists Asad Azi, Durar Bacri and Raafat Hattab. The Middle East port towns will be discussed both as a gate to the East to those entering the port, and as a gate to a cosmopolitan space that is open to Western influences.

In the second part of the lecture Ben-Zvi will talk about the academic book that is in the writing stages. “Testimony: The Performance Art of Samdar Yaron” is a retrospective study of artistic activity of Samdar Yaaron (1988-2023). The book is a journey through time from the establishment of the Acre Theater from the 1980s to today, a poignant journey through the spaces of the theater where the audience moves between collective memory and historical consciousness, personal and family biography and a total exposure of Yaaron’s identity. Yaron’s theater performances deal with the connection between collective memory and the concept of testimony and all of these in relation to the memory of the Holocaust and the memory of the Nakba.

Jaffa: Local artistic expression after 1948 & Testimony: The Performance Art of Samdar Yaron

The lecture will focus on port towns as a test case of mixed cities in the 20th and 21st centuries. The critique of space is based on interdisciplinary studies in post-colonialism and their connection to the creation of local artistic expression in these cities. The lecture aims to examine the “New artistic history” in visual culture, focusing on artistic creation of the Palestinian artist Asad Azi, Durar Bacri and  Raafat Hattab.

The lecture will focus on the ways in which the exhibitions and projects represent the writing of a new artistic history. In the lecture, representations of the The Middle East port town will be examined, both as a gate to the East to those entering the port, and as a gate to a cosmopolitan space that is open to Western influences. In the framework of this duality will be examined in a multi-cultural space that included exposure to Muslim, Christian and Jewish cultures; manifestations of journeys and travels in artists’ creations, back and forth to the mixed cities after 1948.

The second part of the lecture will focus on academic book that is in the writing stages entitled “Testimony: The Performance Art of Samdar Yaron”. The book is a study that centers on the artistic activity of the creator Samdar Yaaron, a retrospective of more than 35 years of continuous artistic creation (1988-2023) from the Acre Theater. (https://smadaryaaron.com/) 

The book is a journey through time from the establishment of the Acre Theater from the 1980s to today, a poignant journey through the spaces of the theater where the audience moves between collective memory and historical consciousness, personal and family biography and a total exposure of Yaaron’s identity.

Yaron’s theater performances deal with the connection between collective memory and the concept of testimony and all of these in relation to the memory of the Holocaust and the memory of the Nakba

Yaaron’s sequence of works that won awards and international recognition in ensemble and in single performance shows as: Acre Theater Productions: “Memories of the Second Generation in the Old City” (1988), “Arbeit Macht Frei Mitoitland Europe” (1991) “The Anthology” (1997-2017). “Um Muhammad” (2010). ” Nawal” (2012). The “Hilaa – The Third Generation” (2015) as an ensemble includes Yaron alongside the youth group of the Acre Theater under the guidance of Maysra Masri, a member of the Acre Theater Center’s ensemble.

Dr. Tal Ben-Zvi is cultural researcher and curator of contemporary art; Senior lecturer at Bezalel Academy of Art and Design Jerusalem.

Ben-Zvi studied at the curatorial and theory seminar at the Tel Aviv Camera Obscura School of Art (1997), a master’s degree at the Faculty of Art at Tel Aviv University (2004), a doctorate at the Faculty of Art at Tel Aviv University (2010) and a post-doctorate at the Truman Institute at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. (2011)

Along with academic research, Ben Zvi is a curator of contemporary art. In 1998 she established the art gallery at the “Heinrich Bell Foundation” where she presented solo exhibitions of Israeli and Palestinian artists. In 2001 she established the Hagar Art Gallery in Jaffa, where she presented solo exhibitions of Israeli and Palestinian artists. For this activity, in 2008 she received the “Curatorial Award” on behalf of the Ministry of Culture, Science and Sports.

Ben Zvi directed the Seminar for Curating Theory and Criticism, Camera Obscura Art School (2003-2005), and also directed the School of Arts at the Kibbutzim Seminary College (2009-2012). In 2012, she was appointed Vice-President for Academic Affairs, Bezalel, Academy of Art and Design, Jerusalem alongside the President of Bezalel, Academy of Art and Design, Prof. Eva Iloz until 2015.

Her book “Representations of the Nakba in Palestinian Art in Israel” was published in 2104 by Resling. Her articles have been published in academic journals and reference books.