The Herzliya Biennial of Contemporary Art (in Hebrew: הביאנלה בהרצליה ,הביאנליה בהרצליה לאמנות עכשווית) was an
art
Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas.
There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...
biennial event held in the city of
Herzliya
Herzliya ( ; he, הֶרְצְלִיָּה ; ar, هرتسليا, Hirtsiliyā) is an affluent city in the central coast of Israel, at the northern part of the Tel Aviv District, known for its robust start-up and entrepreneurial culture. In it h ...
,
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
.
The first year that the biennial took place on September 23, 2007 with the theme of "The Rear" (in Hebrew: Ha'Oref, העורף) and is scheduled to present the works of more than 70 Israeli artists in various locations in the center of Herzliya, such as underground warehouses, storage halls, th
Herzliya museum apartments, shops and
bomb shelters
Air raid shelters are structures for the protection of non-combatants as well as combatants against enemy attacks from the air. They are similar to bunkers in many regards, although they are not designed to defend against ground attack (but many ...
.
The first Herzliya Biennial curator is
Joshua Simon
Joshua Simon (born 1979, Tel Aviv), is a curator, writer, publisher, cultural critic, poet, filmmaker and public intellectual. He currently lives in Philadelphia, PA.
Simon curated exhibitions in museums and art spaces in Tel Aviv-Yafo, NYC, Mel ...
(יהושע סימון) and its directors are
Yehuda Ben Ezra and
Dalia Levin
Dalia Levin (born September 18, 1946) is an Israeli museum director and art curator. She was director and chief curator of Herzliya Museum of Contemporary Art in 1993-2014 and chief curator of Petah Tikva Museum of Art in 1988–1993.
Biography
...
.
Manifesto
Inspired by other biennials such as the
Gwangju Biennale, and by Israeli politics and surroundings, the opening
manifesto
A manifesto is a published declaration of the intentions, motives, or views of the issuer, be it an individual, group, political party or government. A manifesto usually accepts a previously published opinion or public consensus or promotes a ...
of the Herzliya Biennial states:
"The First Herzliya Biennial of Contemporary Art will focus on presentation of works by contemporary Israeli artists who address the notion of posteriority articulated in its title, "The Rear" (Ha'Oref in Hebrew which also denotes "home front", "hinterland", "nape") in various ways: the home front as opposed the front line—civilian society in Israel versus the army; the public sphere—where society stands in relation to the state; where labor is located to capital. "The Rear" (or "home front") is a general term that surfaced repeatedly during the recent
war with Lebanon in the summer of 2006, when a million Israeli citizens in the country's north sat in bomb shelters, and a million Lebanese became refugees."
Notable artists
Some of the notable artists to present their works at the Herzliya Biennial are:
Guy Ben-Ner
Guy Ben-Ner ( he, גיא בן נר; born 1969) is an Israeli video artist. He lives and works in Tel Aviv, Berlin and New York City.
Biography
Guy Ben-Ner received a Bachelor of Arts in Education in 1997 from Hamidrasha School of Art and a Mast ...
,
Mika Rottenberg
Mika Rottenberg (born 1976) is a contemporary Argentine-Israeli video artist who lives and works in New York City. Rottenberg is best known for her surreal video and installation work that often "investigates the link between the female body and p ...
,
Roee Rosen,
Yair Garbuz
Yair Garbuz ( he, יאיר גרבוז, born 29 September 1945) is an Israeli artist. He was director of the HaMidrasha Art School at Beit Berl College for 12 years. He is also known in Israel as an author and as a humorist.
Biography
Yair Garbuz ...
,
Ariella Azoulay
Ariella Aïsha Azoulay ( he, אריאלה עאישה אזולאי; born Tel Aviv, 1962) is an author, art curator, filmmaker, and theorist of photography and visual culture. She is a professor of Modern Culture and Media and the Department of ...
,
Elisheva Levy,
Gil Shani
Gil or GIL may refer to:
Places
* Gil Island (disambiguation), one of several islands by that name
* Gil, Iran, a village in Hormozgan Province, Iran
* Hil, Azerbaijan, also spelled ''Gil, a village in Azerbaijan
* Hiloba, also spelled ''Gi ...
,
Ari Libsker
Ari Libsker ( he, ארי ליבסקר, born 1972 in Haifa), is an Israeli filmmaker and journalist. He has made several documentaries. His film '' Stalags'' (2008) featured in ''The New York Times'' and won several awards. In March 2012 he curate ...
,
Zoya Cherkassky,
Roy Arad,
Keren Cytter
Keren Cytter ( he, קרן ציטר; born 22 August 1977) is an Israeli visual artist and writer.
Biography
Cytter, born 22 August 1977, spent her childhood in Israel and went on to study visual arts at the Avni Institute of Art and Design, Tel Av ...
,
Sigalit Landau
Sigalit Ethel Landau ( he, סיגלית לנדאו; born 1969) is an Israeli sculptor, video and installation artist.
Biography
Sigalit Ethel Landau was born in 1969 in Jerusalem. She spent several years in the US and the UK. Between 1990 and 1 ...
and
Noa Tsaushu.
Reviews
The Herzliya Biennial got mixed reviews in local and foreign press.
Smadar Shefi from ''
Haaretz
''Haaretz'' ( , originally ''Ḥadshot Haaretz'' – , ) is an Israeli newspaper. It was founded in 1918, making it the longest running newspaper currently in print in Israel, and is now published in both Hebrew and English in the Berliner f ...
'' wrote that the name Biennial might be a bit too provincial to use for a city like Herzliya, whether it would be biannual or not.
Anat Turisky from
Ha-Ir wrote that the idea to place the mega exhibition in Herzliya was original and efficient.
''
The Jerusalem Post
''The Jerusalem Post'' is a broadsheet newspaper based in Jerusalem, founded in 1932 during the British Mandate of Palestine by Gershon Agron as ''The Palestine Post''. In 1950, it changed its name to ''The Jerusalem Post''. In 2004, the paper w ...
'' articl
said (quote): "Is the biennial being used as a quick fix for the organizers and curatorial staff who are presenting particular kinds of art forms and media, while making a concerted effort to bring foreign guests, critics, museum people and local aficionados of the arts from outside the Herzliya/Dan region to view the displays? This was definitely not the objective according to both (Dalia) Levin and (Joshua) Simon."
References
External links
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Israel Travelon the Herzliya Biennial
Hebrish At the Biennial
{{List of Biennales
Art festivals in Israel
Herzliya
Contemporary art exhibitions
Art biennials
Israeli contemporary art