"Clinic," "A Thousand and One Nights," and "The Split": Three new shows

Currently, the Beit Shturman Museum is showcasing a new exhibition titled "The Split," an art exhibition about the division within the kibbutz movement. Tomorrow, the exhibition "Clinic" will commence, and in October, the exhibition "A Thousand and One Nights" will open. Here are details about the three exhibitions.

"The Split" - September 6 - Summer 2025, Beit Shturman Museum, Ein Harod Meuhad

Art Exhibition on the Schism in the Kibbutz Movement. Curator: Ofra Baram

On September 6th, the Beit Shturman Museum opened an exhibition dealing with the schism in the kibbutz movement—a topic that remains a mysterious, traumatic, and unprocessed chapter to this day.

"It seems that there is no more exposed and genuine showcase for the challenges the kibbutz faced than the great split of the early 1950s," says Ofra Baram, the curator of the exhibition. "A combination of ideology, instincts, and communal life created a painful rift that, even after seven decades, refuses to heal."

The exhibition "The Split" seeks to view the tumultuous reality from a distance and understand it deeply, to find late insights and document a collective and personal memory anew. It aims to reflect on the schism in the present tense and offer a sober and fresh perspective on the volcanic event that took place here in the past. Additionally, the exhibition will attempt to address thoughts on borders, separation, conflict, and encounters. Beyond that, it raises questions about whether a deep discussion of the schism's trauma can offer late insights, whether the schism can also contain reconciliation, and what the social and personal cost of adherence to ideology is.

In contemplating the schism, one cannot ignore the tension, division, and polarization that currently plague Israeli society. The story of the schism has the power to cast painful insights and truths on contemporary Israeli society's perception of itself and its future direction.

15 artists, both from within and outside the kibbutz movement, were invited to create new works and present existing ones relating to the topic and its political, social, emotional, and biographical meanings across various media: Painting, sculpture, video, photography, and installation.

For example, Yair Garbuz’s works "Moving House" consists of two paintings that are part of a project called "Israeli Art Unity / Unified Israeli Art," where Garbuz dealt with copying and reconstructing works by Israeli artists, highlighting our tendency to forget, repress, erase, and reboot history—both close and distant. The replication of the caricatures aims to amplify confusion and embarrassment, as defined by Garbuz: "We are a very ancient and very forgetful people."

The exhibition also features archival materials revealed for the first time, such as protocols from kibbutz meetings, poems and literary and satirical excerpts written by local residents, personal letters, documents determining arrangements and divisions between settlements, and newspaper clippings and caricatures published in the national press. Alongside the archival materials, a section will be dedicated to personal testimony with the aim of establishing a pioneering database and primary information that will be used for research and study on the subject and will be available to the public in the future.

"The Split," September 6 - Summer 2025, Beit Shturman Museum, Ein Harod Meuhad Kibbutz. Opening Hours (starting September 2024): Sunday - Thursday: 9:00 - 15:00 / Friday: 11:00 - 13:00 / Saturday: 11:00 - 15:00

"Clinic," September 13 - November 21, 2024, Litvak Contemporary Gallery, Tel Aviv

"Clinic." Artists: Adi T. Hoffman, Sara Benninga, Curator: Hadas Glazer.

The duo exhibition "Clinic," opening on September 13th at the Litvak Gallery as part of the "Loving Art" weekend, brings together artists Adi T. Hoffman and Sara Benninga, inviting viewers to examine the points of connection and division between their works, alongside the psychological and physical processes embedded in them.

The term "Clinic" comes from Greek, from the word "kline," meaning "bed," and refers to a place where medical treatment is performed, usually involving examination and study of physical phenomena in the human body. Today, a clinic is a place of diagnosis, treatment, and healing—a space that is simultaneously critical and compassionate, diagnostic and curative.

The two artists present large, sensual paintings that rely on a drawing process and explore variations and bodily interactions. The artistic dialogue echoes a clinical space (ostensibly): A place of diagnosis and treatment, where body and mind are subjected to a gaze that dissects them.

One of the elements that connect the artists is the use of drawing within the painting: The drawing, as it appears in the works of Hoffman and Benninga, is not just a technical stage in the creative process but a means of identifying and examining the intention at the heart of the painting. The distinction and understanding of the role of drawing within the painting and within the works become a "clinical investigative tool" allowing the revelation of deeper layers of the painting.

Adi T. Hoffman explores hybrid connections between the human body, machines, medical devices, and fitness equipment, including tables and beds, skeletal parts, vertebrae, and organs. The body becomes a kind of experimental field, adapted, expanded, and sometimes distanced from its natural humanity in favor of integration with the devices.

Hoffman’s works echo Michel Foucault’s thoughts in his book "The Birth of the Clinic," on how the body becomes an object analyzed and dismantled through scientific and technological tools, ultimately creating control over a person in the face of illness.

Sara Benninga addresses the clinical-analytical concept from a different angle. For her, painting serves as a field for exploring mental processes, revealed through interactions between various characters. These characters, sometimes depicted inverted or in contact with one another, are drawn from diverse sources: Some are directly sketched from the mind onto the canvas, some are based on model sketches from the studio, and others are contemporary translations of historical figures. Her analytical approach explores the psyche through the complex relationships between the characters, creating emotional and visual tension spread across the canvas.

"Clinic," September 13 - November 21, 2024, Litvak Contemporary Gallery, 3 Shvil Hamif'al St., Tel Aviv. Opening Hours: Tuesday - Thursday 10:00 - 17:00 / Friday and Saturday: By Appointment.

"A Thousand and One Nights" - October 10 - November 9, Periscope Gallery

Miri Shavit Tells Us "A Thousand and One Nights" Stories and We Are Enchanted. Curators: Sari Paran

On October 10th, a new exhibition by artist Miri Shavit, titled "A Thousand and One Nights," curated by Sari Paran, will open at the Periscope Gallery. Shavit draws inspiration from ancient cultures, including Greek mythologies—Pegasus and unicorn statues, prehistoric dinosaurs, and tribal ritualistic figures, angels, demons, and masks.

In the exhibition, a collection of ancient animals—fantastical, imaginary monsters—walks across a golden table, above which are suspended ritualistic figurines gazing in awe at the surreal procession. The objects are made of ceramic in various hues, adorned with gold luster, and combined with decorations including: Organic elements from nature and the sea—feathers, threads, beads, wire, cactus leaves, bark, and shells. Artistic contrasts emerge in textures ranging from rough imitations of natural textures to handcrafted smoothing of surfaces with great patience, in self-produced glazes.

All ancient cultures believed in monsters. Chimeras, minotaurs, werewolves, vampires, inhuman, frightening creatures, appearing in the nightmares of both children and adults. The appearance of monsters in art has sparked an aesthetic discussion about ugliness versus beauty. The principle underlying them all was that, even if there are ugly creatures or objects, art has the ability to present them beautifully. Art makes their ugliness acceptable and even enjoyable.

Miri refers to her monsters as cute; she befriends them to overcome repressed and unspeakable fears. Her most primal fears, broadcast from personal and collective subconscious, transform into monsters through artistic transformation. She adorns them with detailed elements as if crafting jewelry, objects of desire.

Miri connects in these works between ancient fears and a variety of artistic sources combined with natural influence. She uses grotesque, internal irony, and combinations of non-matching elements to express the complex subconscious in a surrealistic style. She blurs the boundaries between the natural and the artificial, the animal and the human, the masculine and the feminine, the conceptual and the tangible, creating a hybrid world that oscillates between the realistic and the magical and wondrous.

Miri Shavit tells us "A Thousand and One Nights" stories and we are enchanted by her magic. Among the works featured in the exhibition is the 'Nova' series, created in response to the difficult events of October 7th, representing the abrupt transition from a festival of music and love to life with the subsequent loss and pain. "In this exhibition, I invite viewers to embark on a fantastic journey between fear and beauty, where I celebrate the magic of ancient and mythological creatures," says Shavit. "Each work I create reflects my passion for art and nature, with an emphasis on textures and organic elements that tell a story of connection between worlds. I believe my art can be a bridge between our fears and the beauty around us, and I hope that my works will touch viewers' hearts and invite them to explore new and surprising worlds."

Miri Shavit, born in 1967, lives in Tel Aviv and Kibbutz Neve Yam near the Dor Beach Nature Reserve. Miri began creating ceramics five years ago after retiring from a successful career in academia. She draws inspiration for her unique sculptures and creatures from a variety of sources, including her love for the sea, natural textures in earth, rocks, shells, and a transformative trek "Camino de Santiago" she took in Spain, which solidified her decision to open her own studio. In recent years, she studied ceramics with ceramic artist Idit Laadan in Herzliya and then in various courses at Beit Binyamini.

Her passion for the natural world and use of shells and textures is evident in many of her hand-crafted sculptures, capturing the essence of the ancient creatures that inspire her. Miri's attention to detail and skill with clay allow her to create works that reflect the beauty and complexity of the world around us. Miri has a ceramics studio at Bezalel Street 4, Tel Aviv.

"A Thousand and One Nights," October 10 - November 9, Periscope Gallery, Ben Yehuda 176, Tel Aviv Jaffa, Israel