Art and creativity should always have a space at the heart of the Polis, the concept of city and citizenship and independence and collective identity. In this sense, the announcement of plans to restore Bezalel, Israel’s leading academy of art of design, to a new site in the heart of Jerusalem, has both a philosophical and practical soundness. More or less. “I know that this is a loaded term in Israel, but this (move) should be thought of as a return,” Eva Illouz, President of the Academy, observed at the …

In the historical surroundings of the Old City, the Tower of David has been an important landmark throughout Jerusalem’s history. Home to kings and queens of many nations, it is a unique meeting-place of people and cultures, which influence and are influenced by the ancient capital. Jerusalem has always been a source of inspiration in the arts. Now, the Tower of David Museum has opened two new exhibitions, which show us how Jerusalem inspires contemporary Israeli designers.
As any visitor can report, from the moment you enter the tower you’re transported …

The New Logistics Center in South Tel Aviv, on the border of Holon , is the latest venue selected for the Fresh Paint Contemporary Art Fair, now in its sixth incarnation.  (A plea to the organizers: next year, please refrain from opting for another ‘surprising’ location, and settle instead on a more easily accessible venue).
The big news was the introduction of Fresh Design – where well known designers are displaying their work in the same space as 33 up-and- coming young designers(‘The Design Greenhouse.’) In the Art section of the …

Lady of the Daisies: A Tribute to Lea Gottlieb 1918 – 2012, is the colorful focal point of Holon Design Week. Curated by guest curator Ayala Raz, at the Design Museum Holon, the exhibition offers the  public a look at the art and industry of the woman who founded Gottex, Israel’s luxury line of swimwear.
On a preview tour of the exhibition, Curator Ayala Raz, whose acquaintance with Lea Gottlieb began in 2004, in preparation for an exhibition which was intended for the Tel Aviv Museum, offered insights on Gottlieb, the …

DICE Global Battlefield Community Manager Daniel Matros will be coming to Israel this month for GameIS 2012. The annual Israeli digital gaming conference will take place on December 19, 2012 at the Holon Cinematheque from 10:00 – 21:00.
Matros, a competitive gamer himself, will be talking about DICE from pinball machines to Battlefield and more as part of a fascinating program that makes it emphatically clear that games are far more than child’s play.
Highlights include a talk from IDF Speaker (the public voice of Zahal – Israel Defense Forces) on the …

High fashion, extra-ordinary in both its character and presentation, comes to Tel Aviv with the opening of Bless, Boudicca, Sandra Buckland – Fashioning the Object, an exhibition that originated at the Art Institute of Chicago where it was organized by Zoë Ryan, its curator of architecture and design.
Unlike many fashion houses, these three design studios cater for everyday folk who want their clothes and accessories to blend in with their lives. Setting aside the traditions of the fashion industry, these designers are explorers, constantly evolving concepts and innovations that are …

An orgy of images and information, Pecha Kucha #14 will take place on December 2, 2012 at Hangar 11, Port of Tel Aviv. There will be two sessions of the insanely popular event, at 19:30 and 22:15. Tickets are just 30 NIS and will be available at LoveEat and online www.pechakuchatlv.com. They go on sale November 25th at 12:00, and tend to sell out fast – so heed this warning!
All you Pecha Kucha virgins, this paragraph is for you! What, you may ask yourself, is Pecha Kucha? Initiated by Astrid …

Looking for a moment of color? Stop into the Sipur Pashut bookstore at 36 Shabazi Street and enjoy illustrations for children’s books made by third year students at Bezalel. The illustrations were made in a semester-long course led by Rutu Modan and Avi Buhbut, each student selected a text to work on – Israeli children’s stories from Shalom Aleichem to Dan Pagis and internationally beloved classics like Peter and the Wolf. The exhibition will be on display through November 31, 2012. Opening hours: Sunday – Thursday 10:00 – 20:00; Friday …

For the fourth year running, the Holon municipality invites audiences to explore the nostalgic and the fantastic – for free! Beginning September 1, five spaces across Holon will host exhibitions in the fields of architecture, photography, fashion and art.
Parallel Nippon
What is a city? What does it mean to “live” someplace? And what is the relationship between architecture and society? This travelling exhibition explores these questions through buildings designed by Japanese architects and erected both in and out of Japan. The exhibition explores the Japanese cultural shift from “bubble” economy to …

Humor, or at least a light-hearted approach, is generally associated with comics. Yet this quality is almost totally lacking in the representative selection of 20th and 21st century comics and animation films on show in Visual Words – Comics from China, part of a cultural exchange program between Israel and Switzerland, and the Cartoon Museums of Holon and Basel in particular.
As many of the works in this exhibition illustrate comics were effective propaganda tools in China from the time of the establishment in 1949 of the People’s Republic under the …