Exhibition | 'Simultaneously'

We live here and there. 
Trying to breath in a parallel universe. 
Counting the days, 
Counting the dead, 
The hostages, the living, the dead, 
The wounded, 
The evacuees, 
The volunteers, 
The protesters, 
The swarms, 
The wreckages, 
The many acres devasted by fire, 
The innocents that were hurt, 
Jews, Arabs, human beings, 
The terrible tolls that are exacted, 
The pain and the loss, 
Here in our bleeding space. 

We search for ways to understand. 
To fathom the catastrophe, our situation. 
We cling to floating debris, 
Drowning in the sea of numbers, 
Carried away by the statistics, 
Desperate to interpret, 
To comprehend, 
To internalize. 

At the same time, we try to maintain our routine. 

Timelines run parallel to each other and intersect, 
Moving at a changing pace, 
Twisting and weaving into each other. 
Stretching, freezing and coming to a halt. 
Simultaneously. 

Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design Jerusalem is founded on human dignity, equality, pluralism and freedom of speech, thought and creative expression. We seek to educate our students according to these ideals and hope that when they leave here to work and create in an extremely challenging world, they would be equipped with the tools, the skills and the values necessary to dream of a better world – and to realize this dream. 

This exhibition features works by graduates from the various Bezalel Departments. Some of these works propose ways for us to think about and comprehend this current time period, while others seek to flee, to escape, to look away. Some offer comfort and hope. These works address the war and its horrors, the parallel universe that exists away from the frontlines, the divided Israeli society, the Jewish Diaspora, thoughts of emigration and attempts to repair and heal. They raise questions regarding the role of art during times of war and the place of design and architecture and their role in convalescing, healing and recovery.  

It seems one can believe that those who will become the artists, designers and architects of the future State of Israel are the ones who will help us heal, understand and reflect on what happened; and they are the ones who know how to imagine a better future, how to outline a new, worthier world and how to draw a different Israel. 

Curators: Prof. Adi Stern, President of Bezalel; Ilanit Konopny, Head of the Curatorial Studies Track at the Master’s Program in Policy and Theory of the Arts.

Presenters: Yssaf Ohana, Lior Elbaz, Nevo Almog, Elia Bloch, Naftali Heilbron, Michal Harkabi, Carmel Harari, Lior Wigderson, Michaela Winefield Fleishman, Tomer Hadad, Peter Levin, Hadar Minei, Alumah Fishman, Noa Pardo, Daniella Friedman, Saar Partush, Sivan Rahamim, Alma Klemes, Gili Shklar, Neria Sason.

August 8-21, 2024
Clore Arts and Design Gallery
Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design Jerusalem
Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Campus, 1 Zmora St., Jerusalem

Bezalel Graduate Exhibition 2024