Jerusalem Biennale 2015: 10 Exhibitions, 7 Venues, and an Events Program

September 24, 2015
Lilith-Lair, triptich by Siona Benjamin. Image courtesy the artist-and Flomenhaft Gallery, New-York.
Lilith Lair, triptich by Siona Benjamin. Image courtesy the artist and Flomenhaft Gallery, New York.

Hosting nearly 200 Israeli and international professional artists, the 2nd Jerusalem Biennale for Contemporary Jewish Art opens today.

It is a stage for professional artists, who create today and refer in their work to Jewish thought, spirit, tradition or experience, to exhibit their work in Jerusalem.

Biennale2015 will take place at different venues around the city center of Jerusalem: the Tower of David Museum, Van Leer’s Polonky Research Institution, the North Africa Jewish Heritage Center, Hechal Shlomo Museum, Achim Hasid Center on Emek Refiaim Street, Tachana Rishona (the first train station) and more.

Following the success of the inaugural Jerusalem Biennale in 2013, Biennale2015 will continue to explore the places where contemporary art meets the Jewish world of content. Curators and artists with different approaches, who span the continuum of Jewish identity from secular to ultra-Orthodox and include non-Jewish artists, all come together within the Biennale framework to give their own interpretation of contemporary Jewish art.

Six exhibitions are from Jerusalem-based groups and/or curators, including well-known Israeli artists such as, Sigalit Landau, Motti Mizrahi, Dov Abramson, Maya Zack and Ynin Shillo will be exhibiting alongside Israeli-Anglo artists such as Andi Arnovitz, Ken Goldman and Ruth Schreiber. There is also a special tribute exhibition by Bezalel artists in memory of the late Zelig Segal. Biennale2015 will host the inaugural exhibition of a nine-year project, and the inaugural installation and performance Present=Presence by American-Israeli artist Alana Ruben-Free in collaboration with Israeli artist David Gerstein.

Four exhibitions showcase the work of Jewish and non-Jewish artists from New York (Jewish Art Salon members such as Siona Benjamin and Tobi Kahn), Los Angeles (the Jewish Artists Initiative of Southern California), Buenos Aires (22 Jewish and non-Jewish artists) and Barcelona (five Catalan artists from the Mozaika group).

The Jerusalem Biennale 2015 continues through November 5th.