newsletter
news
26 September 2009 Blackmarket for Useful Knowledge and Non-Knowledge
On 26 September, exactly at 19.00, one hundred experts seated themselves behind tables in the Arab-Jewish Community Centre in Jaffa, just like it was done in previous years in Berlin, Hamburg, Istanbul and Warsaw. For the symbolic price of 5 shekels it was possible to sit with one of them face to face and listen to a half an hour lecture prepared by that specialist. Then one could change his or her place and pick a different table...
The subheading of the 12th edition of the Blackmarket was "On Invisible, Unknown and Ghostly Knowldege." The experts shared their knowledge about things that are invisible or have been erased from the various areas of research. They shed light on cultural, economic, social and political models, which we have ignored or forgotten about – memories and histories we preferred to erase, as well as ideas and concepts which fell victim to censorship or misunderstanding.
The very selection of lecturers was untypical, as is usual the case with this event. There were artists, writers, organizers of cultural activities, actors, but also hairdressers, beauticians and fortune-tellers. Among the one hundred invited guests there were three Poles: Ryszard Malarski – consultant in the World Bank, who spoke about the brighter side of black market: its virtues and positive role both in Polish and world economy; Magdalena Mosiewicz – founder and co-chair of the Polish Greens, author of documentary films about political currents in art, strikes and deportations, who presented the project titled "National victory and personal failure. On the disappearance of Ewa H. Excerpts from a documentary about life in Poland"; Anka Grupińska, a woman writer, former cultural attaché at the Polish embassy in Israel, who delivered a lecture titled "Invisible Jews still seen in Poland."
www.mobileacademy-berlin.com
www.digitalartlab.org.il
25 June 2009 Evening announcing the project "Wall and Tower" by Yael Bartana
On the evening of 25 June at the square in front of the Monument to the Ghetto Heroes in Warsaw, the creation of the first kibbutz in Europe was announced. The latest work by the Israeli artist Yael Bartana titled "Wall and Tower" is a follow-up to her previous film "Nightmares" ["Mary Koszmary"] from 2007 in which a young leftist activist spoke to the empty stands of the 10th-Anniversary Stadium, encouraging three million Jews to return to Poland.
The film was shot in a Warsaw kibbutz and will be presented in the second half of the year, among other places at the Congress of Polish Culture in Krakow. The kibbutz itself was used on 25 June as a setting for a promotional and educational event about the historic and artistic connotations of the project by Yael Bartana. Introductory speeches were delivered by: Jerzy Halbersztadt (Museum of the History of Polish Jews) and Sebastian Cichocki (Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw). Yael Bartana spoke about her previous realizations and showed excerpts from film chronicles of the 1930s, as well as her previous film "Nightmares."
The story of "Wall and Tower" is located on the construction site of the "first kibbutz in Europe," the place where the building of the Museum of the History of Polish Jews will be located – on a square by the Monument to the Ghetto Heroes. The artist presents a hypothetical scenario in which the Jewish newcomers settle on Polish land, according to the procedures used in the 1930s. Bartana refers to the method of Homa U'Migdal (wall and tower), used by the Jewish settlers during the Arab revolt in the years 1936-1939, the time when the British Mandate of Palestine was in force. Despite the ban on annexing further territories, 52 new settlements were created at that time. They were usually built in one night, because the Ottoman law that was in force at the time forbade the destruction of already erected buildings. Bartana directly refers to the tactic of "wall and tower," imitating the form and layout of the kibbutzi constructed at that time.
21 and 27 June 2009 Premiere of the film "Surrogate"
The world premiere of the Israeli film "Surrogate" directed by Tala Shalom Ezer took place on 21 June 2009 during the Edinburgh International Film Festival. The second screening was on 27 June. Both presentations were a part of the official selection in the festival’s "Director's Showcase" programme. There are also Polish accents in this intimate story – the Polish cameraman Radek Ladczuk is the author of the cinematography and the whole film was created thanks to the help of the Polish Institute in Tel Aviv and the Adam Mickiewicz Institute.
Eli is a 32-year-old man who has difficulties in relationships with women. Hagar is his surrogate, foster partner in sexual therapy. They meet once a week and rehearse their relationship in hiding and almost laboratory-like isolation. The fictional relation causes them to uncover themselves physically and emotionally, revealing their suppressed fears regarding the world.
The metamorphosis which Eli undergoes during the therapy and the secrets he discovers, shake not only his life, but also the life of his family. In clinical conditions, during an "unnatural" process, Eli learns to love for the first time in his life.
The film was awarded in 2008 the first prize in the category of best feature film at the International Women's Film Festival in Israel, and was also shown as part of the Jerusalem International Film Festival. Since the time of its premiere in May 2009, the film is available in the Tel Aviv Cinematheque.
surrogatethemovie.com
www.edfilmfest.org.uk
17-19 May 2009 Performance of Adina Bar-On in Lublin
At the beginning of May, the Israeli artist Adina Bar-On came to Poland in order to prepare her latest performance "Disposition." It was possible to see her artistic walk three times during the days 17-19 May in Lublin.
The artist, dressed in red, roamed the streets of the city capturing a lot of attention from the passer-bys. Adina says that her project is a "performance consisting of a journey/walk beginning in a certain spot in the city. I walk the crowded streets, passing junctions and landmarks. Others follow behind me. Sometimes I lose them, just in order to reappear after a while. Each time I adapt the performance to the particular place where I have been invited [...]."
See also: photo gallery documenting the performance
23 April 2009 Radio Free Jaffa broadcasts in Israel
On 23 April the Free Radio Jaffa, that is the artist Kasia Krakowiak and her collaborators Ronen Eidelman and the Digital Art Lab in Holon, conducted an artistic intervention on all radio frequencies in the area of Jerusalem Boulevard by the entrance to Jaffa.
Radio Free Jaffa is a proposition to open up a space which Jaffa as a city is desperately in need of. The project referred to the current social and political situation in the city.
The Radio moved across the city as a human antenna, broadcasting a close range programme.
The project is a part of "The Jaffa Project. Autobiography of a City" organized by the Ayam Association.
More information can be found at www.radiofreejaffa.com
18 April 2009 An unusual walk through the Ghetto with Israeli performers
On 18 April the Israeli group Public Movement took Varsovians for an unusual walk through the ghetto called "Spring in Warsaw." The project took the form of a pre-arranged march on the route taken by school trips. The Israeli artists in cooperation with Polish participants staged a procession whose content and atmosphere was far from the traditional ceremonies characteristic for this trail of martyrdom. The action prepared by the Israelis attracted over one thousand people.
Public Movement is an artistic group created in 2006 out of the initiative of Omer Krieger and Dana Yahalomi. It gathers young Israeli performance artists. In their work it is very important to keep track of social behaviour codes, analyze the behaviour of groups and deconstruct ideologies. The Public Movement artists have already visited Poland on invitation from the Festival of Dialogue of Four Cultures in Łódź, and stayed as residents in the Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art in Warsaw. During that period they organized in the Zachęta Gallery an action alluding to the assassination of Gabryjel Narutowicz by the painter Eligiusz Niewiadomski.
The project’s organizer is Nowy Teatr, in cooperation with the AIR Centre for Contemporary Art.
Curator: Joanna Warsza.
Centre for Contemporary Art curators: Ika Sienkiewicz-Nowacka and Marianka Dobkowska.
Production: Zuza Sikorska
www.publicmovement.org
www.nowyteatr.org
26 March 2009 Polish edition of the book "Righteous Among the Nations"
On 25 March, a ceremonious presentation of the Polish edition of the book "Righteous Among the Nations" took place in Warsaw. The book about 5,374 heroic Poles who were rescuing Jews during the Second World War was prepared by the Yad Vashem Institute in Jerusalem and the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology at the Polish Academy of Sciences.
The introduction to the Book was written by Professor Władysław Bartoszewski who was also awarded the "Righteous Among the Nations" medal. He stressed the fact that the book was prepared in Jerusalem out of the initiative of the Jewish nation in order to show gratitude and respect to the Poles who were disinterestedly rescuing Jews.
The title of the "Righteous Among the Nations" was established through a decree issued by Knesset in 1953. It is awarded by the Yad Vashem Institute and is the highest distinction awarded to foreigners by the state of Israel.
More information can be found on www.ksiega-sprawiedliwych.pl
03/2009 "American Theatre" magazine about the Polish Year in Israel
In the March edition of the "American Theatre" magazine, the section "Global Spotlight" features a text by Nicole Estvanic Taylor devoted to theatre events that have been taking place as part of the Polish Year in Israel. It is yet another mention of our project to appear this year in the American press.
Read the whole article (PDF)
More information about the magazine can be found on www.tcg.org
29-30 March 2009 The play "Absinth" by Magda Fertacz in Tmuna Theatre
The play "Absinth" [Absynt] by Magda Fertacz was first introduced in Israel as a stage reading at the Contemporary Polish Drama Festival in December 2008. As a result of the praising reviews and the applauding reaction, the artists have decided to perform the text on stage at Tmuna Theatre.
On the eve of her wedding, a bride commits suicide. Images of the life of a young Polish girl of our time are forming and disintegrating, surrounding the bride’s body. The anatomy of existence reveals the emotional coping with relationships in a family, hypocrisy and stereotypical thinking, during communism.
Translation: Anat Zeidman Directing: Maor Zagouri.
March 29 and 30, at 19.30
Tmuna Theatre, 8 Shonzino St. Tel-Aviv
www.tmu-na.org.il
29 March 2009 The culinary journey of Robert Makłowicz to Israel in TVP2
Since 29 March, TVP2 will broadcast a six-part cycle devoted to the cuisine and culture of Israel. The host of the famous programme "Makłowicz w podróży" ["Makłowicz in journey"] met during his January journey, among other people, the writer Etgar Keret and musician Yair Dalal with whom he spoke about the rich culture of Israel.
The six instalments will be devoted to the following subjects:
Red Sea
Dead Sea
Jerusalem
On the Biblical trail
The magic of Levant
Tel Aviv
The series of programmes was created with support from the Embassy of Israel. More information about the programme will be soon available on the website of Polish television: www.tvp.pl.
15, 19 March 2009 Concert of the choir Hadarei Ron in Poland
The Jewish Religious Commune in Krakow, the Pro Musica Mundi Artistic Association, and the Jewish Religious Commune in Warsaw invite to two concerts of the Israeli choir Hadarei Ron which will take place on 15 March in Krakow and 19 March in Warsaw.
The Hadarei Ron choir was founded over twenty years ago in the city Rehovot. It comprises around 40 singers who work under the direction of Avi Faintoch. The choir’s repertoire includes both traditional religious songs, as well as lay folk pieces from Israel.
The concert in Warsaw will take place thanks to support of the Embassy of Israel.
15 March 2009, 7 pm, The Tempel Synagogue, Miodowa 24, Krakow, free entrance
19 March 2009, 7 pm, The Nożyk Synagogue, Twarda 6, Warszawa, free entrance
15 March 2009 Exhibition of graphic by Józef Bau in Krakow
The exhibition “The time of profanation. Graphics by Józef Bau” [“Czas zbezczeszczenia. Grafiki Józefa Baua”] will open in the Historical Museum of the City of Krakow as part of the celebrations of the 66th anniversary of the liquidation of the Krakow ghetto. The exhibition will open at 11 am, just before the annual March of Memory. The exhibition will be on view from 15 March to 30 October 2009.
Curator of the exhibition: Anna Pióro
Visual design: Wojciech Jodłowski
15 March – 30 October, 2009, Apteka pod Orłem [Pharmacy under the sign of the Eagle] (a division of the Historical Museum of the City of Krakow), Bohaterów Getta 18
More information about the museum and the exhibition: www.mhk.pl
11 March 2009 "Midnight East" magazine about the electro-acoustic project
On 11 March, the Internet magazine "Midnight East" published a large article devoted to the project "If you speak it it's no legend" which was presented in February at the Contempo festival in Tel Aviv.
The Polish-Israeli sound installation, presented in a rather forlorn district in the Zimmer studio, received enthusiastic reviews and enjoyed great interest on the part of Israelis. [photograph: Dror Katz]
Read the whole article atwww.midnighteast.com
02 March 2009 Hebrew page of the Book Institute
We are happy to inform that a Hebrew version of the Internet site of the Book Institute has been opened. The portal contains, among other things, biographies of Polish authors, presentations of new books, addresses of publishing houses and information about the Institute’s activities. Take a look for yourself!
More info at www.instytutksiazki.pl
20 February 2009 Polish writers debut in Israel
The Jerusalem International Book Fair ended on 20 February. It was attended by guests from Poland: Jacek Dehnel, Michał Witkowski, Ryszard Krynicki and Marek Krajewski.
The first two authors were promoting their debut books which are now available also in Hebrew. "Lala" by Dehnel was published by Keter, in the translation of Borys Gerus, while "Lubiewo" by Witkowski was translated by Ilay Halpern and issued by Schocken. Soon, the first part of adventures of the counsellor Eberhard Mock - "Śmierć w Breslau" ["Death in Breslau"] by Marek Krajewski (transl. Borys Gerus) will be published by Keter.
During the fair, several interesting mentions of Polish literature appeared in the Israeli media. The Internet portal "maddingcrowd" considered the Polish stand as the most attractive one. Many reviews of the published books are available online.
Official site of the fair: www.jerusalembookfair.com
19 February 2009 Haaretz.com about the Polish-Israeli sound installation
On the 19th February the Haaretz.com portal published a very interesting article entitled "Sound Streched To The Limit", which was dedicated to the Polish-Israeli sound installation "If you speak it, it's no legend".
(...) "Every nation has its own sound repository," explained the Polish music curator/critic Antoni Beksiak, one of the driving forces behind the installation. Inspired by the the biblical story of the Tribes of Ephraim and Gilead (Judges 12:5-6), in which differing pronunciations of the Hebrew word shibboleth give away a person's identity, and by the revival of Hebrew as a modern language, spoken by people of a myriad linguistic and cultural backgrounds - he asked Lea Mauas and Diego Rotman, of the Sala-Manca artists' group in Jerusalem, to join him in curating the sound installation for Contempo. (...)
Read the whole article on Haaretz.com
16 February 2009 Israel on stamps in the Wrocław Museum
The exhibition featuring philatelic collections of Bogdan Cymerys, Józef Wiczkowski and Władysław Rejnowski will be on view in Wrocław’s Post and Telecommunications Museum until march 20th.
The exhibition consists of three parts: the collection of envelopes “Israel’s Postal Card 1948-1998”, the collection “Israel”, featuring editions of stamps from the moment the country was established in 1948 until 1993, as well as the part “Israel’s Register Marks” featuring various marks used for registered letters by the Israeli post in the years 1948-2000. A stamp and a folder were published on the occasion of the exhibition.
For more information on the museum see: www.muzeum.wroclaw.pl
12 February 2009 "Katyń" in the Israeli television HOT Prime
On February 14, at 11.30 p.m., as well as on Febryary 17, at 10.00 p.m., the Israeli TV HOT Prime broadcast the film "Katyń" directed by Andrzej Wajda. The film was shown in the Israeli TV for the first time. “Katyń” had its Israeli premiere in June, at the Jerusalem Film Festival.
HOT Prime television web page: www.hot.net.il
Official web page of the film: www.postmortem.netino.pl
8 December 2008 Polish-Israeli exhibition "Chosen" now available in Gdańsk
The exhibition "Chosen" received a lot of attention from the media and the public. It was open from 20 September to 15 November at the Israeli Centre for Digital Art in Holon. Now the project is available for the Polish viewers too. Till 28 February it will be shown in the Wyspa Art Institute in Gdańsk.
The exhibition will be accompanied by a conference on Messianism, which will take place on 10 December. As a resumè of the project will be published multilingual album including not only artists’ documentation but also thesis and essays.
The participants of the exhibition are: Yossi Atia & Itamar Rose, Yael Bartana, Grzegorz Klaman, Tomasz Kozak, Avi Mograbi, Ittai Meyer & Suff Backaleinick, Anna Molska, Anna Niesterowicz & Lukasz Gutt, Joanna Rajkowska, Roee Rosen, Menachem Roth & Yekutiel Roth, Sala-Manca, Twożywo and Artur Żmijewski.
Learn more about the exhibition
See the plan of the conference
7 December 2008 The premiere of the comic book "Kompot" in Poland and in Israel
The premiere of the unique comic book "Kompot" will take place on a Sunday evening, on 14 December, in the Warsaw club Chłodna 25. Start: 19.00. There will be guests from Israel, discussion of stereotypes, a film from behind the scenes, good music and “vodka kompot”.
The Israeli premiere will take place on 18 December, in the Spaceship Gallery, Tel Aviv, and on 20 December in the Cartoon Museum in Holon.
From July to September 2008, the museum in Holon presented an exhibition foreshadowing the publishing of the book. On display were, among others, sketches, scripts and scenarios, as well as works by Israeli and Polish artists participating in the project. Now the book in a Polish-Hebrew language version will be available in bookstores in both countries.
ARCHIVE