Drift

Artists: ​Shani Avivi, Matan Ben-Tolila, David (Duchi) Cohen, Ella Cohen Vansover, Yarden Colsey, Guy Dolev, Hadas Duchan, Ariel Hacohen, Rachel Kainy, Edith Kofsky, Elkana Levi, Li Lorian, Miriam Munk, Nadia Adina Rose, Tal Simon, Yaron Steinberg, Yifat Shtainmetz Hirst
Curator: Einav Ziv-Ayalon and Lee He Shulov

‘Drift’ is a group exhibition featuring artists from the Art Cube Artists’ Studios in Jerusalem, focusing on creative processes and the central role that not-knowing has in artistic work. The exhibition ties in with the main theme of Manofim Festival 2026 – ‘Recognition’ – and seeks to explore the space that comes before knowledge and recognition: a zone of searching, experimenting, a patient stay, and coming into being. During the festival, the exhibition will host two open studio events, along with live performances by several of the Studios artists in their studio space. Full details can be found in the Manofim program on our website. 

The exhibition invites visitors to stay in a space of not-knowing as a conscious stance: not as an absence that needs filling, but as a fertile field where possibilities are still undecided and there’s no expectation to settle them. The works do not aim to provide answers, but rather to delay the moment of knowing or revelation, to create pauses for lingering, and to invite encounters with what hasn’t yet been articulated. In this space, knowledge isn’t a starting point but a late outcome, while creation happens exactly in the spot where thought drifts like a cloud, allowing images, materials, and meanings to emerge from the mist. 

This concept relies on three intertwined theoretical aspects. From a philosophical perspective, not-knowing is understood not only as a primary epistemic* state but also as a conscious choice — a deliberate postponement of knowledge and judgment as an active stance from which meaning emerges, rather than as a flaw to be overcome. From the psychological aspect, creativity is tied to the ability to cultivate mental flexibility and tolerance for the tension between knowing and not knowing. And finally, from a practical perspective, not knowing is not just a state of mind but a way of acting: work processes based on experimentation, response, and gradual formation, where knowledge arises from doing rather than precedes it. Not-knowing as material. These three aspects converge in the exhibition into a single proposal: to see not-knowing as the heart of its action. 

A conscious choice to embrace not-knowing can also be seen as a form of resistance — a kind of wandering without a known destination, reminiscent of the free-roaming gestures of the Situationists** (Dérive), where the act of walking itself challenges structures of control, purposefulness, and prior knowledge. In our modern world, there’s a demand for constant knowledge and productivity, and during times of war, we’re expected to be even more in control and resilient. Choosing not to know disrupts the expectation of stability and clarity. Instead, it calls for honesty and surrender to the situation as it is: unclear, deceptive, and unstable. Here, not-knowing is a critical act that refuses to accept reality as it is and to normalize the abnormal situation in which we are living. 

*Epistemology is a central branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of knowledge and cognition and with the ways in which they can be acquired.

**The Situationists was a radical artistic, political, and theoretical movement active in Europe during the 1950s and 60s, which aimed to challenge routine, alienation, and consumer culture through wandering, actions, and the creation of new everyday experiences.