Manofim 2019

Nurse, Nurse

The central exhibition of 2019 Manofim Festival took place in Bikur Cholim Hospital, at the heart of Jerusalem. 

The hospital opened in the Old City of Jerusalem in the mid-19th century to meet the need for health services for the Jewish Yishuv, and moved to its present location on Hanevi’im Street in 1925. Thanks to its strategic location in the city center, the hospital provided critical medical care to many casualties over the years, from the War of Independence to the terrorist attacks of the 1990s and 2000s.

The fascinating history of Bikur Cholim exemplifies the radical transformations that have taken place in the Israeli healthcare system over the past thirty years, with the advent of neoliberalism. Since the hospital was not supported by the government, Bikur Cholim Society that ran the hospital faced financial difficulties, and from the late 1980s incurred heavy debts. Since 2004, the official receiver made several attempts to sell the hospital, and in 2007 it was eventually sold to business tycoon Arkadi Gaydamak. In December 2012, the hospital’s operation was handed over to the management of Shaare Zedek Medical Center, while most of the wards in the hospital were closed, and since then it has been operating as an extension of the medical center.

In 2015, Gaydamak sold the hospital complex to Taaman Real Estate, and it is currently leased to Shaare Zedek Medical Center. The corporation wishes to change the designation of the building from public use (hospital) to a mixed urban area, which will include two huge modern buildings complete with apartments, parking lots, and commercial areas around the historic building. This may turn out to be the final nail in the coffin of Bikur Cholim operation as a hospital. 

Today, the main building of the hospital is deserted, and Ziv Building (formerly the German Hospital), which is still in use, houses mainly birthing rooms, a neonatal intensive care unit, and a maternity ward.

The exhibition Nurse, Nurse was displayed in the hospital’s active building, whose main concern is bringing new life into the world. The exhibition had set out to position itself in a space where a call for help is heard. It shifted between the desire to be healed and recuperate and the challenge to accomplish this goal due to medical, economic, bureaucratic, or personal considerations. The artworks examined the question of the effectiveness of recovery: From the most intimate and personal place of the individual patient, through the strict protocols and guidelines imposed in medical institutions, to the possibility of healing and recovering crumbling institutions in the face of economic processes and overpowering real estate ventures.

Featuring: Nelly Agassi, Reut Asimini, Sharon Balaban, Aya Ben Ron, Chen Cohen, Hadassa Goldvicht, Michal Heiman, Moran Lee Yakir, Karam Natour, Public Movement, Tomer Sapir, Ran Slapak, Jasmin Vardi and The Testube Group: Tali Kayam, Elinor Sahm, Michal Roth

Curators: Rinat Edelstein and Lee He Shulov
Associate Curator and Producer: Hadassa Cohen

Rescue | Opening Show | Public Movement
Rescue is a political action in movement that takes place on the ruins of a building in the public space. Atop concrete rubble, five members of Public Movement perform a series of movements derived from their study of the body and training with search and rescue teams in Israel and abroad, including the Home Front Command, Magen David Adom, and the German Fire Services.

Rescue is a slow, synchronized choreographic work of safety drill exercises in use today in countries around the world. Disaster is inevitable, its cause unknown, but meticulous repetitive movements can create a space of intimacy between human beings in the face of a life-threatening event.
The action Rescue, taking place in Jerusalem for the first time, is situated in the Bikur Holim Hospital, which served as both a front line and rescue site during the violent terrorist attacks in the city in the 1990s and early 2000s. The performative rescue actions being enacted in it decades later resonate within the building’s historical memory.

For four hours members of Public Movement are divided into two groups that alternate in a cycle of rescue: the trapped and the rescuers, the rescuers calmly and carefully extracting the trapped from among the ruins. The timed composition, the technique developed by state forces and the anatomical knowledge at the base of the political dance evoke a fleeting sense of closeness between viewers and dancers, a nearness that vacillates between danger and compassion.  

Public Movement director: Dana Yahalomi
Temporary director: Maayan Choresh
Public Movement members: Ran Ben Dror, Avhsalom Latuka, Gali Liebreider, Meshi Olinky, Danielle Shufra
Music: Yoni Silver
Installation design: Adi Zaffran
Original installation design: Shmuel ben Shalom
Head of operations: Adi Nachman
Head of Public Movement studio: Tal Navon

Rescue was created as part of the exhibition National Collection, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, 2015, Curator: Ruth Direktor
Rescue is based on the action Emergency created by Omer Krieger and Dana Yahalomi

Jerusalem Art Conference #4 | Trick

The Jerusalem Art Conference, that took place for the fourth time, is a joint venture of the Jerusalem art institution Manofim and Erev Rav and Harama magazines. The conference wished to bring together the current prevailing discourse in art academies and higher education institutions and artists, curators, artistic directors, and art and culture professionals in Israel and worldwide. 

The 2019 conference took place at the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute under the title “Trick.” The dictionary defines trick as a surprising ruse used in order to achieve a certain goal. The trickster takes advantage or seizes an opportunity that the other side did not foresee, and often employs means like disguise, infiltration, misdirection, and acting. The underlying cunning of the trick can be insidious and evil or playful. It can be a creative way to sidestep problems or overcome powerful forces through weakness. We also see tricks in intra-artistic arenas, which at times exceed them and seeps into the public sphere. These can be a part of an artistic action or realized through the very choice of art as a means of perusing through other interests. 

The topics that were discussed in the conference included: art censorship and tricks for coping with it; technological and anti-technological tricks in art; the spectrum between truth and illusion; art as an economic or political trick; economics and politics as an artistic trick; art as an expression of identity tactics; art tricks and legal tricks.

Participants: Akvilė Anglickaitė, Anat Katz, Gabriel S Moses, Malkiella Benchabat, Yasmin Caspin, Emi Sfard, Elad Horn, Irit Carmon Popper, Ronnie Karfiol, Carmel Barna Brezner Jonas, Or Ariely & Meital Aviram, Dganit Elyakim, Cinema Balash (Fritz Heider and Marianne Simmel, Jon Smith, Kerry Tribe, Ruben Bellinkx, Laure Prouvost), Dr. Ronit Milano, Prof. Dana Arieli, Adv. Nurit Asher Fenig, Ilanit Konopny & Guy Aon, Mediengruppe Bitnik!

Conference’s Editors: Rinat Edelstein, Ronen Eidelman, Yonatan Amir
Producer: Aviv Peter

An intimate one-on-one session with Jerusalem-based artists
Art Cube Artists’ Studios, Teddy Artists’ Studios, and around Talpiot

Friday morning in Talpiot Industrial Zone. The preparations for Shabath are in full swing, traffic is heavy, the garages are full, the sound of horns fills the air. In all this hustle and bustle, you enter the building, climb the stairs and open a door to a quiet, unique and intimate world. You have arrived to one of the most compelling encounters you will have this year – you have reached Artist’s Appointment: Dozens of studio sessions held throughout the neighborhood, offering a fresh and informal platform for getting to know the artists who work in Jerusalem.
This year, the event centered around the concept of “Dead End” – an unsettling situation that derails the artist’s studio work, often accompanied by a sense of helplessness and a longing for salvation.
At times, artists reach a “dead-end” – uninspired an unable to move to the next thing. Mental inertia, personal disenchantment, and the challenge of overcoming the temporary crisis in the studio can sometime lead to new, subversive, and unexpected directions that shape and inform the artwork.
Artist’s Appointment invited you for an intimate a-formal 30-minute journey, during which you got to know the process of the artist when he or she found themselves at a dead end. You heard about exit solutions, collaborations formed as a result of disappointments, about discipline and self-practice as salvation practice, and how limitation can become the driving force for action.

Curator: Dveer Shaked
Assistant Curator: Lonnie Monka
Production: Reuven Laytush
Manofim Artistic Directors: Rinat Edelstein and Lee He Shulov

Cinema Balash – Where Cinema, Art, and Performance Meet 
Cinema Balash is an experimental screening space set up in New York by the artist Rotem Linial, which features events that bring together film, performance, and visual art. The project explores and celebrates the moving image and the common viewing experience in the movie theater – something that is becoming increasingly rare with every passing day. For Manofim Festival Cinema Balash relocated temporarily to Israel with four events.

Plot | International Video Art
At the Jerusalem Art Conference #4

Deep Dive | Performative screening in collaboration with the Israeli Film Archive
The event focuses on a short cinematic object, giving it the attention that it never received. Artists, historians, and scholars respond and shed light on the historical film during the screening, pointing to hidden elements. At the end of the event, without anything changing in the footage itself – it will be experienced in an entirely new way.

Typologies | Synopsis: Blood, Sweat, and Tears
Typologies turns an inquisitive eye at the “elementary particles” of cinematic genres. Different artists were asked to choose a scene in light of the expression “blood, sweat, and tears.” The resulting film almost becomes a synopsis of fight scenes (blood), sex scenes (sweat), and crying scenes (tears). The fluidity of the categories outlines a new piece where punching, screams, and sex intermingle.

Pairings | Manofim Closing Event
The event Pairings consists of scenes chosen by various artists and presented as a multi-participant performance. The scenes are accompanied by an added element chosen by the participating artists – not unlike the pairing of food and wine.

A daily program of site-specific musical events at the end of each of the festival’s days, mixing art and music, East and West, old and new.

Performances:
30.10 | MAGI HIKRI featuring AvevA
Hikri grew up in Tel Aviv’s Kerem HaTeimanim, on the backdrop of Yemenite prayers and classical Iraqi music. Drawing inspiration from the sounds of her childhood, Hikri creates a show comprised of original materials and adaptations to the greatest Arab singers. Hikri features AvevA, a singer-songwriter who combines traditional Ethiopian sounds and soul.

31.10 | Uriel Herman featuring Liron Amram
In the last four years, Uriel Herman has been taking over the world with his piano, combining original pieces with covers of David Bowie and Mordechai Zeira’s songs. Herman features Liron Amram, who mixes Arab violin and Yemenite flavor with pop, rock, disco, and electronic music.

01.11 | Mama Africa Israel featuring Angata and Gili Yalo
Angata (Itay Reznik and Omer Keinan) synthesizes African harmonies, sounds and percussion with electronic music. The show features Gili Yalo who creates groove adaptations to Amharic songs in a contemporary, opulent, and intelligent production.

02.11 | Musica VeSheket’s Pulkes featuring Eyal Talmudi
Pulkes formed at Jerusalem’s Musica VeSheket School. The band members play world music under the direction of Eyal Talmudi – a sax, clarinet, bagpipes, and piano player, composer and musical producer. Together, they take the listeners on a journey that begins with Bulgarian tunes, continues with Greek and Hasidic harmonies, and culminates with Italian rhythms.

Musical Director: Ram Mizrahi Spinoza (RAMZY)

This year the festival launcheג a special children’s weekend program. Interactive tours, art workshops, and surprising activities aimed at enriching and introducing the world of visual art and the unique art made in Jerusalem.
For children 6+

Program curator: Keren Dembinsky

Artist Room | Zvi Tolkovsky
Mini Look: Coincidences and Senses
The interactive tour offered a glimpse behind the curtain of the creative process and the place where ideas are conceived. Zvi Tolkovsky is a collector-artist who makes sure to keep the excitement, revelation, and joy in the process of artmaking. Through different perspectives and guided play, we experienced his wonderful world of the artist.

Workshop: Combining and Assembling
In the workshop we drew inspiration from Tolkovsky’s artistic language, which combines popular imagery and biographical aspects, using diverse techniques like painting, relief, and assemblage.

Cranes in the Garage
Mini Look: Zaum Attack exhibition tour
Children were invited to step into the creative world of the artist Nino Biniashvilli and experience the series of paintings inspired by the made-up language Zaum through sound and voice.

Workshop: Beyond Logic
In this workshop, we broke apart and reassembled emotions and everyday experiences using words, materials, and everything in between, alongside elements from the works of Nino Biniashvilli.
Bonusgarage: Family picnic in Meir Davidov garage. Bring your push and pedal cars and join us for a special experience.
Live Show: African dance workshop and live show by Mama Africa Israel featuring Angata and Gili Yalo.

Reuven Zahavi solo exhibition
Mini Look: The Mystery of Lost Time
The mysterious Nora Gallery is located in a residential apartment that has not changed since the 1950s. Together with a retired detective and his loyal assistant we explored the mystery of lost time in the gallery.

Workshop: Engraving
Inspired by the works of artist Reuven Zahavi and the theatrical tour, we explored the nature of materials and focus on the discovery and unraveling of different materials.

The year Manofim hosts five international guests, offering a glimpse into projects and artworks created around the world.
LowRes Jerusalem, Art Cube – Artists’ Studios international artist residency.
Curator: Maayan Sheleff

M. Haryo Hutomo | Indonesia
Artist-curator who explores the correlation between science and social politics, Hutomo will set up a laboratory-popup restaurant that serves food that was purportedly sourced from various parts of the world. Blurring the line between art and science, the performance will map how cell fragments, proteins, and bacteria relate to the macroscopic dynamics of power in contemporary biopolitics. The project looks at migration, displacement, boundaries, and national identity through food practices in the context of the so called “melting pot” of Jerusalem.
Event: Now, What We Eat Is Arranged by Whom?
Popup restaurant and open lab

Irene Agrivina Widyaningrum | Indonesia
Open system advocate, technologist, artist, and educator. Widyaningrum will set up a live kitchen laboratory in Jerusalem, using ethnobotany to examine how people obtain plant resources to meet their cultural and physical needs. This artistic research will seek the politics of ethnobotany in Jerusalem.
Event: RAMU (Concoction)
Live kitchen and open laboratory

!Mediengruppe Bitnik | Switzerland
!Mediengruppe Bitnik are Carmen Weisskopf and Domagoj Smoljo. Their work focuses on the Internet and the use of hacking as an artistic strategy. The artist duo will talk about their practice and plan an art action to be carried out on the 2020 Manofim Festival. Courtesy of the Dr. Georg and Josi Guggenheim Foundation.
Events:
Hacking as an Artistic Practice – Presentation at the Jerusalem Art Conference # 4 (in English)
Hacking in the Public Sphere Workshop – Artists’ Appointment Event

Additional Guests:

Rotem Linial | US
Rotem Linial is a New York-based artist and filmmaker, whose work merges sculpture and video. She is the founder and director of Cinema Balash, an artist-curated screening series and microcinema in Brooklyn. The project sets out to explore the collective viewing experience and to serve as a platform for experiments in projection, sound, and other all aspects of the moving image.

Akvilė Anglickaitė | Lithuania
Visual artist working with photography and moving image. In her works, she explores the possibilities of photographic imagery, the margins of storytelling, and the poetics of sound. Ocean, presented in its Israeli debut during Manofim Festival, was generated by an algorithm. There is nothing real about it. Just lines of code. However, at least for a while it makes viewers believe that what they see actually exists. Courtesy of the Lithuanian Culture Institute.
Events:
Limits of Uncertainty: Some Stories from the Secret Life of an Image
Presentation at the Jerusalem Art Conference #4 (in English)