acf domain was triggered too early. This is usually an indicator for some code in the plugin or theme running too early. Translations should be loaded at the init action or later. Please see Debugging in WordPress for more information. (This message was added in version 6.7.0.) in /home/dev_petachtikvamuseum/dev.petachtikvamuseum.com/wp-includes/functions.php on line 6131sogoacc domain was triggered too early. This is usually an indicator for some code in the plugin or theme running too early. Translations should be loaded at the init action or later. Please see Debugging in WordPress for more information. (This message was added in version 6.7.0.) in /home/dev_petachtikvamuseum/dev.petachtikvamuseum.com/wp-includes/functions.php on line 6131Seen from Here, 2020, Acrylic on Canvas
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Elena\nRotenberg\u2019s solo\nshow, Seen from Here<\/strong>, is an homage to the architecture of the Yad\nLaBanim House, where it is held. Built in 1953 at the initiative of the Haganah\nmilitary organization and Petah Tikva municipality, the structure is considered\nthe first commemorative venture of its kind in Israel. Its foundation reflected\na new view, one that wished to replace silent monuments and tombstones with a\n\u201cliving house\u201d \u2013 a shift from mourning the dead to threading their memory into\neveryday lives. \u201cThe House,\u201d as it is still called by many, was designed as a\nmeeting place where the bereaved families could gather and support one another,\nbut also as a center of a wide range of artistic, cultural, and educational\nactivities for the people of Petach Tikva.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Without a known\nprecedent to this type of commemoration, Yad Labanim\u2019s planning and operation\nevolved over the years as a process of learning \u201con the go.\u201d In their notes,\nits planners, architects Andre Leitersdorf and Iliya Belzitsman, talked about\nthe challenges of planning a building as an impressive commemorative monument\nthat at the same time will serve as a lively and vibrant public center. Not\nonly that, they added, but \u201cin the first stages, the actual guidelines for the activity\nto take place in the complex were quite unclear.\u201d[1]<\/a>\nFor this reason, among other things, the complex was built in stages, and expanded\nduring its first decade with the addition of the Krol Wing (now the Education Department\noffices), the historical museum, and art museum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This room, which is now known as\nthe \u201cCollection Gallery\u201d and dedicated to temporary exhibitions that explore\nthe art collection, the museum complex, and the surrounding area, also embodies\nthe changes that the complex underwent in its seven decades. Originally called \u201cThe\nHagana History Room,\u201d it first housed a historical display of the organization\u2019s\nchronicles. Over time it was repurposed and used for children and youth\neducational activities, and even earned the moniker \u201cThe Flower and Peace Room\u201d\nafter the flowers that were painted on its walls after the Yom Kippur War by pupils\nof the nearby Yad Labanim School. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In the 1990s, the building\nunderwent architectural changes, in which the exhibition hall on its top floor\nwas converted into an auditorium and its northern windows were sealed. In the\nearly 2000s, the entire complex underwent extensive renovation. On the backdrop\nof the Second Intifada and associated security concerns, the passage from the\nIndependence Park was restricted and replaced by a raised terrace, the complex\nwas fenced and the main gate moved to its current location, in front of the Petach\nTikva Museum of Art. The gallery\u2019s windows were also sealed and it was\nreinstated as a display space. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Elena\nRotenberg\u2019s exhibition is based on\nhistorical research that traces the architectural genealogy of Yad Labanim\ncomplex. In their location and dimensions, the eight paintings she created\nespecially for the space of the Collection Gallery, represent the glass windows\nof the original building. The views of the buildings and the overgrown\ncourtyards seen from them are drawn from Ramat Warber neighborhood, where the\nmuseum is located, as though wishing to reconnect the building to its\nsurroundings. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Rotenberg uses an Airbrushing technique, in which paint sprayed with an air\ncompressor creates diffused and blurry shapes, allowing her to cover huge areas\nquickly. Her unique style is inspired by graffiti and is reminiscent of\npixelated digital photography, which comes into focus as you step away from it.\nLike a fuzzy memory, the mundane cityscapes emerge before the spectators who pause\nin front of them, bringing to mind the paintings of flowers and houses that\nadorned the room\u2019s walls for decades. Even if it cannot overcome the actual fences\nseparating the museum from the neighborhood, this gesture casts a critical eye on\nthe architectural change and sets the architectural infrastructure and its\ntransformations as a political and social marker and as a subject of\ndiscussion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Acknowledgments:\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n The\nphotographs and archival items in the exhibition are courtesy of the Oded\nYarkoni Archives Historical Archive of Petach Tikva.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We would like to thank the\nLeitersdorf-Belzitsman office archive, Ora Bauer, Drorit Gur Arie, Galia\nDuvidzon, and Noni Yaron for their contribution to historical research.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n