The Autonomous Art Biennale at Gymnasia “Herzliya” Tel Aviv.
art exhibition event with 30 participating artists by marina manukian
The Biennale is an artistic event that takes place once every two years, and in the case of the Autonomous Biennale, I wish it would take place twice a year.
Why? Because it is avant-garde, free and educational.
The Diary of an Artist - Marina Manukian's blog 0004
First of all because of the location
The first reason why you should visit the exhibition is the event takes place at the Gymnasia "Herzliya", the high school in Tel Aviv. The school has a long history and clear values that are still engraved on the entrance sign "Democracy, Humanism and Human Rights." The significance of school values adds an educational dimension to the exhibition, and it is no coincidence that the themes of the exhibition were grouped under one heading: "Experiments in Learning".
Another reason why you should visit the Biennale
The curators and artists dealt with the spaces, classes of students, fantastically. The easy solution is to clear out all tables and chairs and hang the pieces on the walls. But I liked that in one of the rooms they left the tables, without the chairs, and on them they pasted prints. The visitor's angle of view changes from eye level in standard modes to downward view on the table. The teachers' gaze, isn't it?
Wandering the hallways of the school has become a wander between different cultures and identities with a wide range of material use. From the lightest of materials - fabrics, hairs, paper cuts, ink prints to the heaviest of materials - concrete, aluminums, jugs, huge cubes of dates that simulate clay.
The main reason is the Arabic language
The leading language of the Biennale is the main reason why you should visit the exhibition. The written, spoken Arabic language heard between one video clip and another and adds color to the exhibition that is not seen, at least not to me, in Tel Aviv cultural events. I used, as did the other visitors, Google Translight to understand parts of the exhibition. I'm not sure how accurate the translation was because in some cases I didn't understand what the artist meant. Since this is the organizers' first attempt to carry out such a special event, I allow to myself to comment and offer a solution to the lack of communication created here between the art and the viewer. Perhaps you will add the option of English and Hebrew translation in the next times? I hope you will find funding for future times.
Summarize
There is much more to write about the Autonomous Art Biennale: about the 30 artists exhibiting, about the organizers and curators, about the cooperation between the Gymnasia "Herzliya"and the HaMidrasha, the Faculty of Arts at Beit berl College, and much more. But I urge you to visit the exhibition and have your personal experience without external influences. Come free with the desire to learn something new.
Location
Gymnasia "Herzliya" the high school , 106 Jabotinsky street, Tel Aviv
Opening Hours
Open every day until 13.4.2023
Free entrance