reNEWal- 'artists' choices' exhibit at the renewed israel musuem

A temporary exhibit that has opened the new wings of the Israel Museum is entitled ‘Artists Choices’. Three guest artists (Zvi Goldstein, Susan Hiller, and Yinka Shonibare) were honored with the task of curating their own exhibits. With full access to everything in the Museum’s collection, they have crafted three very different and incredible exhibits with highly personal yet universal topics. The exhibits enrich the experience of the Museum as a repository of aesthetic and cultural memory, and are the perfect way to showcase the “renewed” Museum.

Susan Hiller's exhibit was my personal favorite, and I managed to sneakily take a few pics when the guard looked away. Her exhibit is a layered presentation of modern and contemporary art, and focused on the themes of fragmentation, decay and metaphoric absence. Simultaneously melancholic and tragically beautiful, I feel on love with an installation of three huge panels of blood red flowers. Trapped beneath large plastic sheets, the live flowers were deprived of water and slowly dying, yet the clouds of mold that blossomed among the petals only added to the fragile beauty of the piece.

The “STILLmoving” installation was also wonderful, with highlights such as Celeste Boursier-Mougenot’s pool filled with different sized porcelain and glass objects. The objects produce a softly twinkling chorus as they gently swirl in the waters, and their unplanned and harmonious beauty reminds the observer of the possible beauty to be found in mundane objects.

Another exciting find was Noel and Harriette Levine's collection of photographs. Apparently this New York society couple were among the first to recognize the latent promise of photography as an art form, and over the years they built up one of the most significant collections of photographs, including photographs from Robert Mapplethorpe and prints from the 19th century. Rather than selling their extraordinary collection to an institution or dismantling it and auctioning it off, they instead donated the entire collection to the Museum on Israel's 60th anniversary. Thus the entire photographic collection has remained as a whole, preserving its integrity and personal character. It was incredible to see so many great pieces together- unfortunately I could not sneak any photos this time (the guard was onto my antics and affixed me with an evil eye), so I guess you will have to check this one out for yourself.