The fourth Mediterranean Biennale presents works by 60 international artists in public spaces across Haifa and Sakhnin Valley. The exhibition joins art world superstars, rising stars and emerging voices from countries that are rarely seen in Israeli museums and galleries, including Iran, Afghanistan, Turkey and Bahrain.
In response to the pandemic, curators Avital Bar Shay and Belu-Simion Fainaru, in collaboration with the Wizo Academic Center, have titled the event “Living Together - Crossing Borders,” reflecting issues of solidarity and interpersonal interaction in the cityscape at a time of social distancing and isolation. In Haifa, one of the few mixed cities in Israel, the stitches that hold the fabric of everyday life are bound by complicated, conflicting realities experienced by various diverse communities. Negotiating fraught relationships against an already tense background, the Biennial was put to an even greater test during the brief-yet-deadly conflict between Israel
Artists from Bahrain, Iran take part in Haifa exhibition
Mediterranean Biennale features works by 60 artists and art collectives from 17 countries under the theme ‘Living Together – Crossing Borders.’
April 14, 2021, 8:33 am
Detail from “Inverso Mundus,” a video work by Russian collective AES+F featured at the Mediterranean Biennale in Haifa, April to June 2021. Photo courtesy of Mediterranean Biennale
Proving that art transcends borders and geopolitics, the fourth Mediterranean Biennale in Haifa opened April 6 at WIZO Haifa Academy of Design & Education with works by 60 artists and art collectives from 17 countries – including Iran, Afghanistan and Turkey.
The biennale was created in 2010 as a model for multicultural cooperation and dialogue between diverse outlooks and opinions held by different communities and groups.
Jessica Steinberg covers the Sabra scene from south to north and back to the center.
A work by Israeli photographer Angelica Sher, to be shown at the Mediterranean Biennale, opening April 6, 2021 (Courtesy Angelica Sher)
It has been nearly four years since the last Mediterranean Biennale was held, and organizers of the show have spent the last two of those years on the uphill task of trying to convince artists from Arab countries and elsewhere to overcome their qualms and participate in the Israeli event.
The fourth iteration of the biennale, which opens April 6 and despite its name does not occur every two years due to budget issues, is titled “Living Together Crossing Borders,” and aims to create dialogue and a new network of connections between artists from countries in the region. Organizers had hoped newly normalized ties with some Arab states would help remove qualms for artists skittish about showing their work in Israel, though it did not quite work out that way.
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