Tel Aviv Museum of Art reopens to the Public

On October 7, when the State of Israel was struck by an unimaginable reality, the Tel Aviv Museum of Art closed its doors. Exhibitions that opened a few days before, remained empty and silent over the past seven weeks and now, with the reopening of the museum, they are loaded with additional layers of meanings. We have been changed by the trauma, and we now observe through different eyes.

Director Tania Coen-Uzzielli: "Art has a unique power to reflect complexities and to arouse critical awareness even in times of crisis. Sometimes, it even has a prophetic power. The entrance to the Museum, through the plaza that became the "Square of the Abducted and Missing" - a space charged, saturated with sadness as well as hope - emphasizes a direct connection between the inside and the outside. The doors of the Museum are open to the square and its occupants, and now the galleries are also open to the public. I invite you to an experience that is not disconnected from our reality, and in the process offers comfort, contemplation and inspiration. According to the French artist Edgar Degas, "Art is not what the artist sees, but what he makes others see."

Returning to the Museum these days inspires us to think about artistic creativity in the shadow of an oppressive reality in the exhibition of the works of Ilya & Emilia Kabakov. It introduces us to the ethos of Kippur and the images of that war in Amos Gitai's exhibition and to the display of the Israeli collection Material Imaginary: The Center of Gravity. It undermines our accepted perceptions in front of the powerful and vulnerable female body in Roni Taharlev's exhibition and brings us back to the search for the human voice and rediscovering it in the exhibition “Mouthful”.

The location of the Tel Aviv Museum in the heart of the city, situates it as a pulsating, non-stop and always active community and social center in the city square. A city with Museum that serves as a mirror of a place and reflects Israeli society in all its complex and beautiful shades. Even when it was closed from the inside, the outside constantly continued to accompany the real life in the foreground. Now it's time to go back and gather inside as well. The Tel Aviv Museum of Art reopens its doors to the general public and invites everyone to return and experience art face to face. To take a fresh look at each of the exhibitions held from now on at different levels, just like us - before and after.

Main Image :View of the museum plaza and the main building, 2022 Photo: Elad Sarig