“Art” is the word of the year in Tel Aviv. Tel Aviv Art Weekend starts today and will be on view until Sunday march 25, 2012.
The event is also an occasion to celebrate the completion in 2012 of the Tel Aviv Cinematheque, Habima National Theatre and the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, three of the most relevant institutions of the city’s cultural life. The museum enlarges its exhibition space thanks to the special project by American architect Preston Scott Cohen. Art Weekend has engaged not only the public spaces but also over 100 independent galleries and alternative spaces that will be opened to the visitors. Among the key events of the weekend, “Non-Stop Museum”, a 24-hour marathon hosted in Tel Aviv Museum of Art that will include art tours, talks, video-art screenings; a selection of video artworks made by 19 Israeli artists titled “Land of Promise”; “Street Art” which shows the work of young artists in large format prints on several central buildings of the city; “ARTFI”, a conference focused on the financial aspects of art. On Saturday, the Tel Aviv Museum of Art will host the multi-media gala, which officially opens the Art Year. Artists and performers are invited to produce works in which visual art is connected to music, design, architecture and computer programming.
The appointments will continue in May with Fresh Paint Contemporary Art Fair Tel Aviv (from 14th to 19th) and in September, from 6th to 8th, with “Loving Art Making Art,” which launches Tel Aviv’s new exhibitions’ season – over 200 local artists will open their studios to the public. As Ron Huldai, Tel Aviv’s mayor, said: “Since its founding, the city of Tel Aviv-Yafo has been identified by its art and culture, with the Tel Aviv Museum of Art functioning as the beating heart of the city’s art community; the museum’s first exhibition space was the living room of the city’s first Mayor, who believed that the city should not only create infrastructure but also lay down the foundation for creation”.
