Ongoing Project: The Journey

Curator: Ami Steinitz, Associate curator: Danny Admasu

09/02/2012 -

22/07/2012

Ongoing Project: The Journey

Curator Ami Steinitz presents a process of cultural activism.He has chosen to take the museum  utdoors, to the street, thereby inverting its role. As part of the project (called “The Journey”), ten stories reflecting the history, culture, and reality of the Ethiopian community in Petach Tikva were selected.
Signs were installed in ten spots throughout the city, inviting passersby to dial on their cell phones and listen to these stories. In order to implement the project, a team including municipality representatives, activists, and local Ethiopian artists, and artists from the Petach Tikva Museum of Art Education  Department was set up. Steinitz himself regards all the project participants as associate “curators.”

This project reflects Steinitz’s current curatorial concept as the outcome of an ongoing process. In 1996 he began staging exhibitions created in collaboration with young people from the Ethiopian community. After many years of extensive activity in the Israeli art milieu, in 2001 Steinitz decided to close his gallery in Neve Tsedek, Tel Aviv. This stemmed from the realization of the limited nature of the gallery space and the desire to place topmost importance on direct involvement in socio-cultural processes. Believing that one should not focus, as customary, on the art exhibit, Steinitz developed a process of “wall-less curatorship,” as he calls it—a social approach striving to create a direct affinity between the museum and the life of the community in the urban sphere.

Ami Steinitz, Danny Admasu, Meir Desse, Abebe Melese & Jeremy Cool-Habash, The Journey, 2011-2012

Curator Ami Steinitz presents a process of cultural-social activism. He has chosen to take the museum outdoors, to the street, thereby inverting its role. As part of the project (called “The Journey”), ten stories reflecting the history, culture, and reality of the Ethiopian community in Petach Tikva were selected. Signs were installed in ten spots throughout the city, inviting passersby to dial on their cell phones and listen to these stories. In order to implement the project, a team including municipality representatives, activists, and local Ethiopian artists, and artists from the Petach Tikva Museum of Art Education Department was set up. Steinitz himself regards all the project participants as associate “curators.”
This project reflects Steinitz’s current curatorial concept as the outcome of an ongoing process. In 1996 he began staging exhibitions created in collaboration with young people from the Ethiopian community. After many years of extensive activity in the Israeli art milieu, in 2001 Steinitz decided to close his gallery in Neve Tsedek, Tel Aviv, following This stemmed from the realization of the limited nature of the gallery space and the desire to place topmost importance on direct involvement in socio-cultural processes. Believing that one should not focus, as customary, on the art exhibit, Steinitz developed a process of “wall-less curatorship,” as he calls it—a social approach striving to create a direct affinity between the museum and the life of the community in the urban sphere.

Project Participants
Partners in the Petach Tikva Municipality: Nili Hay, Director of the Visual Arts Department; Israel Biru, Coordinator for the Ethiopian Community
Activists: Daniel Uoria, Gadi Fekadu, Asher Simon Tesfai
Storytellers: Gedalia Uoria, Yshak Eli Iacob, Shirly Goada, Demeke Toabu, Zecarias Yona, Tabage Mahari, Amy Malesae, Sharona Nagato-Biru, Daniel Fekadu, Pnina Tamano-Shata, Mitiku Teshale
Lyrics and music: Abebe Melese, Jeremy Cool-Habas
Narrator: Meir Desse
Singing: Avital Tashala
Singing and lyrics: Bat-Sheva Lahav
Traditional musical instruments: Dejen Manchilot
Artists of the Education Department, Petach Tikva Museum of Art: Reut Ferster, Yifat Giladi, Sivan Grosz, Yasmin Wakstein, Avshalom Suliman, Aluma Raz, Lior Schur
Thanks to: Ammevet Tayacho Tagaya, The Fidel Youth Center, Werke Demoze Community Absorption Office; Yeshayahu Tamano, Head of the Department of Jewish Identity and Absorption of Ethiopian Jewry; Ronit Dadon, director of the Beit Marko, Yosefthal Youth and Culture Center
Recording studio and adaptations: Aebby Kazas
Signposts and maps: Koby Levy, Tucan Design Studio Ltd
Exhibition photographs – Community Absorption Office: Eyal Pinkus
Under the auspices of: Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd, Cellcom, Ministry of Culture and Sport, Petach Tikva Municipality