New Delhi: The National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi in collaboration with the Embassy of Israel in India and the Petach Tikva Museum of Art, Israel is organizing an exhibition titled ‘To the End of Land’-contemporary art from Israel on the occasion of 25 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries.
The exhibition will be inaugurated today (Saturday, 28th of April, 2018) at 6:00pm at the National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi in the presence of the Minister for Culture (I/c) and Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Government of India, Dr. Mahesh Sharma, Chief Guest for the Occasion and His Excellency, Daniel Carmon, Ambassador, Embassy of Israel in New Delhi, Guest of Honour for the Occasion. The exhibition is a collection of art creations of 19 Israeli artists, including the internationally acclaimed Shahar Marcus who will perform at the exhibition opening.
The exhibition -open to the public throughout May 2018- will revolve around connection of human beings with land, territory, locality and identity projected through innovative modern art pieces and installations.
The exhibition presents a wide range of references and approaches to recent changes in the economic and social landscape in Israel, as manifested by the appearance of natural scenery in Israeli contemporary art. Engagement with the land, its borders, scars, and produce runs through the work of many artists active in Israel today. The chosen title, “To the End of Land:, strives to draw attention to some of the cultural, social, and political aspects embodied in their artistic explorations of land. On one hand, it points at the broad environmental-ecological dimension. It refers to the depletion of natural resources in the Anthropocene era, typified by acceleration of geological and environmental processes due to human activity, and to the resulting fear of “the end of land” as a meta-cultural concern which goes beyond national boundaries. On the other hand, it offers a porthole through which to look at some of the major cultural issues in present-day Israel, alluding, among others, to its land being a source of an ongoing strife.
Whether consciously or not, the local engagement with land and the accessibility of natural resources is thus charged not only with a romantic view of the local landscape or with internal questions of development and social status, but also with ideological and political questions pertaining to the reality of conflict and borders. The immediate, ironic link between land and territory, in the context of a nation-sate constantly shifting between change and entrenchment, is clear at face level. This affinity is reinforced by the profound bond between man and land in Judasim. The book of Genesis recounts the creation of Adam, the first man, from the earth, a link which is further emphasized through the etymological connection between the Hebrew words for man (adam) and land/earth/soil (adama)
Striving to shed light on additional dimensions in our intricate relationship with the place and land, the exhibition highlights individual life stories which reflect a rich cultural heritage as well as collective hopes for prosperity and rootedness. It touches on ritual of burial and regeneration, the transformations in the Zionist ethos of “land tilling” vis-à-vis market forces and globalization, and the challenges posed by a rapidly forging future.
