Last night was a fun evening hosted by the Tel Aviv Arts Council at Shenkar - Engineering. Design. Art.
An Evening Celebrating Art, Design, Fashion & Engineering
A shoutout to Ari Fruchter and Tel Aviv International Salon for always organizing amazing culture events such as the one last night
The event aimed to showcase the work of Israel's top young creators in art, design, fashion, and engineering. The president of Shenkar, Sheizaf Rafaeli, opened the event with a talk about the institution's impact and future, and the talk was followed by guided tours of Shenkar’s galleries featuring the works from students and alumni
Though I have come full circle, and am leaning into my creative side, most of my focus is on words, less on images, so it was nice to get inspired by the art on display during the evening
My initial thoughts/takeaways:
I still believe that art is one of the highest forms of communication and intellect, as it touches a very human part of us that we don’t always logically access. Which is why good art (whether it be music, writing, visual, etc.) makes us feel strong emotions
I didn’t realize how much the design program at Shenkar was involved in the war effort… especially with the work in creating prosthetic limbs. I can’t imagine an art school of any kind in the US or Western Europe being involved (even in humanitarian work) with a military. But Israel is a unique place like that, and the works on display certainly had a dark edge to them (this was the case even before Oct 7th, but probably even darker since then)
When the president of the college spoke, he mentioned that since Oct 7th, the work from this cohort has received the most praise (the current cohort started the program during the pandemic), and so everyone who is a creative understands, pain is a real driver of creativity. With the creative process being cathartic, so his statement was not surprising, but shows that we can create beauty from the ugliness of suffering
I will always have a place in my heart for Israeli fashion, as I produced an Israeli fashion show years ago… and while it was amazing, I would not have wished that experience on anyone. That experience, in working with Israeli fashion types, was having to deal with (while very talented), a unique combination of desperation and arrogance… a combination I choose these days to avoid
Fashion is fun, but not for me 😉
Also, a shoutout to Odem Alagem אודם 🦪 for the amazing content and energy, and to Viktoria Kanar, whose startup Re-Fresh Global is disrupting the textile industry through its ground-breaking technology which transforms textile waste into new raw materials
Art always serves as a way to build community around a shared experience. Though everyone views the same piece of art, they may have different interpretations of what they are seeing… and it has inspired me to check out some of the other art museums, galleries, and activations
#thursdaythoughts
#israelinnovation
#israelunderfire
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