Bikkurim, in its second edition, is a bi-annual project aimed at encouraging the activity of young artists in Jerusalem. Unique among its kind in Israel, the project is supported by The New Gallery and features work by eight art school graduates living and working in Jerusalem, whose lives are essentially tied to the city.

The intent and purpose of the exhibition is to constitute a professional platform and provide exposure to these young artists. However, it is nearly impossible to disregard the recurring themes that emerge from the works, be it by chance, or perhaps as a result of the “spirit of the times’ and life in Jerusalem. Drawing from "the site” and its relation to its viewers, each work, in its own way, seeks to leave a physical or suggestive impression on the viewer.

Several of the works on display refer to the gallery’s physical structure, while others focus on Teddy Stadium right above the gallery. Despite the essential differences between the two spaces, both gallery and stadium play an active role in the fabric of life in Jerusalem, functioning, respectively, as monumental sites that allow for the congregation of a large audience, conducting ceremonies, and to which residents arrive with anticipation, among other things, to experience a deeply emotional, ecstatic experience.

Additional works question the space-object-human relation by employing inherently different aesthetic and artistic means. The works in question actively manipulate - in a direct and indirect manner - the visitor, who, in order to fully experience the work, is required to participate in various ways such as walking, turning, leaning, listening, and touching. The visitor therefore becomes a necessary condition for the realization of the exhibited works, a kind of conductor or generator. The works need the viewer to give them life.

Either way, control and absence, exertion of power, subjection to predetermined conditions, compliance with codes and conventions, and ceremonies and body regimes are all present in the works themselves in a multitude of modes and intensity. Some carry a kind of strained atmosphere; suspense, lack of knowledge, and fear of the next moment.

Curator: Sally Haftel Naveh
 

Artists:  Eyal Bitton, Niv Gafni, Nurit Dreamer, Noga Haberman, Dana Tannhuaser, Hanna Qubty, Anat Keinan.