And Again, and Again
The exhibition "And Again, and Again" extends beyond the architectural structure of the Museum for Islamic Art and Cultures of the East, drawing inspiration from it. It focuses on visual and musical expressions of patterns and repetition in art, offering interpretations of their significance—from connections to mysticism and the concept of infinity in Eastern culture to rational and structural representations in the West.
In Islamic culture and among Eastern societies, repetition expresses divine perfection. Complex geometric patterns, such as mashrabiya, characterized by symmetry and mathematical order, reflect a timeless logic associated with the divine, aligning with the prohibition on depicting human figures in religious contexts.
Geometric and mathematical patterns also play a role in Western artistic traditions. During the Renaissance, repetitive designs emphasized harmony and order, embodying a rational worldview. By the late 19th century, with the rise of modernism, the pursuit of innovation and simplicity led to the rejection of ornamentation. However, in the 21st century, decorative trends have experienced a revival, driven by technologies that integrate pattern-based ornamentation with functionality.
Repetition and multiplicity can also be interpreted socially: recurring elements sharpen the distinction between the individual and the collective, yet they also blur these boundaries when the group provides meaning to the individual as part of a whole. In Eastern cultures, decorations such as arabesques, based on repeating patterns, symbolize equality in individual contributions to the collective. In contrast, Western 20th-century culture often reflected an emphasis on individuality through asymmetry, highlighting personal uniqueness and the ability to break away from conventions.
The works in the exhibition explore repetitive patterns in various manifestations, emerging from the artistic processes and themes that concern the participating artists: tradition and its influence on identity, fear of emptiness (horror vacui) driving compulsive action, architectural contexts of construction and destruction, spiritual aspects of the creative process, relationships between the individual and the group, gender, and the ability of objects to carry cultural significance.
"And Again, and Again" invites viewers to trace the repeated actions and motifs within the works, adding their own unique interpretive layer.
Curator: Tal Bechler
Artists:
Nadine Bar Noy, Rami Tarif, Miriam Kabessa,
Talia Mukmel, Aviad Sinemans,
Daniel Feldhaker, Lila Klinger,
Ronen Sheharbani, Amir Tomashov
Ruthie de Vries, Bag of Tears, installation photography: Heli Yozvitz.
Ruthie de Vries, Bag of Tears, installation photography: Heli Yozvitz.
Ruthie de Vries, Bag of Tears, installation photography: Heli Yozvitz.
بعد السابع من أكتوبر، أُخليت راحيل مع عائلتها من المنزل الواقع بالقرب من الحدود الشمالية، في كيبوتس دافنا المعرض للقصف المباشر. إلا أنه بعد نحو نصف عام من النزوح، قررت راحيل وزوجها العودة إلى منزلهما في الكيبوتس. أمضيا هناك نحو ستة أشهر تحت القصف، لكنهما اضطرا للإخلاء مجددًا في أعقاب اغتيال نصر الله واشتداد المعارك التي تلت ذلك. عادا إلى منزلهما مع اتفاقيات وقف إطلاق النار في نهاية عام 2024، وفي العام الجديد، عام 2025، تكشف الدمار المستمر وأيضًا بدايات النمو. رُسمت اللوحات في معرض "يوميات الجبهة الداخلية" خلال هذين العامين من التصدع والتهديد الوجودي. وكما كتبت راحيل في كتاب الفنانة المرافق للمعرض:
إن الشفاء لا يكمن في إنكار اللحظات القاسية، بل يجب النظر إليها بشجاعة ومحاولة التعلم منها والتغلب عليها. أعتقد أن رسم الجمال فقط، كشيء شافٍ، يشبه تغطية الجرح بضمادة دون علاجه حقًا. لوحاتي تتناول تلك اللحظة التي يتم فيها كشف الجرح للهواء، لكي يلتئم.
The Hebrew word oref, from which the exhibition takes its title, carries a dual meaning: It denotes both the home front, the civilian space set apart from the battlefield, and the nape of the neck, a vulnerable and exposed part of the body. This duality is at the heart of the works presented.
After October 7, Rachel Rabinovitz and her family were forced to evacuate their home in the northern border community of Kibbutz Dafna, which was exposed to direct fire. After about six months as evacuees, Rachel and her husband decided to return home to the kibbutz. They stayed there for about half a year under bombardment, only to be evacuated once again following Nasrallah’s assassination and subsequent escalation of fighting. Finally, with the ceasefire agreements at the end of 2024, they were able to return home. As the new year 2025 chimed in, the full extent of the lingering devastation has emerged, along with the first signs of renewal. The works featured in the exhibition were created during these two years of unraveling and existential threat. As Rachel writes in the artist’s book that accompanies it:
Healing isn’t about denying the difficult moments. It requires the courage to look at them directly, to try to learn from them, and to move through them. I believe that painting only what is good, as something supposedly healing, is like putting a band-aid on a bullet wound without actually treating it. My paintings focus on that moment when you expose the wound to air, so it can heal.
Ruthie de Vries, Bag of Tears, installation photography: Heli Yozvitz.
