Tel Aviv's Centenary Celebrated with Video Exhibition at Forum des Images

The Forum des Images in Paris hosted 'Paris : Tel Aviv, moments en mouvement' from November 4 to December 6, 2009, a video exhibition curated by Marie Shek as part of celebrations for Tel Aviv's centenary. The exhibition, running parallel to a film series on Israeli cinema, featured works by artists who studied at Bezalel Academy, including Roiy Nitzan (animator on 'Waltz with Bashir'), Yaël Bartana, and Sigalit Landau. The show was structured in thematic sections across different spaces: a window display featured Hinda Weiss's 'Plain Air' showing a girl waving at planes on a rooftop; the first program included Bartana's 'Kings of the Hill' depicting youths futilely driving 4x4s up a dune; a silent foyer program presented poetic landscapes like Asaf Shosha's 'Unknown Village' and Talia Kenan's 'Tea'; a small salon explored ambiguity between reality and imagination with Dana Levi's 'Silent Among Us' mixing live and stuffed doves; and a gallery showcased politically engaged works such as Bartana's 'A Declaration' showing a man planting an olive tree on a sea rock, and Shahar Marcus's 'Sabich' parodying Jackson Pollock with a giant pita. The videos had previously been shown in shop windows during Nuit Blanche. The exhibition aimed to present Tel Aviv as 'sparkling, sexy, and crazy' while revealing the city's contrasts between childlike freshness and war violence.