About — Naama2026

With the current collapse of the Western paradigm, which long elevated the individual, it’s becoming increasingly apparent that we are all interdependent. Current events are calling us to move away from competitive autonomy, urging the recognition that our survival and meaning are anchored in shared existence. Such transformation foregrounds the understanding that our distinctiveness derives precisely from belonging to something bigger.

Accordingly, a great potential of art today is to offer a broad palette of compositions and structures for implementing principles of relationality and connectivity: to sharpen the awareness that the meaning of our existence here, in this world, first and foremost, stems from our very relationship to it. The encounter between viewer and object fosters a unique kind of sensitivity and attention. It is a space that highlights the very question of relation.

The curatorial medium is twofold: it can function as a bureaucratic mechanism for institutional control or, it can operate as a form of art, providing a spatial and conceptual framework for artistic collaboration. The latter can be seen as a continuation of installation. Much like the use of found objects within sculptural practice, a well curated exhibition treats the artworks as material. In both mediums, meaning is free to manifest through gestures of juxtaposition and association.

Working within the curatorial medium, I often install artworks alongside functional objects, pairing emerging artists with established ones, and celebrated names with the anonymous. In doing so, I look to rewrite familiar narratives. As 'individual' and discrete items assemble into an environment, the exhibition itself emerges as an object and a form, evoking questions of authorship, connectivity, and belonging

The relationship between art and place is particularly pressing in our region. Israeli art does not conform to modernism’s demand to be defined as a discrete concept. It is composed of a wide range of objects, spanning from fine art pieces such as sculpture and painting to applied art and Judaica. A look into museums in Israel reveals the local establishment's reluctance to bring them together. However, there is great potential in retelling the story of local art precisely through an act of reconciliation with the spiritual practice rooted within it.

In these times of persistent shattering within our social fabric, the role of artists becomes even more critical. While Israeli society remains locked in an ongoing, eroding struggle over its character, identity, and values, it is the task of the artist to imagine, give shape to, and ultimately exhibit alternative forms of connection.