Material Intelligence: Action Research is a group exhibition initiated by TA Tarbut, Kiryat HaMelacha Center of the Tel Aviv–Yafo Municipality. The exhibition is presented at the Benyamini Contemporary Ceramics Center and constitutes the second chapter in a series that examines Kiryat HaMelacha as an arena where relationships are woven between artist and manufacturer, between artistic practice and workshop production.
In recent decades, we have witnessed the decline of local industry in Israel. Factories, carpentries, metal workshops, print shops, all of these have been shutting down, along with the disappearance of veteran craftspeople and experts in their fields. Israel’s transformation from a productive society into a digital, service-oriented one has come with economic, social, and cultural costs, affecting the lives of us all, as we become less self-reliant and more dependent on imported materials and cheap labor. This process has accelerated since the 1980s, with governmental policies that removed protections for local production, the rise of globalization, the opening of the market to cheap imports, and the relocation of manufacturing centers abroad.
In his book Fewer Better Things: The Hidden Wisdom of Objects, craft scholar Glenn Adamson introduces the term material intelligence—the ability to understand materials, technologies, and methods of work through embodied and professional experience. In an age where most of us have grown distant from the means of production, Adamson identifies craftspeople as the last bearers of this essential knowledge. Recognizing, transmitting, and preserving processes of making and material skills thus becomes a vital social, economic, and cultural need, allowing us to build a healthier relationship with the world.
The first chapter in the series, Exploratory Research, was presented in 2024 at The Place for Art in Kiryat HaMelacha. Now, through its second chapter, Action Research, the project seeks to deepen dialogue with artisans and to explore new ways of preserving and giving presence to the material and technological knowledge that is disappearing.
At a time when industrial production and traditional crafts are being pushed to the margins, Material Intelligence seeks to challenge the rigid categories of art versus production and design, proposing a new way of thinking about processes of making and about the cultural and social value of local small-scale industry. The participating artists, over the past year, developed relationships grounded on the one hand in a close familiarity with the production mechanisms of the workshops, and on the other hand in engagement with the human figures who stand behind them.
Curator: Shira Shoval and Yair Barak
Artists: Tal Shoshan, Tamar Hecht, Jonathan David, Noa Tavori, Alma Machnes Kass, Netai Halup, Shiran Yitzhari, Rachel Menashe Dor
Workshops/Small-scale factories: Elad Casting, Filtex Knits, Rami Levi Pattern Cutting, Adiv Printed Shirts, Gap Orthopedics, Natalie Print, Shifra Digital Embroidery
Performances: Ruth Kanner Theatre Group, Meitar Ensemble
Opening and Performance of Meitar Ensemble: Thursday, 11/9/25, 19:30
Gallery talk: Saturday, 20.09.25, 11:30
Closing: Saturday, 25/10/25, 14:00
