Friday | 17/10/25 | 9:30-14:00
The symposium is in the framework of the group exhibition initiated by TA Tarbut Kiryat Hamelacha, Material Intelligence: Action Research, presented at the Benyamini Contemporary Ceramics Center.In the symposium we will delve into the connections between art, craft, and local small- scale industry through a series of short lectures offering different perspectives—historical, social, cultural, and economic. We will explore Kiryat HaMelacha as an experimental space, address the preservation of professional knowledge, the history of vocational education, and the cultural significance of handmade objects. The event will conclude with a music tour in the exhibition.
Cost: 65 NIS (includes participation in the symposium and the music tour in the exhibition)
Places are limited – advance registration required.
Program:
9:30 Registration at TA Tarbut Kiryat Hamelacha – Shvil Hameretz 6, Tel Aviv
9:45 Opening remarks
Dr Shlomit Bauman, Head curator, Benyamini Contemporary Ceramics Center
Matan Oren, Director, TA Tarbut Kiryat Hamelacha
10:00 Shira Shoval and Yair Barak, Curators of the exhibition
Material Intelligence – Research Action
About the project TA Melacha, the dialogue between the artists and the artisans and the collaborative processes in the exhibition.
10:20 Architect Roy Fabian
The Society for the Rehabilitation of Craft in Tel Aviv–Jaffa
The lecture will review the reasons behind the establishment of Kiryat HaMelacha, the principles that guided its founders, and the character of the complex from urban, architectural, and industrial perspectives. Fabian will briefly address the transformations that took place in the 1990s and suggest possible directions for its future development.
10:40 Prof. Tali Hatuka
City, Production, Artisans
The lecture will address the impact of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the changes it is generating in the way cities and living environments are perceived. At the center of the discussion is the field of hybrid typologies—living environments that integrate residential and work spaces.
11:00 Break
11:20 Galit Gaon
Studio Visit
Does the disappearance of small-scale industry signal the disappearance of creative industry? What can we learn from the dialogue between one industry and another, and from the shifting of responsibilities between them?
11:40 Dan Perath
The rise and fall of professional education in Israel
On the history of vocational and technological education in Israel from the establishment of the state to the present day. From the prestigious schools of the 1950s, ’60s, and ’70s, through their decline and eventual disappearance by the end of the century. We will discuss today’s challenges of technological education in the face of high-tech and artificial intelligence, and the place of craft, art, and apprenticeship
12:00 Prof. Tamar El-Or
Handprints as Cultural Evidence: We Touched, We Remained
Exploring the status of the handmade object and its ties to migration and place.
12:20 Prof. Ruth Kanner
The action of words
The theater group working in Kiryat HaMelacha at the “Local Tale” studio functions as a kind of production house. The members of the group listen, absorb, dismantle, and reassemble the conversations heard in the area transforming them into words in performative action. Prof. Kanner will speak about the mechanisms of speech in the group’s working practices, and the performers—Shirly Gal, Ronen Babluki, and Adi Meirovitz—will present selected texts.
12:40 Walk over to the Benyamini Center
13:00 Meitar Ensemble
A music performence in the exhibition
About the Speakers:
Yair Barak – Artist and curator. His work, which explores historical representations, heroism, and masculinity, has been exhibited in major venues in Israel. He serves as the artistic director of Art Place Tel Aviv in Kiryat HaMelacha and is a senior lecturer in the Faculty of Arts at the Kibbutzim College.
Shira Shoval – Designer-researcher. Her work has been exhibited in Israel and abroad. She is a senior lecturer in the Textile Design Department at Shenkar and curator of the “Tel Aviv Melacha” project, which maps and makes accessible the material-technological knowledge of Kiryat HaMelacha today.
Arch. Roy Fabian – Architect, urban planner, artist, and researcher of urbanism. His research is carried out and published in diverse frameworks, some commissioned by public institutions and municipalities, and others in academic settings and art galleries, as an artist- researcher of urban environments.
Prof. Tali Hatuka – Architect and urban designer. Professor at the School of Social and Policy Studies at Tel Aviv University and director of the Laboratory for Contemporary Urban Design.
Galit Gaon – Senior curator, head of the Center for Design Research in Israel and of the
Design Curation Program at Shenkar.
Dan Perath – Has directed numerous professional and technological educational projects and systems, including the establishment and leadership of the Stef Wertheimer Foundation for vocational and technological education, CEO of the Taasiyeda Association (founded by the Manufacturers’ Association of Israel), and director of the Department of Culture for the City of Haifa.
Prof. Tamar El-Or – Anthropologist and professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Her research has focused on religion and gender, and she is currently engaged in the study of material culture in Israel.
Prof. Ruth Kanner – Theater director, creator, and professor in the Department of Theater Arts at Tel Aviv University. Founder of the Ruth Kanner Theater Group: Local Tale Studio.
Meitar Ensemble – Under the artistic direction of Amit Dolberg, the ensemble has been active since 2004 and specializes in contemporary music. It has appeared in leading international festivals and venues and has won awards in Israel and abroad. Over the past two decades, Meitar has commissioned and premiered more than 400 new works, establishing itself as a leading body in the development of Israeli chamber music culture.
