In this lecture, we’ll explore the monumental shift in art and culture each wave of immigration in Israel led to. Whether it’s motivation be the Zionist spirit, refuge in the wake of disaster, or seeking new fortune, every wave of Aliyah shifted the subject, style and medium of the Israeli art world in its unique way. These groups can largely be broken into: 

1. The Founders, Zionist pioneers who founded the state, charted a path for a “New Jewish Art,” bringing with them their traditions, ideology, and often times, formal training in the European academies 

2 Holocaust survivors who began to appear on the shares of the fledgling state, from Haifa to Yaffo - bringing with them a deep drive to forge a new life, while capturing the great catastrophe that befell out people in the only way they know how - the arts

3 The Mizrahi Expulsion - Whether it be the master weavers of Tehran, the renowned silversmiths of Yemen, or the great mosaic artists of Morocco - Mizrahi Jews brought a unique, and distinct yet regional birth of knowledge with them, when nearly a million appeared as refugees in Israel in the 1950s. How did their unique mediums of art - from painting to poetry to song - shift and change the Israeli art scene, as much as it shifting and changed itself, due to the surroundings of their new home?

4 Soviet & Ethiopian Aliyah - As giant of the Soviet Union came tumbling down, and an era of cold stability transformed into a nuclear meltdown of sectarian wars worldwide, including in Ethiopia - the State of Israel found itself absorbing well over a million immigrants in a window of a few years, both of whom had dramatically different associations with their Jewish identity than what had natively formed in Israel. How did those two distinct groups of immigrants, each with their own distinct subcategories and demographics, send rippling changes through the sphere of culture, felt to this day?

5 Sunflower Aliyah (Full-Scale Invasion of Ukraine) and the October 7th Aliyah: Lastly, we stand at the juncture of a colossal shift in culture, reflective of the great change occurring in the world as we know it. Suddenly, as Russian tanks tore through the streets of Ukraine, the State of Israel found itself absorbing tens of thousands of refugees once again, those whose multidimensional identities would soon be compounded by a second war, launched by Hamas on October 7th. Furthermore, as Jews in the West, especially artists, feel the isolation and barbarity of the “New Antisemitism” and try their luck in Israel - what changes have we already seen? What changes could we yet accept?

(Focus on Visual Art, but also including literature, poetry, music, fashion - wherever it intersects)