Light, Shadow and Color
Dan Diamant seems like a straight-laced, soft-spoken systems engineer. He is, in fact, a systems engineer. But he also has a completely different side of him that comes out in his fabulous photographs, which have slowly but surely been gaining an audience in a series of local exhibitions.
For this Budapest-born photographer, living in Israel for the last 20 years, photography is a form of self-expression, and an art form that he has been working on since he was 17, combining the worlds of science and art.
Here’s what he writes about his craft in his website:
In 2007, an estimated 80 billion digital pictures were created in the United States alone. Sometimes I wonder if there is a reason in creating any more photographs. But photography, for me, is like life itself, it happens without a reason. I look around me and I just wonder. I see the extraordinary in the ordinary, the special in the common. Photography makes me stop in my everyday rush and take a deep breath. It is a wonderful world, here and now. My photographs are still and silent. They stop the time flowing. They let you enter into another frame of mind. To understand that each of us is extraordinary and special.
Dan’s subjects are nature, landscapes, gardens and everyday scenes. Some of his photographs are produced with the help of a special method resembling the original meaning of photography “drawing by the light.” He uses long exposition time and camera movements to create photographs that appear to be paintings but still represent reality. And I liked what he said here: “My photographs are ready a long time before they are taken, they were created in my imagination. I should only find them [sic] somewhere and to operate my camera at the decisive moment.”
Dan’s current photograph collection, “Light, Shadow and Color” is being exhibited at the Weizmann Center in Tel Aviv, 14 Weizmann Street, March 10-June 10, 2010.
Foto Friday – Design Museum Holon
Filed under: Art, design, Foto Friday, General, History and Culture, Movies, Pop Culture
Holon , the city on the dunes, has traditionally been a sleepy satellite and antithesis of Tel Aviv. So much so, in fact, that Holon’s first mayor, Dr. Haim Kugel, envisioned it as a place where the working man would drink a cup of tea on his balcony before retiring to bed at 9:30. No discos, night clubs or decadent “City That Never Stops” frippery for Kugel’s Holon.
Oh well, Haim, times change. Over the years, Holon has positioned itself as Israel’s center for niche museums, providing a home not only to the Egged Bus Museum and Israel Children’s Museum but also to the Mediatheque, a cultural centre that includes the National Cartoon Museum, repertory theater, cinematheque, a unique materials library and public library and the Israel Design Center.
And next week, on January 31st 2010, the Design Center inaugurates its new award-winning building by Ron Arad Architects, thus thwarting Kugel’s dream forever.
Design Museum Holon does fulfill the dream of its founders, Holon’s Mayor, Motti Sasson and Managing Director, Hana Hertsman who term it “the pinnacle of a sixteen-year urban regeneration programme, a process which is transforming the city of Holon, central Israel, into a global epicenter for culture and education.” A series of videos about their vision is available here.
That vision is more than matched by the building, a sexy ribbon of weathered steel, graduated in tone, that winds its way around a large central plaze, flanked by the Mediatheque.
The founders wanted Arad to create an iconic building that would provide visitors with an immersive design environment, and the Design Museum is Arad’s first architectural project of this scale. As he explains it, “Holon is a city which is re-inventing itself culturally, with ambitious plans that are investing a lot into culture. The concept of this museum in the Middle Eastern sun is just one instance.”
“Every project is unique; each one invites a different response. When we started working on Design Museum Holon, it was like a white canvas, things developed and a direction was formed. We created a hierarchy of outdoor spaces so you walk in under the building into a semi-covered yard, where you have a choice to take the air-conditioned route or one exposed to the elements. The building envelope is not just a pretty space; it’s also a structure.”
An interview with Arad about the museum can be found here:
The Design Museum’s annual program will showcase site-specific exhibitions by invited international curators as well as travelling exhibitions. A historical collection of Israeli design is also being created and the museum’s permanent collection will be unveiled in five to seven years. The first exhibition opens on March 4th 2010. More details on www.dmh.org.il. Photos courtesy of Design Museum Holon’s Facebook page – become a fan today!
Foto Friday – Edward Kaprov helps splice the ends
Filed under: Art, Foto Friday, General, Pop Culture, Religion
Splicing the Ends is the name of a new art exhibition that opens next week, November 28th, at the Amiad Center in Old Jaffa. Over the past two years, Amiad has emerged as a unique center for the arts in Jaffa’s newly revived Flea Market area, now a hot nightlife spot for Tel Aviv’s young bohemian set.
According to the organizers, the exhibit celebrates the winter season festivals for the three major monotheistic religions — Hannuka, Christmas and Eid ul Fitr — by “telling the story of mankind through the different religions… exploring the themes of immigration, living as an individual and as part of a community, and how one relates to oneself and to one’s environment.”
The show features works by over 30 painters, sculptors and photographers , including Edward Kaprov. A veteran immigrant to Israel from the former Soviet Union, Kaprov has worked with Israel’s biggest newspapers including business daily Globes, Haaretz and Yedioth Aharonot. His features have been published by National Geographic, GEO, and Russian Newsweek as well as other publications.
His work on display in “Splicing the Ends” deals with how religion informs day-to-day life in Israel, whether in the army…
…at a soup kitchen for hungry children…
…motivating political protest…
Kaprov’s work ranges from news and commercial photography to personal projects, including a series on Shamanism in Israel.
Splicing the Ends runs from November 28 through December 21 at the Amiad Center. A portion of the proceeds from the exhibit will go to ILAN, Israel’s Foundation for the Handicapped.
Foto Friday
Check out the Eretz Israel Museum in Ramat Aviv for a great photography exhibit, entitled Zoltan Kluger, Chief Photographer 1933-1958. For 25 years, the Hungarian-born Kluger documented the ‘Zionist project’ and the making of the state, after arriving here in 1933. From his first moments in the country, when he photographed the opening of the Haifa port, Arab demonstrations in Jaffa against Jewish immigration and immigrants from Germany, Kluger gave a face to the new Jews, pioneers, kibbutzniks, urbanites, pre-Hagana and Palmach fighters, immigrants and sabras. Working for the JNF and Keren Hayesod, many of his photos were national property and were the basis of this exhibit, telling the story of the Land of Israel narrative.
Subscribe
Subscribe to Israelity via email:
Social Media
Categories
- A New Reality
- Art
- Blogging
- Business
- coexistence
- Crime
- design
- education
- Entertainment
- Environment
- Food
- Foto Friday
- General
- health
- History and Culture
- Holidays
- Immigrant Moments
- Israeliness
- Life
- Medical Breakthroughs
- Movies
- Music
- News
- Nostalgia Sunday
- Picture of the Week
- Politics
- Pop Culture
- Profiles
- Religion
- Science
- Social Justice
- Sports
- Technology
- Travel
- tv
- War
The Face of Israel Today
-
About Israelity
Free newsletter
Stories from ISRAEL21c.orgPopular Posts