Autonomous Art Biennale at the Gymnasia "Herzliya"Tel Aviv8.4.25-19.4.25

The Autonomous Art Biennale

Returns to the Gymnasia “Hertzliya” Tel Aviv in its second edition—Passover 2025.

April 8-19

Every day from 10:00 to 18:00

(Closes April 11, 12, 18 at 16:00)

Throughout the Herzliya Gymnasia

106 Jabotinsky Street, Tel Aviv

 

The Biennale will mark 120 years since the establishment of the Gymnasia “Hertzliya”, and we invite everyone to join us in celebrating this milestone.

Free Entrance 

The Biennale comprises an extensive international and inter-local exhibition in the Gymnasia “Hertzliya” showcasing a diverse lineup of artists. 

In addition to art, the Biennale is also a versatile platform for encounters, discussions, in-depth debates, and a variety of events that are open to the public – free of charge.

Initiators of the Biennale: Dr. Roy Brand, Tsibi Geva, and Dr. Ze’ev Degani
Chief Curator: Dr. Roy Brand
Curators: Sandra Weil and Rula Khoury

 

Main Exhibit:

By the Same Sea

How to make peace with art

Chief Curator: Dr. Roy Brand | Co-Curators: Sandra Weil, Rula Khoury

Participating Artists:

Faten Abu Ali | Halla Abu Freh | Fouad Agbaria | Micha Ullman | Roger Ballen | Yifat Bezalel | Tsibi Geva | Nahum Gutman | Morjan Ghanayem | Zenab Garbia | Haya Heller Degani | Ze’ev Degani | Maya Dunietz | Ronen Zein | HIWAT-LIFE (Lina Otom Jak Agolon, Eden Gebre, Mebrhit Gebremariam and Achberet Abraha) | Dor Zlekha Levy| Ella Taub | Moshe Tarka | Daniel Youssef | Saher Miari | Malek Manzour | Karam Natour | Samer Salama | Nardeen Srouji | Chasity Polk | Hamutal Fishman | Nira Pereg | Haim Perry | Nimrod Zin | Liora Kaplan | Dani Karavan | Adam Rabinowitz | Julia Schäfer | Omer Shach | Women of Savane Kabuye, Rwanda.

 

The exhibition features more than 30 artists from this region and across the globe. Some of the projects presented are historical, and others were created specifically for the Biennale. Each of the artworks and the numerous activities seek to imagine or reinvent the concept of peace, which has become hollow or devoid of substance.

The Biennale amplifies the voices of a diverse group of artists, curators, and intellectuals who believe in the power of art to create a shared space for action. A place where empathy overcomes enmity, and the possibility of living together becomes a source of hope. Amid difficult and divisive times, internally and externally, we try to remember that art is responsible and equipped to remind us of the shared human heart. We are different and other, strangers to one another and ourselves, but we are all also beside the same sea.

This project is meant to bring us back to earth, to acknowledge reality, the complexity, the richness, and the beauty of living side by side, while recognizing the existence of gaps, and at times, even conflicts—yet without violence.

The subtitle – How to Make Peace with Art? – alludes to a pragmatic approach rooted in philosophy and language. The famous text How to Do Things with Words by J.L. Austin (1955/1962) is now a classic marking a shift from representation to implementation (performance), or from a model of language-reflecting–the-world to the new paradigm of language-creating-reality. The exhibition suggests a similar shift in the perception of art.

Also at the Biennale:

We are proud to host: 

★ Lifeboats – Artists from HaMidrasha – Faculty of the Arts at Beit Berl, redesign the Herzliya Gymnasia’s sports hall and place four specially constructed wooden lifeboats within it. 

The stunning boats host exhibitions by graduates and lecturers at the college and serve as a platform for various meetings and discussions.
Curator: Barak Ravitz

★ Extraordinary projects by students from the art tracks at Gymnasia “Hertzliya”, in Tel Aviv-Yafo, and across the country. Revealing, a fresh, original, and youthful perspective from high school students representing the full spectrum of Israeli society. The works reflect the viewpoint of a generation who experienced and were shaped by the COVID-19 pandemic and isolation, the judicial overhaul, the events of October 7, and the war that followed.
Curators:

★ Group exhibition by five artists, graduates of the AIR Givat Haviva Residency Program: Doaa Bsis, Baylassan Karim, Noa Kurnick, Dana Roessler, Ben Alon.

★ Special projects by students from the visual art tracks at Gymnasia “Hertzliya”, under the guidance of Lucianna Kaplun and Tchelet Ram.

And also:

★ Guided Tours – For groups and families, in all languages, every day.

★ A diverse and exciting event schedule– Every day, throughout the day, for all ages – workshops, activities, performances – information regarding all events can be found in the Hebrew version of the site here.

★ Non-stop excellent music and seating areas to relax in the beautiful Gymnasia garden.

The Autonomous Art Biennale is an independent initiative with no government or commercial support, led by artists, educators, and curators. It aspires to create a hub that connects contemporary art, education, and community. The Biennale also serves as a platform for meetings, dialogue, enrichment, and the exchange of ideas on core societal and existential issues and the role of art within them.

Against all odds, we succeeded in creating a second Biennale during a time of crisis as public space undergoes unprecedented transformations in Israel and around the world. This time, the focus of the Biennale is on the conflicted public space and an attempt to imagine peace through art: peace that is not merely political interactions between enemies but a form of experience and action, a way of thinking and being together despite, and perhaps because of, the differences. This Biennale is not demagogic — the art speaks for itself and does not compete with other areas of discourse. It aims to chart an alternative path that opens up unseen possibilities.

This may seem radical or perhaps even foolish in the throes of chaos or tragedy, but essentially, this artistic perspective offers freedom to invent and choose. Choice is intrinsic to imagination because even when we feel most threatened, hateful, or isolated, it is still possible to invent peace.

Partners and supporters: the Tel Aviv-Yafo Municipality, the Faculty of Arts – Hamidrasha at Beit Berl College, the AIR Givat Haviva Joint Art Center Residency Program, the Embassy of Sweden in Israel, Bezalel Academy of Art and Design, and others.