2011 » Israel » Section of Countries and Regions

Curator:	Tali Itzhaki
Authors of Theme:	Tali Itzhaki
Designer / Architect of exhibition:	Michael Kramenko
Institution:	The Institure of Israeli Drama; AMBI the Israeli Association of Stage Designers and Israeli Centre of OISTAT

Hanoch Levin - Worlds Created by Words

Hanoch Levin was – and still is, even after his premature death – the most prominent and influential playwright of Israeli theatre and drama. The prolific body of his work includes plays, poetry and prose. He also directed most of his plays himself. His work for the theatre created a new dramatic and theatrical idiom for Israeli theatre throughout the modern and post-modern era. The worlds he created on stage, in conjunction with the various designers with whom he collaborated, set new standards for dramatic language, spaces and loci. Costume has a very important role in his world, as the characters, defined by their dramatic attire, determine their environment. Levin’s characters and locations are very accurate and specific while also being archetypal and universal. Levin managed to capture the unique urban atmosphere of Tel Aviv, as well as the post-modern notion of places that have no continuity in the fragile lives of people who, rather than fully living their lives, seem to be just passing by. We build cities on the sand; we stock our homes and shelters to provide for future times of trouble; our lives of misery seem to be founded on the illusion of constancy. Yet we are always ready to move on, and suitcases are continuously packed, as all of us are just refugees, immigrants or pilgrims, and the big journey of death can face us at any moment, before our next meal or, as one of Levin’s characters famously says, “in the middle of soup!” Levin’s vision of place may be conceived as a special embodiment of architect/philosopher Paul Virilio’s reading of the collapse of physical distances and time into the new dimension of speed. Levin’s theatre always challenges its designers with the paradoxical demand to depict one’s desire to be elsewhere, to locate itself in a place other than the one in which the characters are physically located. This exhibition aims to look at the design within the drama. The uniqueness of spaces, places, characters, and stage images as created by and for a great theatre innovator. Special thanks to Hanoch Levin’s family and estate. Artistic and academic advisors: Prof Nurit Ya‘ari, Prof,. Ben-Tzion Munitz, Prof Miriam Guretzky, Prof Gad Keinar, Prof Avraham Oz; Avital Lahat-Levit. The Institute of Israeli Drama: Noam Semel (Founder and Chairman), Gal Canneti (Director), Maya Tavi (International relations and performing rights) The Israeli participation in PQ is sponsored by The Arts Administration, Ministry of Culture and Sport, KASHTUM – Arts and Science Relations Department, The Ministry of Foreign Affairs