Exhibitions

Mike Brant is still considered one of the most successful Israeli singers of all time, and an international Israeli legend. In his short career abroad, he recorded dozens of songs that conquered the hit parades, was featured on the front covers of hundreds of magazines, and performed for tens of thousands of fans.
Although Brant’s international career flourished, in Israel he sank initially between Arik Einstein and Yigal Bashan, between Sipurei Poogy of the Kaveret group and Sof Onat Hatapuzim of the Tammuz rock band. He never made it into the canon of Israeli music and entertainment. That said, there has never been an Israeli singer, either before or since Brant, who has attracted as much adulation after his death. Almost five decades since his tragic demise, his albums and songs continue to be sold in large numbers, both in Israel and abroad. Ultimately, in the local context, he can be said to have secured his place in the pantheon of Israeli music.

The clusters of abandoned-sealed and ruined buildings are like monuments in the urban landscape - reminders of historical turning points in Haifa's narrative. The city is a collection of buildings with a story, a puzzle of textures that allow for a complex reading of its history and the forces that shaped its unique form. The book and the exhibition Lower Haifa trace a complex urban portrait at a specific point in time. This collection of photographs raises questions regarding the city, its history, its politics, and its future. The layer revealed to us in the photographs will also eventually come to be covered by another layer and will be transformed over the years.

This exhibition is a showcase for artist Ossi Yalon, who has spent several years researching the long-gone community in the Land of the Bible. Her works focus on the stories of members of the community who played an important role in the history of Haifa, and left a rich and fascinating cultural impression on the city. Yalon’s art strives to revitalize the Templers’ way of life, and envisage their day-to-day routine, the cultural and social characteristics of their community, and the view they saw from their windows.

A massive wave of immigration from the former Soviet Union and Ethiopia profoundly reshaped Israel's social landscape during the turbulent 1990s. In response to the country's housing crisis caused by the growing influx, temporary residential neighborhoods known as 'Caravan Sites' were established to accommodate the newly arrived immigrants. As many as 30,000 mobile homes were installed in various locations throughout Israel, including Haifa, and soon developed into immigrant communities. Those neighborhoods and the lives forged within them, through challenges and hardships, constitute an important chapter in the history of Israel and the city of Haifa.