TAMA Program 2025/26 - Monday Series

ESRA Lectures at the Tel Aviv museum of art – 2025/26:

Semester I: Master-Artists

27 October 2025
Francesco Clemente: Italian Transavantgarde
Clemente - a contemporary Italian artist known for his deeply introspective and dreamlike
imagery, blending elements of surrealism, symbolism, and expressionism. Emerging in the late
1970s as a key figure in the Transavantgarde movement, Clemente’s work resists rigid
categorization, drawing from diverse cultural influences, including Italian Renaissance art,
Indian spirituality, and American Beat poetry. His paintings, drawings, and frescoes explore
themes of identity, impermanence, and the fluidity of human experience, often rendered in a
sensuous, expressive style.

24 November 2025

Max Beckmann: Berliner Secession
Beckmann - a German painter, draftsman, and printmaker whose work straddled the shifting
artistic movements of the early 20th century. Rejecting both Expressionism and abstraction, he
developed a bold, highly personal style characterized by dramatic compositions, intense colors,
and psychologically charged figures. Beckmann’s art reflects the turmoil of his time—shaped by
his experiences in World War I, the rise of fascism, and his later exile from Germany. His
paintings, often structured like theatrical stage scenes, convey a sense of mystery, existential
tension, and human vulnerability.

22 December 2025

Claude Cahun: a surrealist
A pioneering French artist, writer, and photographer whose work challenged conventional
notions of identity, gender, and self-representation. Active in the early 20th century and aligned
with the Surrealist movement, Cahun is best known for their striking self-portraits, in which they
adopted fluid, androgynous personas that defied categorization. Their work, both visually and in
writing, was deeply political, resisting the rigid social roles of their time and later engaging in
anti-fascist resistance during World War II.

19 January 2026

Bodys Isek Kingelez: City Dreams
A visionary Congolese artist known for his extraordinary architectural sculptures—intricate,
utopian cityscapes crafted from everyday materials like cardboard, paper, and plastic. Born in
the Democratic Republic of Congo (then Zaire), Kingelez reimagined the urban landscape as a
symbol of hope, progress, and boundless imagination. His "extreme maquettes" blend elements
of African aesthetics, modernist architecture, and futuristic fantasy, offering a powerful
commentary on postcolonial identity, globalization, and the possibilities of a better world.

Semester II: Why is this art?

16 February 2026
Introducing: Performance Art
Performance art is a dynamic and boundary-pushing form of artistic expression that emphasizes
live action, the body, and the relationship between artist and audience. Emerging in the 20th
century as a challenge to traditional artistic mediums, performance art incorporates elements of
theater, dance, visual art, and even political activism. In this lecture, we will explore the origins
of performance art, its key figures and movements, and how it continues to evolve as a powerful
medium of self-expression.

23 March 2026

The MTV generation: Music Videos
The rise of MTV in the early 1980s revolutionized the music industry, turning the music video
into a powerful artistic and cultural force. In this era saw musicians, directors, and visual artists
collaborate to create groundbreaking videos that shaped fashion, pop culture, and even social
movements. In this lecture, we will explore the evolution of music videos, their impact on visual
culture, and how they continue to influence media and storytelling today.

27 April 2026

Bauhaus photography in Israel
Bauhaus photography, with its emphasis on abstraction, dynamic composition, and modernist
aesthetics, found a unique expression in Israel through the work of photographers influenced by
the Bauhaus school. As Jewish artists and architects fleeing Nazi Germany brought Bauhaus

principles to the emerging state, photography became a key medium for documenting and
shaping the modernist vision of Israeli society. In this lecture, we will explore the impact of
Bauhaus photography in Israel, its key figures, and how its legacy continues to shape Israeli
visual culture.

25 May 2026

The design of memory: 20th century monuments
Monuments serve as powerful vessels of collective memory, shaping how societies remember
historical events, tragedies, and triumphs. Throughout the 20th century, monument design
evolved beyond traditional statues and grand memorials to embrace abstraction, minimalism,
and interactive experiences. From Maya Lin’s Vietnam Veterans Memorial to Berlin’s Memorial
to the Murdered Jews of Europe, artists and architects have redefined how we engage with
history, often focusing on absence, reflection, and personal experience. In this lecture, we will
explore the shifting approaches to memorial design in the 20th century, examining how
monuments communicate memory, identity, and the complexities of historical remembrance.