Yaacov Chefetz
The reality of utopia. The utopia of reality
Opening: 5.09.2026, at 7.00 pm
The exhibition runs until June 30, 2026
The exhibition is open on 5–27 September from 6 pm to 7 pm
or by phone: Adam Klimczak, 793 434 420
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Project 1, “A series of original exhibitions at Galeria Wschodnia (September–December 2026)”, is being carried out thanks to funding from the City of Łódź’s budget as part of a competition organised by the Culture Department of the City of Łódź
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On my artistic work in the 1970s and 1980s
The reality of life in Israel does not allow for continuous, linear action. In 1974, after the war, I realised that I could not carry on as before. This was true on a personal level, a political level, and in my artistic work. I joined a kibbutz affiliated with a left-wing party as a member, and from that moment on, everything I did took place there. I replaced the process of observation – which requires attention and in-depth analysis – with reaction and counter-reaction: actions resulting from a specific act, the body’s response to various stimuli. The entire exhibition concerns the space in which I worked.
Criticism plays an important role and is of great significance in my work; it is the main theme of the exhibition. The exhibition comprises three main series of works: ‘Kibbutz Commune’ – a long-standing critique of the kibbutz movement and the disintegration of its ideological aspect. The second project bears the Arabic name ‘Mashchara’ and is the result of a collaboration with a Palestinian Bedouin, aimed at producing charcoal, and later with the entire kibbutz. This led to a change of direction and the start of a new path in construction projects.
The third project is „Rainfall Region”. This project was carried out in collaboration with an artist from a kibbutz situated near the desert. It lasted several years and covered various fields, but its foundations are highly political in nature, including a portrayal of what Israel is not and has no connection with fundamental political interests. Among these are projects relating to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and its consequences. This is an exhibition centred on a sequence of responses to a complex reality.
Of course, for me, the discussion on Israeli-Palestinian relations forms part of a much broader issue.
Yaacov Chefetz 2026
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https://chefetz-y.com
Yaacov Chefetz was born in 1946 in Rehovot, 20 km south of Tel Aviv, during the British Mandate. He was a member of a kibbutz from 1973 to 1999; since 1999, he has lived and worked in Haifa. He has lectured at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology and the Faculty of Architecture in Haifa, the Western Galilee Academic College in Akka, ‘Shenkar’, and the High School of Engineering and Design in Tel Aviv. His practice encompasses sculpture, painting, drawing, video installations and performance art.
Since 1975, he has taken part in exhibitions, artistic events and art projects in Israel and abroad.
He has curated numerous exhibitions and artistic events featuring international artists.
He is one of the founding members of the ‘Pyramida’ Centre for Contemporary Art in Haifa.
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Yaacov Chefetz: The Melancholy of a Revolutionary, dr Tali Tamira >
pdf (81,8 MB) >
red. Tomasz Załuski, Daniel Muzyczuk
projekt i skład: Piotrek Bdsn Okrasa
fot.: perspektywa.biz.pl
wydawcy: Fundacja In Search Of, Muzeum Sztuki w Łodzi
pdf (7,4 MB) >
redakcja / edited by: Helena Sej
The book 'Galeria Wschodnia. Documents 1984-2017 / Documents 1984-2017', edited by Daniel Muzyczuk and Tomasz Załuski, is a monumental study of the history of one of the longest-established authorial art spaces in Poland. The Wschodnia Gallery is an important example of artists' self-organisation and a centre whose history is symptomatic of transformations in the independent gallery movement. This nodal place on the map of Polish art also reveals how many shades the concept of independence can have.
Galeria Wschodnia was founded in 1984 on the initiative of, among others, Jerzy Grzegorski and Adam Klimczak, who took over the flat at 29 Wschodnia Street from the troupe Arlekin i Pantalon, run by Jarosław Orłowski, Piotr Bikont and Wojciech Czajkowski. The place, where various forms of creativity originally intersected and theatre rehearsals, free jazz sessions and political activity were the order of the day, became an important spot for independent art from the mid-1980s onwards. The gallery and its creators were also involved in important artistic initiatives taking place in Lodz, such as the subsequent Constructions in Process and the Artists' Museum. The leading artistic forms within its programme were installations and performances, clearly indicating a strategy of expanding the autonomy of the artist. Author's galleries were, after all, founded precisely in order to give all the power over the conditions for the presentation of art to its creators.
The main part of the book is a detailed study by Tomasz Załuski focused on the activities of the gallery in the broad context of the situation of other, related centres and organisations. It also contains a set of archival texts related to the East, written by Jerzy Busza, Jolanta Ciesielska, Maciej Cholewiński, Adam Klimczak, Maria Morzuch and Józef Robakowski. The content is complemented by materials related to the gallery's anniversary exhibition held at the Museum of Art in 2014, including texts by Daniel Muzyczuk and Mikołaj Iwański, as well as a calendar and an extensive photographic archive that gives an idea of the diversity of artistic forms hosted at Eastern over the years.
The publisher of the book is the Wschodnia Gallery / In Search Of... Foundation, and the co-publisher is the Muzeum Sztuki in Łódź. The publication was co-financed by the City of Lodz Office as part of the Publishing Programme.
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