A surreal night at TA Museum of Art

Throughout the event, sponsored by the Hadassah & Sidney Musher Philanthropic Fund, numerous activities will take place simultaneously.

By JESSICA VRAZILEK

MAY 20, 2015 16:09

GERMAN SURREALIST artist Max Ernst’s ‘Hallelujah, 1948.’ (photo credit: Courtesy) — GERMAN SURREALIST artist Max Ernst’s ‘Hallelujah, 1948.’

(photo credit: Courtesy)

The Tel Aviv Museum of Art (TAMA ) will host Hallelujah! Surrealist Night on Thursday, May 21, from 8 p.m.

This “white night” style event includes a number of top rate performances, artist talks and screenings of internationally acclaimed films all embodying the theme of surrealism.

“Surrealism is one of the most important and influential art movements of 20th century, and this event is a fun way to fulfill the Museum’s cultural mission of cultivating Israel’s future generation of art lovers by enhancing the museum’s role as an energetic, cutting-edge center for young people,” says Raz Samira, TAMA Curator of Modern Art. “We thoughtfully created this program to appeal to a wider and more diverse audience of all ages.”

Throughout the event, sponsored by the Hadassah & Sidney Musher Philanthropic Fund, numerous activities will take place simultaneously in all of the museum’s galleries in both the main building and the new Herta and Paul Amir Building.

Visitors will be treated to guided tours of TAMA ’s surrealist works, which will highlight the newly added Hallelujah, 1948 by Max Ernst (1891–1976), bequeathed by Hadassah K. Musher of New York, through the American Friends of the Tel Aviv Museum of Art.

In addition to the tours, visitors will have the opportunity to partake in various events from poetry readings, readings from the Surrealist Manifesto and film screenings to dance and musical performances, a series of lectures, and a festive party inside the Meshulam Riklis Foyer of the museum’s main building.

During the evening, there will be a special performance by renowned Israeli singer and composer Shlomo Gronich. Gronich’s psychedelic performance will reflect the surrealist themes from his first solo record.

Meanwhile, a series of 12 30-minute lectures presenting the importance of surrealism and the period’s influence on future movements and contemporary life will be given by the top scholars in the field. Topics will include surrealism and Max Ernst, as well as surrealism in media, cinema, fashion and philosophy, among others.

A handful of feature films including Alfred Hitchcock’s Spellbound, Nicolas Roeg’s film starring David Bowie The Man Who Fell to Earth, and Krzysztof Kieślowski’s The Double Life of Véronique, which are related to or influenced by surrealism, will be screened in the theaters in each building.

At the same time, the Museum’s Sculpture Garden will transform into a cultural hub, with live music, a beer bar and short films from the surrealist period being screened on the main wall. Films such as An Andalusian Dog (1929) and Destino (1945), the collaboration between Walt Disney and Salvador Dalí, will be screened throughout the evening.

Entry to the event costs NIS 60.

Tickets for the Shlomo Gronich concert cost an additional NIS 20.

Tickets can be purchased online at tamuseum.org.il or by phone (03) 607-7020.