Program / Pilsen

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“Man is the more himself, the more an individual, when he has the strength, the imagination, the intelligence, to transform himself.” (Milan Kundera, L'Identite, Gallimard, 1997)

Multi-discipline artists from two towns – Jerusalem and Pilsen – are going to meet in the monumental industrial space of the DEPO2015 in Pilsen, in order to study their identity from a variety of angles, based on various personal experiences stemming from their cultural differences. Part of the exhibition will be works which the curators selected in a democratic open call announced in both countries, specifically at the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem and at the Ladislav Sutnar Faculty of Design and Arts of the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen. Current works will be available, as well as older ones entered by the artists due to their relevance to the topic of “Identity”. There are final year projects in the selection, as well as diploma projects created by the graduates of these schools.

DEPO2015 will thus become a meeting place for three weeks, a live platform filled with creative confrontations, searching for parallels, sharing common physical and emotional experiences a person can feel when they start examining the relationships with their surroundings. The artists will take a closer look at what phenomena define them, and at the same time, look for their own true self.

Each of the 30 artistic personalities of Pilsen and Jerusalem, be they authors of Arab or Jewish origin, atheists or religious people, tries to grasp the frontier of their existence, reflects it, faces their own essence and illusions we have about our existence, does small and big gestures. These will appear in the following media: videos, installations, animation, sculptures, photos and illustrations; a distinctive part of the exhibition is fashion design.

In the last third of the exhibition period the visitors can also look forward to live personal interventions by artists from Jerusalem, who will come to Pilsen on June 17. The first guest will be Meydad Eliyahu, for whom there will be a part of a wall at the DEPO2015 venue reserved for his site specific painting he will perform on the spot during his visit (19.6. at 13:00 - 15:00 and 18:00 - 20:00, 20.6. at 13:00-15:00). Another invited artist is the fashion designer Adi Yair. She will lead a textile workshop, presenting her original technique of creating garments and explaining the position and practices of a Jerusalem-based fashion designer. The last couple of artists to come to Pilsen in person are visual artists and performers Phantom 1 & Phantom 2. The programme of the exhibition will also feature an unconventional fashion show.

A few words from the Czech curator of the exhibition:
Danica Kovářová; curator, currently working as the editor-in-chief for the Dolce Vita design and lifestyle magazine

“We deliberately selected works of art that do not explicitly or provocatively address any specific sociological, geopolitical, economic, historical or religious issues. We were looking for works that, beyond their very characteristic context, allow for multivalent subjective interpretations while offering a universal message, whether it is an artistic allusion at the overwhelming volume of information in our globalized mass-media world, or the popular or cultural tradition in Jerusalem or the Czech Republic, or even an ontological definition of the internal and the external, the duality of the body and the soul. I’m curious to see how the visitors are going to “read” the Jerusalem artefacts and also what kind of dialogue the visitors will engage in with the works of Pilsen authors, which details will be lost in translation, so to speak, and which will gain new meanings when they enter a new environment.”

On Saturday June 20, before the afternoon performance of the Phantom 1 & Phantom 2 duo and the workshop of the artist Meydad Eliyahu, a fashion show will take place. It will be choreographed by dancer Sofia Krantz. Not only the models, but also professional dancers will present the fashion collections of four Jerusalem fashion designers who all graduated fashion and jewelry design at Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem.

Hilla Shapira’s collection is called Define Me (2014). It addresses the boundaries of the fashion industry, its limited flexibility and non-effectiveness – it touches on the phenomenon of clothes disposal, garments that for a range of reasons end up in the waste as defective. The collection also poses the question of where the frontier between male and female, sports and tailored, winter and summer attire is. Hilla Shapira combines seemingly contradictory materials, silhouettes, techniques, colours and patterns and creates a dialogue between the elements, destroying norms and reconsidering the conventional definition of clothing.

Similar questions as Hilla’s are posed in the collection Under Construction (2013) by Shani Sucovsky. She has not yet established her own unisex brand, but while working in a studio of two renowned designers, she is working on founding her own brand. Shani also likes converting men’s elements to women’s and vice versa, and above all, deconstructing individual elements of conventional clothing and putting them back together again - but in an original, liberating way.

During her planned workshop (19.6.) designer Adi Yair will talk about the uniqueness of her work in detail, and she will also showcase her sewing technique and the preparation process. Therefore, during the show she will present part of her two-year-old collection Broking Tailoring – it was a turning point for her as it kick started her eponymous fashion brand Adi Yair. Unlike the other designers, she does not challenge formal but technical norms. She managed to develop a special technique of clothes construction without stitches, based on the principle of merging grids, similar to weaving in principle.

The last of the fashion designers, Liron Rubin, is the author of the hat collection Over the Rainbow (2014, made as a diploma project). The interesting thing about the hats is not the material, woolen felt, but an original style of cut and shaping. Under these colourful hats a woman does not hide from the world but faces it proudly, accentuating her unique character. Liron was inspired by the traditional Japanese art kirigami (cutting and folding paper), whose principles she applied and with precise manual technique she created the fanciful shapes of her hats. Liron built her own brand La-Kobah using this technique and she has been designing other garments under the brand.

Designer Adi Yair also prepared some practical demonstrations for the visitors of the (ID)ENTITY exhibition. This has to do specifically with her particular way of sewing-non-sewing of garments, a technique she developed herself. In her small performance, which she named Under Cover, she will present each step of the creation of one of her garments, the process of its birth from start to finish, from the sketches and cuts up to a 3D creation. The viewers will be able to watch the process, not only in front of them, but also via video transmission on a projection screen, where the details will be more visible. Just as in the case of Meydad it is likely that the content of Adi’s presentation will be based on questions which are welcome and can steer the discussion towards various aspects of the art practice.

(in english and czech language)

Artistic duo Phantom 1 & Phanotom 2 will perform a variation based on their videoperformance ”AND TELL THE BELIEVING WOMEN“. The piece is exposed in the framework of the exhibition (ID)ENTITY. 

"The Khimar/Niqab/Hijab/Jilbab/Chadri is a changing, culturally contingent garment categorically defined by the West as the Burka. In our work we want to redesign the Burka, redefine it in our own way. In a fatal hammer and sickle duel the veiled phantom figures embody an ongoing real life absurdity. Locked in the vortex of contemporary political context, symbolism is used here as a work tool rather than an expected outcome. While Western art easily mystifies the Muslim woman - her seduction and her menace – the performance leaps right into the dirty action of resistance and struggle. The performance continues unscripted – till the bitter end."

(in english and czech language)

Meydad Eliyahu, besides painting his site-specific image starting Thursday 18.6. in DEPO2015, also prepared a very interesting lecture about his other similar projects. He is going to talk about how inspiring, enriching or constricting it is to work within the “historic boundaries” of a town such as Jerusalem, and describe the pitfalls or unexpected challenges site-specific painting can bring. Together with visual references, listeners might also experience a live showcase.

(in english and czech language)

Mike’s Place is the title of a brand new graphic novel which is going to be published simultaneously in the Czech Republic, the USA and France at the end of June this year. The authors of Mike’s Place are Koren Shadmi, a Brooklyn-based artist, Jack Baxter, an American documentary film maker and Joshua Faudem, a jerusalem based film maker. Czech comic book enthusiasts will be able to meet Joshual Faudem during Days of Jerusalem because he is one of the festival guests, promoting his new book.

The idea behind the graphic novel is rather unusual and putting the story to life was certainly a great challenge for the authors. The storyline is based on the moving history of the popular Mike’s Place bar in Tel Aviv which was targeted by a suicide bomber during the second Intifada.

It all began in 2003 when the American documentarist Jack Baxter decided to film a documentary about Mike’s Place beachfront bar, frequented by Israelis, Israeli Arabs and the international community living in Tel Aviv. The bar was a trendy spot, popular for live blues music and good beer amongst visitors and staff. Blues could be heard from the bar’s windows every day till dawn. The bar had one unwritten rule: no discussions about politics or religion. It was meting pot where everybody could come to have a beer and forget about the conflict that was raging on the “outside”.

In a way, Mike’s place offered an escape from the outside reality and then, in 2003 reality hit back. On April 30th, 2003 the tragic incident took place. When Jack Baxter put away his camera for a while, an explosion wrecked the bar. After a failed attempt to destroy the American Embassy, two suicide bombers decided to “try their fortune” elsewhere. Three people died and fifty were severely injured, including Jack Baxter.

(in english and czech language)

In the summer, Ladislav Zibura packed his entire life into a 12 kilogram backpack and set out on a journey to Jerusalem. Without a map and a sense of orientation he walked 1400 kilometres through the baking hot lands of Turkey and Israel to finally reach the Wailing Wall and live the biggest adventure of his life. His journey is a story of mistakes, extraordinary encounters, happy and unhappy accidents, blisters and rashes. You can look forward to a cynical café layabout who will be happy to tell you with a high dose of his kind-hearted but indecorous humour that a pilgrim does not really have to be Catholic, ascetic or boring.

(in czech language)

The dance performance White Piece will be created through the collaboration of choreographer Sofia Krantz, a Jerusalemite, and Czech dancers, during her stay in June 2015 in Pilsen. This way the choreography of the dancer from Jerusalem will be enriched by the energy of a different culture and therefore also a new dance language. The minimalist dance performance for nine dancers is based on the clash of cultures. The simple aesthetics of the performance opens up space for key moral questions. The main partners of the performance are Studio Alt@ and OPEN AiR - Artist in Residence.

Sofia Krantz: “During my stay in Pilsen I would like to explore Czech temperament and way of thinking. In our shared performance, I would like to point out the differences and subtle similarities of our cultures. I believe our collective work and creativity will help enhance the quality and enrich the original choreography, creating a new visual language of dance. In my shows, I usually try to work with information extracted from culture, fashion and art and I look forward to having the opportunity to find new inspiration in Czech culture.”

The Hazelnuts adopt and adapt wonderful songs from the past and present time (including their own originals), exploring old fashioned harmonies and applying contemporary ideas, combining their voices to an extraordinary musical experience and bringing New Orleans and the doo-wop of that golden era to here and now. 

The Hazelnuts have received critical acclaim since they started performing in the summer of 2013, and released their debut EP on March 2014. 



Yifeat Ziv, Shira Z. Carmel and Sapir Rosenblatt, (who are sisters at heart yet come from different backgrounds) met in the Jerusalem Academy for Music and Dance, where they've received their Music B.A in 2014. They write all of the arrangements and original songs themselves, and are proud and happy to introduce with this wonderful harmonious genre.

REFEW - the twenty-one-year-old Refew appeared on Czech scene literally out of the blue. Some people had noticed his Blackcock EP but the biggest boom came later with the debut mixtape called Z místa. It was released in spring 2014 under the Big Boss label. At mere 20 years of age Refew can be proud of his array of guest performers such as Vladimir 518, Orion, Separ, Delik or DJ Wich!

He has been a part of all recent Czech records, he performed at all 16 venues of the massive Heavy Weight Tour, aside from his solo performances. You can also see him on tour with “Mladé pušky”, performing with Moozy and the VR/Nobody project. Often nicknamed “Drake from Libeň”, he is now working on his debut album called Na kredit.

MUHAMMAD MUGHRABI is a ten year Rapper-Music producer, Born in Jerusalem grew up and lives in the Palestinian Refugee Camp Shuafat in Jerusalem city, Studied Arts & Film in Israel. He uses music as an escape & as advocacy. In 2010, in Mexico he was awarded the Chiuku Prize by MTV Latin America. The young artist works hard & believes in music & Still pursuing his dream of international success. MUHAMMAD MUGHRABI - ZiR does: Hip-Hop/Rap, Deep Electro Dance House Music, World.

REFEW and Muhammad Mughrabi will perform together for the first time as part of the Hip Hop performances. Don’t miss this unique battle!

The end of the night will belong to the legendary Professor Ikebara (Balkan beats/gypsy punk) with a wild Balkan afterparty.

The DEPO2015 café will offer refreshments such as locally-made lemonade and coffee throughout the festival. There will also be an array of stands where Jerusalem wine, Jerusalem related literature and books of contemporary authors from Jerusalem will be presented.