Where Science Meets Art
Past exhibitions
Contemporary conceptual art, much like the art of science, sprouts from an inner seed, within the awareness of the artist or scientist. Each must then undergo a rigorous process of refinement, isolation and experimentation. Each of these worlds is based on a central tenet of precision and consistency. In this, the ideologies and roots of the two appear not only to approach each other, but to abut in many places.
At the Weizmann Institute of Science, art is seen to be a complementary activity, so that scientists and artists can, together, observe the world from a higher vantage point in a more critical and precise way. In other words, the synergy that occurs when science and art are brought together – when the two world views meet – can lead to more significant achievements in the enduring quest to understand the world and our place in it.
Based on this concept, art exhibits have been displayed in various work spaces in the Weizmann Institute of Science in recent years – primarily showings of contemporary Israeli art.
Lihi Turjeman
"Tomorrow Is Another Present"
Michael Sela Auditorium
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Lihi Turjeman reflects back upon the future. She sees the reality of our lives, here and now, as it may be interpreted by archaeologists in times ahead studying our own era. Directed into the future, her gaze then returns to us, to examine what has endured, that which may well be the core of our...
Carmi Dror
"Maps"
Michael Sela Auditorium
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Carmi Dror’s artistic work revolves around the practice of mapping three-dimensional model components, rooted in the realms of animation, post-production, and 3D effects. The model is spread as maps using a 3D software, which dissects it into its individual components—fragments that can be...
Ofer Shomron
"The Glory of the Small Things"
Stone Administration Building, Entrance floor
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The banality of existence finds vibrant expression and celebration in Ofer Shomron’s works. With the humble means of brushes, paints, and canvases, he challenges time to stop momentarily, and attempts to “frame,” at least in our memory, fleeting daily moments that appear insignificant in real time...
Marina Santoro
"The Legend of Tomorrow"
Stone Administration Building, Entrance floor
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Is the world an orderly place? Most of us hope the answer to this seemingly simple question is positive. If the world is an orderly place, we can look at the picture of the present and guess, or estimate, what the future holds. Thus, when we recognize order (such as in symmetry, or even in broken...
Yuliana Gorkorov
"Letter Shape"
The David Lopatie International Conference Center, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot
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Anyone who writes, or edits, or reads, from any ethnic group, nation, country, culture, gender, age, complexion, or worldview; everyone, no matter their background, should marvel at the phenomenon: Unknown markings drawn on paper, engraved in stone, carved on wood, stamped in clay, or traced in...
Natalia Zourabova
"Here, Now"
Stone Administration Building, Entrance floor
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Natalia Zourabova, it seems, brings "what’s there" to the forefront. Skilled and elaborate figurative painting, based on observing people and situations. This is reality as it appears at a first, focused and penetrating, glance.
Zourabova seems to halt her gaze – and brush – at the outer limits of...
Zohdy Qadry
"for the sake of good order"
The David Lopatie International Conference Center, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot
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Geometric structures found in a kind of delicate balance — or not far from it — have comprised the works of Zohdi Qadry in recent years. The straight lines, the precise color surfaces create a sense of “good order”; of being able to predict what’s to come; of a known and safe set of rules that—if...
Michal Servadio Ilan
"On My Way"
Raoul and Graziella de Picciotto Building for Scientific and Technical Support, 4th floor
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The works by Michal Servadio Ilan in this exhibition focus on a personal, physical, and metaphysical journey. The journey, along with the insights arising along the way, is the central theme of her works.
Michal photographs moments that capture her attention in compositions that seem to produce an...
Ronit Keret
"Tears - Site-specific installation"
Sussman Family building for Environmental Sciences
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The Looming Flood
Cry as hard as you can. That’s the angry message that Benni Efrat sent us “from the future.” Efrat, one of the pioneers of conceptual art in Israel, learned about climate warning in the 1970s when he exhibited at MIT and met scientists there who exposed him to the phenomenon. He...
Dafna Moriya
"Depth"
Stone Administration Building, Entrance floor
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Dafna Moriya explores reality through depth, with each layer revealing yet another unknown aspect of the environment we inhabit. The hierarchy of depths, or heights, is reminiscent of our model of reality: The world of living organisms, including human beings, is unlike that of dust particles and...
Shony Rivnay
" Travel Diary"
Stone Administration Building, ground floor
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As the act of documenting and sharing personal experiences on social networks with anyone who may be interested becomes ever more prevalent, it might be difficult to recall how, in the not too distant past, we used to send our loved ones colorful postcards from the places we visited. And going back...
Michael Druks
"Zoom Out"
Stone Administration Building, Entrance floor
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There is nothing that we want to know more than what the future holds. What will tomorrow be like. What the next step of the “system” enveloping us, which we inhabit, will be. We – scientists, artists, humans, no matter who we are – strive to figure out the rules of the world’s game. Such...
Shay Zilberman, Eli Horesh
"The Shape of Water"
The David Lopatie International Conference Center, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot
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Shay Zilberman / “Elul Moon, after Lilien”, 2018
This self-portrait was first shown in an exhibit entitled “Men Gazing at Water,” in the Tel Aviv Artists’ Studios. Based on various earlier sources, the image presented here testifies to a material world that is disappearing, taking with it...
Maya Smira & Carmi Dror
"Now with Noise"
The David Lopatie International Conference Center, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot
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Noise is generally unwelcome, especially when it competes with a desired signal. There is an ongoing struggle between noise and signal in our natural environment as well as in our various technological systems. Sometimes the wanted information comes out on top, sometimes the noise drowns it out....
Liat Grayver and e-David
"The Painting Robot"
Jacob Ziskind Building
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Brush strokes in the Digital Age - Liat Grayver and e-David present a new exhibit at the Weizmann Institute of Science, an exploration of the borders of creativity, between human and machine
A painting robot is at the core of a collaboration between the artist Liat Grayver and the research team...
Agnieszka Kurant, Vardi Bobrow and Yael Balaban
"Old, Fake News"
David Lopatie International Conference Centre, Weizmann Institute of Science
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In 1996, the physicist Alan Sokal of New York University submitted a paper to Social Text, an academic journal of “postmodern cultural studies” published by Duke University. The title was: Transgressing the Boundaries: Towards a Transformative Hermeneutics of Quantum Gravity. The paper passed the...
Aviva Shemer
"“Tikkun” (Repair)"
Nella and Leon Benoziyo Building for Biological Sciences & Raoul and Graziella de Picciotto Building for Scientific and Technical Support 2nd floor
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Aviva Shemer (born 1942, Israel), attempted to create her artwork from the perspective of a tormented artist, expressing pain, criticism, and despair. She managed to bring upon herself quite a bit of suffering but was not satisfied with the results. Then, after much contemplation and deepening her...
Joshua Griffit
"Bad is Beautiful"
Feinberg Graduate School
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Joshua Griffit paints beautifully. Too beautiful to be real. Too good to be true. The sarcastic exaggeration is so elusive that we are unable to understand what he is actually telling us. To some extent, we can say that Griffit commits an unpardonable sin of modern art and media: He overestimates...
Update
"Or Raviv"
Raoul and Graziella de Picciotto Building for Scientific and Technical Support
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In 1801, William Turner (1775-1851) was stopped by guards at the entrance to the Royal Academy of Arts in London. The guards had instructions to check the pockets of the young artist, who was already an Academy member and whose paintings were hung in the exhibit inside. It seems that during the...
Joshua Griffit
"The Anchorman"
Raoul and Graziella de Picciotto Building for Scientific and Technical Support 2nd floor
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In the world of journalism, “yesterday’s news” is often regarded as worthless and unimportant. That is, if the story is not reported immediately, the opportunity is missed and the “story” will be casually tossed, forgotten, and will not see the light of day. In the world of art, on the other hand,...
Gadi Dagon
"Digital Dancer"
Raoul and Graziella de Picciotto Building for Scientific and Technical Support
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Gadi Dagon dances. For those who know him, this may seem a bit strange. But on second thought, it's not surprising in the least. When he was immersed in sports photography, he showed up one day with a portrait of himself in boxing gloves, with a crushed nose and blood trickling down his cheeks to...
"What a wonderful place"
The David Lopatie Conference Centre
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Tomer Sapir, Thomas Struth, Martin Kollar, Kochav Kochavi and Wikimedia photographers
Four artists toured the Weizmann Institute of Science, as did a group of Wikimedia photographers. Something like scientists, each was trying to understand what is really happening here. But for scientists, the “...
Dorit Feldman and Tamar Sheaffer
"Virtual, Reality"
The David Lopatie Conference Centre
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What really shapes the reality around us? Does the way in which we perceive the world provide us with an accurate and reliable picture? How and why do changes occur around us? In contrast, what characterizes the virtual world, which occupies much of our time? Where, exactly, is the line...
Jonathan Goldman
"Now, out loud"
Feinberg Graduate School / The David Lopatie Hall of Graduate Studies, Weizmann Institute of Science
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Jonathan Goldman is interested, conceptually, in the transformation from sound to image. Like a scientist researching such phenomena as metamorphosis or phase transition, Goldman begins his study with one state, allowing it to transform, slowly, until it arrives at a pure moment of transmutation....
Liat Segal
"Art ex Machina"
The David Lopatie Conference Centre, Weizmann Institute of Science
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What exactly happens in the space where humans and machines communicate? Does their shared presence in that environment, or the actions that at times directed toward the same goal, blur the boundaries between them? Liat Segal examines these questions in an unconventional system: The production...
Benni Efrat
"Time Crack"
The David Lopatie Conference Centre, Weizmann Institute of Science
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Here Come the Days
Benni Efrat, Time Crack, David Lopatie International Conference Centre, Weizmann Institute of Science
Benni Efrat doesn’t hide from the tidings. His time cracks are ticking seconds to a dismal future. From his point of view there is no great significance to the question of...
Eitan Vitkon
"Blowing in the Wind"
Feinberg Graduate School / David Lopatie Hall of Graduate Studies, Weizmann Institute of Science
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In our need for order and stability, we are accustomed to see the straight lines in the buildings of cities like New York as a sort of validation of a “good” world order. The photographs of Eitan Vitkon infringe on this sense of security. The sight of buildings that are blowing in the wind or swept...
This Will Make You Better
"Medicine and Medication in Contemporary Art"
The Nancy and Stephen Grand Israel National Center for Personalized Medicine (G-INCPM)
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“This will make you better.” This promise was made by healers of the ancient world (Egypt and Assyria, for example), in which diseases and their cures were tied to the stars, spirits and witchcraft, as well as in our day, in which we are moving toward personalized medicine based on a deep...
"Field Theory"
The Edna and K. B. Weissman Building of Physical Sciences, and the Nechemiah and Naomi Cohen Building
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The quest for knowledge is what unites humankind in a very deep way. Philosophers, theologians, artists and scientists – each wants to truly understand the rules of the game by which the “world” operates, how it will react to this or that action. On the way to understanding “our” world,...
"Eye Contact - Seeing “what’s there”"
Open week days: Sunday to Wednesdays, 09:00 – 16:00 Closed on Thursdays and weekends
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Lia Addadi, Alon Olearchik, Dan Oron, Valeriy Ayzenberg, Eliahu Eric Bucobza, Hadar Burstein, Erez Biton, Ronen Basri, Gidi Gov, Yehonatan Geffen, Steve Weiner, Eduardo Zatara, Shai Zilberman, Shlomi Hatuka, Orit Ishay, Idit Levavi Gabai, Suren Manvelyan, Etty Spindel, Benjamin Palmer, Yehuda...
Ella Amitay Sadovsky
"Composite Materials, Augmented Reality"
David Lopatie International Conference Centre
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Augmented reality refers to computerized technology that enables the creation of a hybrid existence of sorts: a real-life framework supplemented with “external,” possibly fabricated components. The result is a super-reality that is packed, enhanced and focused – capable, among other things, of...
Michal Raz
"The Myth of the Two-Dimensional Plane"
The David Lopatie Hall of Graduate Studies
》
Is the world orderly? Most of us would hope that the answer to this apparently simple question is yes. If the world makes sense, we can look at our picture of the present and know what awaits us in the future. When we identify an order (for example, symmetry or even a fraction of a shape that...
Micha Laury
"Road Map"
Stone Administration Building, first floor
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Present Time and Millions of Years (+10100) – fifteen etchings
There are few things that arouse our curiosity more than the urge to know what lies ahead. What extremes will life attain as it evolves into the distant future? Is there a finite limit to the Universe? Micha Laury, in a new series of...
Maty Grunberg
"Watershed"
Ullmann Building of Life Sciences
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The Tulip and the Thorn – a series of prints, in collaboration with Amos Oz and Dr. Michael Avishai
What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. Coping with deprivation and strain toughens the organism; a life of plenty “pads” and softens it. Young people growing up in tough neighborhoods were once...
Or Raviv
"Update"
Stone Administration Building, Third floor
》
In 1801, William Turner (1775-1851) was stopped by guards at the entrance to the Royal Academy of Arts in London. The guards had instructions to check the pockets of the young artist, who was already an Academy member and whose paintings were hung in the exhibit inside. It seems that during the...