About Aesthetics and Bias

The “Aesthetics and Bias” project was initiated by Adina Bar-On, in 2008, a professor in the Art Department of the Bezalel Academy and has been an official cooperation between Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem and four Polish art institutions: The Academies of Fine Arts in – Krakow, Warsaw, Wroclaw and – the University of Arts in Poznan.
During the course of this project, 10 years, each of the 120 participants, consisting of 6 groups of 20 students, took part in two ten day workshops, one in Israel and one in Poland. The workshops were organized in the following manner: Each group of 10 Polish students, from one of the Polish Academies, had come to Israel, for ten days, in order to meet and work with another group, of 10 Israeli students from Bezalel. – In turn, each group of 10 Israeli students came to Poland to meet with their Polish counterparts for a ten day meeting.
The workshops consisted of visits to selected crucial sites in Israel and Poland, interwoven with intense interdisciplinary workshops, usually held on the locations themselves, and – provoked discussions, aimed at stimulating student`s thought, about current issues and, finally, creating – Art.
The 10 workshops, in Poland and Israel, have been followed by numerous individual meetings, by professors of this project together with their alumni, up to the realization and the completion of the exemplary art-works.
The summit of this project consisted of a conference and two exhibitions, in both countries, including a book titled -“Aesthetics and Bias” which will be published by Arsenal Gallery in Poznan and Adam Mickiewicz Institute by December 2018.
The purpose of these events: a. to expose the art-work, confronting crucial and actual issues, by a young generation of Polish and Israeli artists. b. to make known an educational course that is not just unique but crucial to our present societies.
The 1st conference was held in Tel Aviv, on May 4th-5th, 2017, hosted by Nicola Trezzi, who had been Director of the MFA studies, of Bezalel; The participants in this conference have been: the five Polish collaborators: Prof` Prot Jarnuszkiewicz, Dean of Faculty of Media, the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, Prof` Tomasz Opania former Director of Art Mediation Department and Ms. Maria Wronska of the The Eugeniusz Geppert Academy of Arts and Design in Wroclaw; Prof` Artur Tajber, Dean of Faculty of Intermedia at Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow; Prof` Marek Wasilewski, Head of PHD Studies at University of Arts in Poznan; five Polish alumni and five Israeli alumni; three Israeli writers were guest speakers: Shvah Salhoov, Roi Hasan, Nir Baram.
The exhibition in Poland was held at The Municipal Gallery of Poznan – “Arsenal Gallery”; The Opening was on April 5th, 2018. Twenty two young artists, alumni of this project, exhibited their art-work attuned to political and social issues.
The second, exhibition will be hosted by Mamuta Art and Media Center and Hanson House, in Jerusalem, from November 8th to Dec. 20th, 2019.
The “Aesthetics and Bias” project has gathered generous support from the following: Bezalel Academy of Art and Design which had been the back during all 10 years; Adam Mickiewicz, Poland; Israeli Foreign Office; The Polish Institute in Tel Aviv; Four Polish collaborating Academic institutions; Mr. Mike Stein.