The Refrigerator (HaMecarer) 2017

A multidisciplinary art event in an industrial space of 1,900m2

Achva Amitay, Eitan Buganim, Effi & Amir, David Benarroch, Dorit Bialer, Yael Ravid, Meir Tati, Noam Bar, Naomi Slaney, Adi Sorek, Alina Deckel, Amit Hai Cohen, Sand Box, Ruba Salameh, Shachaf Predilailo

Curators: Gili Zaidman and Iris Pshedezki

21.12.17-6.1.18 under the earth. 90 Hahashmonaim Street.

Special events:

Thurs. Dec. 28: 7 p.m. Opening evening with DJ Double and DJ White Trash

Fri. Dec. 29: 12 noon. Gallery talk with the artists and the curators

Fri. Jan. 5: 11 a.m. Event together with Merhav (MIU) Movement for Israeli Urbanism – a traveling conversation through the rooms of Hamecarer 2017 in which artists from the exhibition meet with architects and municipal officials

Sat. Jan. 6: 12 noon. An intimate wintertime picnic, based on the senses and dreams. 

Hamecarer is located on Hahashmonaim Street, in the space containing the refrigeration rooms of Tel Aviv’s former wholesale produce market. At present, the area lies at the center of an accelerated urban development zone. The site, a clearly marginal area which gradually became a valuable and desirable real estate asset, stimulates much socio-political, urban and ecological inquiry.

This underground space, its presence unknown to many, leads directly to the unconscious of the city as habitat. Staying under the ground in the city center refers to concealed contents that were neither seen nor discussed. The exhibition, an ecological unit within the urban space, engages in the link between the environs and the soul, between daily activities and the way in which each person sets in motion chains of causation in their lives. Wandering between the floors and the old refrigeration rooms simulates wandering through the city’s backyards and reanimates past events and people.

The closure of the wholesale produce market led to the closing down of the refrigeration rooms, which remained desolate for years. In January 2018, the complex will begin to operate again, this time to reopen as a space for artists’ studios and art events. Hamecarer 2017 is a preview of the complex. The two murals from the previous exhibition last year, which engaged in the issue of historical preservation, among others, have been conserved and will constitute part of the complex as one of the multiple layers of this exhibition.

The special event takes place in association with the Tel Aviv-Yafo Municipality and with the support of the Pais Foundation for Culture and Art.