Asylum Arts

Join poet, writer, filmmaker, and Asylum Arts Alum Amichai Chasson for a conversation about what happens when a poet encounters a work of visual art at the Artist's Studios in Jerusalem, on Wednesday, May 20. “The eyes of the portraits pierced the living flesh”. ​What happens when a poet encounters a work of visual art? A conversation on the dialogue between Hebrew poetry and visual art: from Tuvia Rübner and Paul Klee, through T. Carmi and Chaim Soutine, to Liat Kaplan and Tamara Rikman. A reading of poetry and image, alongside insights from the process of working on a new photography exhibition by Aliza Auerbach, to be presented this summer at the Beit Avi Chai Gallery, which will include a tribute to Hebrew poetry through Auerbach’s photographs of Jerusalem. Curatorial Encounter #145 Amichai Chason | Between poetry and visual art​ Artist's Studios, Jerusalem @artcubeartistsstudios Wednesday, May 20, 2026, at 8:00 P.M. The meeting will also be broadcast on Zoom Photo credit: Bar Gordon

Exciting news for our artist community! The Neighborhood is proud to present Moses of the City, a photo series by Luis Mercedes Winter featured as part of Photoville Festival 2026. Moses of the City is a modern day interpretation of the Exodus story, using original writing with staged images alongside documents of protest from 2020-2021. ㅤ Photoville Festival will be on view from May 16 through May 30––exhibitions are open-air and can be seen 24/7. This spring marks 15 years of visual storytelling with a 85+ public art exhibitions in all 5 boroughs of NYC, walking tours, panels, workshops, and IRL & online public programming throughout May. Don't miss opening weekend, May 16 and 17!

Tomorrow! Join The Neighborhood (@theneighborhoodbk ) and Artist Working Groups Participants Chanan Ben Simon (@chanan.ben.simon ), Guy Barash (@guybarash ), and Ira Klein (@guitar.poet.nyc ) for Sephardic Sounds at this year's BKCM Open Stages! This event is free and open to the public! The Neighborhood returns to Brooklyn Conservatory of Music's annual Open Stages festival with another Jewish music stage! This time, featuring the sounds of the Sephardic world, with sets tracing sonic roots to North Africa and the Middle East. The three acts, Desert Soul, Habbina Habbina, and Chanan Ben Simon and Guy Barash will have you dancing in the streets! Chanan Ben Simon (voice) and Guy Barash (electronics) come together for Ancestors Dance Too—a vibrant voice-and-electronics project that reclaims Jewish musical heritage as a living, dancing, present-tense celebration. Drawing a line from North Africa to Israel to the global dance floor, their performances transform Jewish tradition into a space of energy, warmth, and celebration, where heritage isn’t preserved behind glass, but lived, danced, and joyfully renewed. Ben Simon and Barash continue their shared journey with a project that reimagines traditional songs alongside new compositions drawn from classic Jewish texts. The result is music that moves between ancient and contemporary, sacred and playful, intimate and communal. Ira Klein's Desert Soul celebrates the glorious grooves of Moroccan, Yemenite, and Spanish Jewish music, combining the timeless spirit and power of ancient songs with an electric and uplifting modern sound. It features an ensemble of celebrated Brooklyn-based performers: Hila Rabby (voice), Ira Klein (electric guitar), Ran Livneh (bass), and Nizar Dahmani (percussion). The Neighborhood’s Sephardic Sounds stage Saturday, May 9, 3-6pm Brooklyn Conservatory of Music Open Stages @brooklynconservatory Now indoors! 57 8th Ave, Brooklyn

Multidisciplinary performance practitioner and artist working group participant Noah Crandell (@noahcrandell ) is debuting his new performance this weekend in NYC! "The Genocide Tour is a play. Or, maybe it's not a play. Who knows. It's about a man. His name is Noah. He is a Jew. He speaks to the audience. He is realizing that perhaps the ways he has been taught about genocide doesn't quite add up. He grew up in Minneapolis, a city routinely engulfed with violence, as of late. A Polish tour guide, Łukasz, helps him out. There's also a young Jewish girl named Anne. You may recognize her. She is going through a break-up and is traveling around Eastern Europe to get back in touch with her roots. She broadcasts her journey to her many online-fans. She receives advice from an omnipresent diary. Plus, there is an Israeli sitcom, The Settlers, filmed between 1949 and 1975 starring The Husband, The Wife, and The Arab, all three of whom may be having an affair with one other. It's complicated. Content Warning! The play is about Genocide! So...yeah. You might be uncomfortable. Mature audiences only! Fun! Oh. And Nudity." May 8-9, 7:30pm 3AM Theatre, 9-20 35th Ave #3N, Astoria, NY 11106 Tickets @noahcrandell bio Created and performed by Noah Crandell Directed by Molly Shayna Cohen

Join Visual artist and Asylum Alum Hadassa Goldvicht (@hadassagoldvicht ) for an artist talk with the groundbreaking pioneer artist Mierle Ukeles Lederman, marking the closing of her show “To the Internal Libraries” at the National Library of Israel. The two will discuss the National Library’s collections as a reflection of invisible human actions across generations; the connections between body, motherhood and the architecture of the Library; as well as hidden reservoirs of knowledge, both personal and collective, and their profound roles in these times and beyond. The development of the project and artist book was supported by an Asylum Arts small grant. The Invisible Foundations of the National Library Gallery Talk with Hadassa Goldvicht and Mierle Ukeles Lederman Friday, May 8th, 10:00 - 11:00 The National Library of Israel, #1 Kaplan St, Jerusalem Tickets @hadassagoldvicht bio. To the Internal Libraries is on view through June 3rd. Images: Hadassa Goldvicht, To the Internal Libraries, installation shots. Photos by Elad Sarg. Hadassa Goldvicht, To the Internal Libraries / Biblioscopia, artist book, 2026.

Artist, musician, and Artist Working Group participant Paul Amitai (@paulamitai ) presents the first live performance of Trope Variations, a vocal improvisation platform built around the ancient melody system of Hebrew cantillation. A set of thirty graphic marks, each representing a different melody, provide the creative prompts for the performance. The melodies are the building blocks of an improvised soundscape, which is arranged and processed in new ways every time it’s performed. Designed in collaboration with creative technologist Jeff Crouse, Amitai uses a custom image-tracking audio sequencer to trigger and layer vocal samples in real time, providing the foundation for live improvisation. The project makes its debut at Reforesters Lab in Williamsburg, an intimate, deep listening space specially designed for immersive ambient performances. Paul Amitai: Trope Variations Saturday, May 2, 7pm Reforesters Laboratory, 147 Metropolitan Ave Tickets: https://ra.co/events/2403109 Image: Paul Amitai, from Trope Variations

Artist Working Group participant Nessa Norich (@nessoono ) is co-staring in a theatrical reimagining of the deranged movie classic “What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?” In NYC this Weekend! Former child star, Baby Jane Hudson, and her wheelchair-bound sister, Blanche, a once-famous actress, share a crumbling Hollywood mansion filled with jealousy and dark secrets. As Jane’s descent into madness intensifies, audiences will be laughing one moment and screaming the next as they witness the disturbing tale of squalor, psychological torment and a dead rat for din-din. April 30 - May 2, 7:30pm May 2 - Matinee The Collapsable Hole, 155 Bank Street, NYC Tickets via @themoonhills bio!

Join Artist Working Group participant Maya Ojalvo Oren (@shopsafta ) for Bead Ritual--an intimate evening centered on sound, movement, and intuitive beading with channeled gemstones, guided by the creativity residing in your womb. The evening will begin in the gallery space to view Womb Portal — the matriarchal artworks of Image Atlas — to set the tone, and then to a private room to bead from your hearts. Wednesday, April 29, 7-9pm The Ace Hotel @acehotelnewyork Link @shopsafta and @mayaojalvo bios to snag your spot!

Musician and Artist Working Group participant Eli Berman (@_eliberman_ ) is premiering an excerpt of her new electro puppet opera LITANIES OF LILITH at the 2026 Object Movement Puppetry Festival in NYC! LITANIES OF LILITH is a puppet opera exploring the Jewish mythology of Lilith, mother of demons. Singing in English and Yiddish, composer-vocalist Eli Berman unleashes her voice through vocal feedback pipes: DIY noise instruments made of pipes, tubes, animal hides, microphones, speakers, and effects pedals. These materials are assembled into musical props along with a 10-foot sonic backpack puppet operated by multiple performers. Berman’s score–built from voices, electronics, and handmade percussion–draws on extended vocal techniques, techno, ambient music, and Ashkenazi Jewish cantorial traditions of the early 20th century. The title references a piece by Diamanda Galás called “Litanies of Satan,” itself drawn from a poem of the same name by Charles Baudelaire. The libretto was written in English by Eli Berman with Yiddish translation by Moishe Dolman. Performers include Eli Berman, Jan Leslie Harding, Zlata Godunova, Bonita Oliver, and Abbie Minard. Builders include Eli Berman, Jim Freeman, Jan Leslie Harding, and Zlata Godunova. April 24 (7pm) & April 25 (2pm / 7pm) Dixon Place (161A Chrystie St, New York, NY 10002) Tickets @_eliberman_ bio!

Artist Working Group participant Daniel Toretsky will perform his new piece, WHALE MEAT, next Friday, April 17 and Saturday, April 18 at Dixon Place in the Lower East Side. WHALE MEAT is about finding a cosmology for oneself amidst climate collapse and late capitalist malaise. It's a seven-level paper theater spectacle where tiny puppets on sticks dance in and out of dioramas layered from painted flats, complete with homemade mini-spotlights and an original soundscape. Get your tickets @daniel.toretsky Bio!

Visual artist and Asylum alum Avital Burg's (@avitalburg ) solo exhibition 'A passing shadow and a vanishing cloud', opening this Saturday, April 11, in LA! Avital Burg’s practice begins outside the studio. She gathers natural materials growing along the streets between her home and her Brooklyn studio: wildflowers, weeds, and branches that persist within the city’s built environment. These plants, which appear only during particular seasons, are brought into the studio and arranged before the artist begins painting from life. Avital Burg 'A passing shadow and a vanishing cloud' Opening reception: Saturday, April 11th, 6 - 8 PM Through May 16, 2026 Nazarian / Curcio, 616 N La Brea Ave, Los Angeles, CA @nazariancurcio Image: Avital Burg, Prospect Street Forsythia and Dandelions, 2025, Oil and Oil Pastels on Linen, 27 x 26 inch.

Visual artist and Asylum alum Abraham Kritzman's (@abrahamkritzman ) new solo show, ‘Palms and Smoke’, opens tomorrow, April 9, in London! The exhibition units painting, sculpture, and ceramics into a conceptual and spatial framework. Bringing together all facets of Kritzman’s practice for the first time, the exhibition reveals connections between different strands of the artist’s work across mediums and explores themes of introspection, transformation, and material process. Richly textured surfaces and imagined figures evoke a sense of intimacy and timelessness, seamlessly integrating narrative and biographical content. Abraham Kritzman Palms and Smoke Opening reception: April 9, 6-8 pm Through Jun 7, 2026 Elizabeth Xi Bauer Gallery, Fuel Tank 8-12 Creekside, SE8 3DX, London @elizabethxibauer Image: Abraham Kritzman, Palms and Smoke at the Final Stop, oil and oil pastels on wood, 40x30 cm. Photograph: Elad Sarig.