Mushon Zer-Aviv

What does it mean to look “normal”? And who gets to decide? In Normaliz.ing, artist and activist Mushon Zer-Aviv turns the casual, almost invisible act of looking into a system of classification. Inspired by the probing looks of strangers on the streets of Jerusalem, Zer-Aviv began developing the project more than a decade ago as a way to examine how social norms are formed, absorbed, and reproduced. The interactive web-based installation is designed to be experienced on a mobile phone. It first takes a photo of the user, then asks them to rate the features of others, and finally places them on a “map of normalcy” based on collective visual judgments. The result is unsettling: a portrait shaped not by who we are, but by how others see, sort, and measure us. Presented alongside historical systems of human classification, including Alphonse Bertillon’s portrait parlé, an early precursor to the modern mugshot, Normaliz.ing asks how old mechanisms of control continue to reappear through new technologies. Ahead of our upcoming event Surveillance and Politics, join us tomorrow for a conversation between Mushon Zer-Aviv and Oren Ziv on images, power, classification, and resistance. Wednesday, May 13 at 8 PM More about the exhibition > in bio. Software developer: Adam Kariv Produced with the support of Science Gallery, Dublin Installation view: @talnisim79 Images: Courtesy of the artist @mushon

In a world where every gaze can become information, and every piece of information can become a tool of control - the question is no longer only who is watching us, but what that gaze does to us. This coming Wednesday at Artport, we will host a conversation between Mushon Zer-Aviv and Oren Ziv, two of the artists participating in the group exhibition Fragments of a Portrait, whose works move between art, activism, technology, and politics. In the conversation, they will discuss the intersections between surveillance and politics, the development processes behind the works presented in the exhibition - Oren Ziv’s Portraits of Fascism and Mushon Zer-Aviv’s Normaliz.ing - and the ways in which systems of power, documentation, and identification shape the space we live in. Wednesday, May 13 at 8 PM Free admission ~ More about the exhibition > in bio.

Tomorrow at 12 pm - a guided tour of Fragments of a Portrait with exhibition curator Levi Prombaum, who will walk us through the ideas and questions that shape the exhibition ~ @leviprom In a world where it seems increasingly impossible to simply be - without being seen, captured, measured, stored somewhere as data - the exhibition asks what happens to the portrait. What remains of it when the body becomes information, when the gaze becomes a system, and when the individual is broken down into fragments that can be tracked, quantified, and used to understand something about reality. The works in the exhibition move between partial figures, disrupted gazes, mechanisms of vision, cameras, surveillance systems, and questions of intimacy, identity, and power. Out of all these, another kind of portrait begins to emerge - not of a single person, but of a shared reality: complex, networked, and at times, quite absurd. Featuring: Rachel Anyo, Ephraim Wasse, Oren Ziv, Mushon Zer-Aviv, Nardeen Srouji, Laila Abd Elrazaq, and Ronit Porat. @oren_ziv @ronit_porat1 @nardeensrouji @i_am_eph @layla991 @rachelanyo @mushon And a small but important reminder: Fragments of a Portrait closes in three weeks, on May 30. So if you haven’t had a chance to visit yet, or if you’d like to see it again through a slightly different lens - tomorrow is a very good opportunity. Friday | May 8 | 12pm Artport, 8 Ha’Amal Street, Tel Aviv Free admission. More about the exhibition >>> in bio. Installation view: @talnisim79

פשעי המלחמה הללו נעשים בשם כולנו. אבל הם נעשים ליטראלי, בשמי.⁩

There is a moment when a portrait no longer holds together. It fragments - into layers, into traces of data, into hints of presence. Fragments of a Portrait unfolds within this moment - between body and information, between gaze and system, between what is seen and what is measured. We're happy to invite you to the exhibition's official opening - this coming Thursday, April 16th, 8pm The works in the exhibition operate through fragmentation - partial figures, dissolving bodies, fragments of identity that move between abstraction and representation. They draw on the long history of portraiture, while also deviating from it, proposing new ways of seeing, being seen, and understanding the self within a network of forces. In a reality where vision is no longer solely human but also technological - both external and internalized - identity is continuously reshaped through surveillance. It is no longer only an external mechanism, but a state of mind. It permeates relationships, intimacies, and the ways we perform and imagine ourselves. And from within this fragmentation, from within the partial - another portrait emerges. Not of an individual, but of a shared reality. Curator: Levi Prombaum Featuring: Rachel Anyo, Ephraim Wasse, Oren Ziv, Mushon Zer-Aviv, Nardeen Srouji, Laila Abd Elrazaq, Ronit Porat More about the exhibition >>> in our bio.

Join us for the upcoming two-part online workshop ׳Forging Anti-Fascist Futures: A Political Imagination,׳ with Albi Fáros artist @mushon , in collaboration with @thec4aa . The series is completely free, and the application deadline is this Friday. Don’t sleep on this! Link in bio.

בסולם מדומיין של מ-0-10 עד כמה טובים חייכם כרגע? כך בוחן ״מדד האושר העולמי״ את אושרם של אנשים בכל העולם ומדרג את הישראלים בעשירייה הפותחת בכל שנה מחדש. אך האם המדד מדרג את אושר, חוסן, פטריוטיות, או את גבולות הדמיון הפוליטי שלנו? המאמר שלי התפרסם היום בהארץ באתר ובמהדורת החג השני. זו הזדמנות לחלוק אותו אתכם כאן (גללו לקריאה) וגם להזמין אתכם לסדנת דמיון פוליטי אונליין בחמישי הקרוב ב-20:00 (פרטים והרשמה בביו של @2states1homeland )

UPDATE: Deadline to apply extended! Apply by 12 pm ET on Friday, April 10th. “Together in peace. ICE defunded. Our grandkids are proud of us. We did it together.” These are Future Screenshots: imagined artifacts from futures that don’t exist yet. The question isn’t just what if. It’s what would it take. 💭 That’s what we’re exploring with Mushon Zer-Aviv in Forging Anti-Fascist Futures, a two-part political imagination workshop series: Part 1: Future Screenshots | April 13th | 12–2pm ET Part 2: What For? | April 20th | 12–2pm ET This series is free and online, with limited spots, so a short application is required. Apply at the link in bio. #C4AA #ArtisticActivism #SocialJustice

What does Israel’s high happiness ranking really measure in a time of war, fear, and deepening inequality? In this OpEd for @haaretzcom , I argue that what looks like resilience may reflect something darker: our ability to normalize the unbearable and shrink our political imagination to fit it. And yet, even this flawed index reveals something important — that Israeli and Palestinian futures remain deeply intertwined. I argue peace demands more than an end to violence, it demands political imagination. Full article at @haaretzcom & @alandforall.global profile @happinessrpt #peace #politicalimagination

UPDATE: Deadline to apply extended! Apply by 12 pm ET on Friday, April 10th. We believe in the power of imagination. Especially now, when there's so much serious, urgent work to do and it can feel like there's no room to dream. What if you could screenshot a future that doesn't exist yet, and use it to figure out where to focus right now? Join us for Forging Anti-Fascist Futures: A Political Imagination Workshop. Our last offering filled up fast. Now we're running it again as a two-part series. 👉 Part 1: Future Screenshots: A method for political imagination 📆 Monday, April 13th, 12–2pm ET 👉 Part 2: What For?: Turning those visions into strategic direction 📆 Monday, April 20th, 12–2pm ET Developed by designer, writer, and activist Mushon Zer-Aviv, both sessions are free and online. Spots are limited and a short application is required. Part 2 will only be offered to participants of part 1 and for applicants working in teams. Alumni of the January workshop will receive an invitation to apply for part 2. Link in bio to learn more and apply. #C4AA #ArtisticActivism #SocialJustice

עצרו את הטרור היהודי בגדה! גילוי דעת - הפקולטה לעיצוב, שנקר. @shenkar_college הפקולטה לעיצוב בשנקר קוראת לצה״ל ולכל זרועות הביטחון לנקוט פעולה מיידית ואפקטיבית להפסקת גל האלימות המאורגנת המופנה נגד אוכלוסייה אזרחית פלסטינית בגדה המערבית. נוכח מעשי רצח, תקיפה, הצתה, ביזה וגירוש, אין די בהודעות גינוי או בהעברת אחריות בין דרגים. האחריות מוטלת על רשויות הביטחון, והחובה למלא אותה היא מיידית. האירועים בשבועות ובחודשים האחרונים אינם מקרים נקודתיים או מעשיהם של יחידים. מדובר בדפוס מתמשך של אלימות לאומנית חמורה, המתרחש פעם אחר פעם לנגד עיני כוחות הביטחון, ולעיתים גם בהתעלמות מצידם. במצבים רבים מדי, הצבא, כוחות הביטחון והמשטרה אינם פועלים כדי להגן על מי שנתונים לאחריותם אלא דווקא נגד הפלסטינים המותקפים ונגד המתנדבים המבקשים לסייע להם ולעיתים אף מונע את חזרתם של תושבים פלסטינים לבתיהם לאחר שגורשו מהם באלימות. מציאות זו מערערת את שלטון החוק, פוגעת עמוקות בערכי היסוד שעליהם אמורות רשויות המדינה לעמוד, ומטילה צל כבד על המערכת כולה — ובה גם על אותן רשויות ביטחון שבהן משרתים אנו, חברי הסגל והסטודנטים והסטודנטיות שלנו במילואים. כפקולטה לעיצוב, איננו יכולים לעמוד מנגד מול הידרדרות מוסרית, אזרחית ומשפטית חמורה כזו. דווקא בימים אלה, שבהם החברה הישראלית מתמודדת עם מערכה קשה מול איראן ועם השלכותיה האנושיות והאזרחיות, נדרשת מערכת ביטחון אחראית, הפועלת מכוח החוק ולמען הגנה על חיי אדם. אנו קוראים לה לפעול לעצור כל גילוי של טרור יהודי, אלימות מאורגנת ונישול ולהגן על אזרחים ועל שלטון החוק. @visual_shenkar @shenkar.design.archive @shenkar.fashion @shenkar_art @shenkar.arabic @shenkar.myaguda @kadar_center_shenkar @m.des_shenkar @floor4shenkar.i.d @shenkar_interior @jewelry_shenkar @shenka