After a year of budgetary challenges, municipal and other—Zumu upped its game and opened in its second stop, Arad. This time, in two pre-existing buildings—a local contemporary art gallery and the Arad Towel Factory—with a massive exhibition that dealt with the economic, political and personal systems that control our lives.

The main location of the exhibition, the logistical center of a massive factory and local landmark, Arad Towels, and its unique story of an assembly line that was shut down and transferred to Jordan, led us to the city’s, and, essentially, the Israeli periphery’s open wound–absolute dependence on external forces and large, concentrated sources of employment.

This time the exhibition was spread over a 1,000 m, and we doubled the number of participating artists and duration of the exhibition, as Arad is almost twice as big as Yeruham and attracts tourists and residents of neighboring settlements.

Zumu Arad also launched the residency program, which hosted three artists for a month in Arad, who created specially commissioned works for the exhibition in collaboration with local artists and based on local knowledge.

Zumu hosted students from the local schools in Arad and adjacent settlements, which breathed new life and vibrancy into the venue and turned the industrial area into a cultural center.

Participants:
Guy Ben Ner // Shay Id Alony // Uri Batson // Avital Geva // Atar Geva // Zohar Gotesman // Sharon Glazberg // Keren Gueller // // Leor Grady // Ori Gersht // Ruti De Vries // Natalia Zurabova // Mushon Zer-Aviv // Raafat Yair Garbuz Hattab // Tailoring Group // Yogev Yefet // Erez Israeli // Liat Cohen // Yuval Caspi // Dana Levy // Speculative Tourism // Peter Jacob Maltz // Orly Sever // Lina Sverdlov // Doron Solomons // Nira Peleg // Olga Kondina // Guy Koenigstein // Mahmood Kaiss // Zoya Cherkassky // Tamir Zadok // Tamar Roded Shabtay // Mika Rottenberg // Amos Redlich // Hadas Reshef // Benjamin Shkedi // Igael Tumarkin

Zumu Arad was made possible by the generous support of the Ted Arison Family Foundation, Mifal HaPais, Arad Municipality and private donors.