“The Kids Want Communism” (TKWC) is a yearlong exhibition project at MoBY (Museum of Bat Yam) being held in conjunction with a number of different artists and institutions around the world, and organized internationally by iLiana Fokianaki, Vladimir Vidmar, Oleksiy Radynski, Vit Havranek, Kuba Szreder, and Joshua Simon.
Marking the 100th year since the Bolshevik Revolution of October 1917, TKWC includes exhibitions, lectures, exhibits, screenings, and publications brought together with partner institutions, among them Tranzit Prague, VCRC Kiev Free / Slow University of Warsaw, State of Concept in Athens, the Škuc Gallery in Ljubljana, Westspace in Melbourne, and MoBY.
As part of the third round of “The Kids Want Communism” the entrance to MoBY displays paintings by the artist Toy Boy, who was born in Luanda, and grew up as a street kid in Angola after the war against South Africa and the United States. The unique story of this unknown war, which led to the fall of the Apartheid, is told through the artist’s experiences. Next to it s the installation of Hila Laviv and Dana Yoeli, “In the Corner This Morning,” a poster inspired by the utopian rooms designed by the Soviet artist Lazar Markovich Lissitzky, known as El Lissitzky (1890-1941).
Visitors to TKWC are invited to take a copy of a poster that has a paper model and which they are encouraged to touch, cut, fold, paint, and decorate in the handicrafts tradition of DIY (Do it yourself). On the second floor, the large-scale installation of Max Epstein “Dacha,” created especially for the exhibition, restores not only the traditional Russian wooden summer house, but also provides the uncanny features it involved. Performer Tamar Nissim presents “I am Simha Tzabari,” which relates the fascinating story of leading communist activist Tzabari (1913-2014) during the days of Britain’s colonial occupation of Palestine.
Mati Lahat exhibits “Titans,” an installation created especially for the exhibition and composed of original frescoes created in 1954 by Shraga Weil and Shmuel Katz in the communal dining hall of Kibbutz Ein Hamifratz. Lahat rescued the frescoes before the dining hall wall was demolished. At MoBY he presents the paintings on the backdrop of pencil drawings of the Ukrainian “Memorial to the Liquidators,” those who sacrificed their lives to seal the nuclear reactor at Chernobyl with concrete in 1986 to halt the massive leakage of atomic radiation.
Tal Gafny’s installation “Atidim” (Futures), also created especially for the exhibition, has at its center the image of Alyssa Carson, an American girl who has been training for the past nine years to participate in the first manned expedition to Mars planned by NASA for 2033. Gafny’s work represents a summary of the first chapter of the project and will accompany Alyssa on her departure to the red planet in 17 years.
“Structure for Rest,” a formation of beds for daydreaming by Ohad Meromi, is on the museum’s second floor and is intended to create constellations between the various exhibits. In addition, a mural by Jonathan Gold showing people standing in line has been completed during the year and is now presented in its final form.
The exhibition “Notes on Division,” curated by iLiana Fokianaki from State of Concept in Athens, one of the international partners of TKWC, returns visitors to the Greek civil war of 1946-1949 and the political discourse surrounding the current capitalist crisis in the country. The exhibition will host major artists from the art scene in Athens, including Konstantinos Kotsi, Yota Ioannidou, Antonis Pittas, Yorgos Sapountzis, and Vangelis Vlahos.
Opening of the third and final installment of “The Kids Want Communism” and the gala re-opening of the Museum of Bat Yam after its renovation will take place on Thursday evening, June 22, at 8:00 pm. Entrance is free.
MoBY website: www.moby.org.il
The Kids Want Communism Blog: http://tkwc.tumblr.com
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