Rachel Neiman
April 26, 2015

This year, the Israel Museum, Jerusalem celebrates its 50th anniversary with a new exhibition, entitled 1965 Today, a journey into the year the Museum was born.

The curators describe 1965 Today as “an intriguing and often surprising perspective on the Israeli experience, then and now.

“In celebration of the Museum’s 50th anniversary we return to 1965 and take a look at the country as it was then – more innocent, with a different aesthetics and groundbreaking creative forces”.

“You are invited to wander among such local period signposts as the legendary ethnic garment store Maskit, the inauguration of Kolbo Shalom – the first skyscraper, Ya’acov Agam’s optical art, and Levy Eshkol’s victory in the national elections”.

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The exhibition also highlights Israel’s emerging art scene in the mid-1960s, presenting over 60 artworks created by leading Israeli artists at the time, such as Mordecai Ardon and Yosef Zaritsky, and by artists who were then at the very start of their career, such as Yair Garbuz and Micha Ullman.

1965 also saw the inauguration of the Shrine of the Book, which houses ancient manuscripts including the Dead Sea Scrolls. Pictured here are Shrine architects Frederick Kiesler (left) and Armand Bartos (right).

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As part of the celebrations, the Museum has invited the public to send in family photos of visits to the Museum from 1965 and on through today.

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The project was launched in cooperation with Yad Ben-Zvi’s Israel Revealed to the Eye, a communal initiative with the purpose of recording, saving, and preserving the photos that document the state and the country, its residents and its history. Selected pictures will feature in ads and publications that will be produced in conjunction with the jubilee events.

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For more information and to contribute photos to this unique family album, visit Israel Revealed to the Eye or simply send an e-mail specifying name, phone number, and required credit line (such as “From the Cohen family album, Haifa”) with attached photos in jpg format, to:  israelalbum@ybz.org.il

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