Pyramida Art Center

Pyramida Art Center (Hebrew: פירמידה, מרכז לאמנות עכשווית) is an Israeli non-profit contemporary art association and gallery located in Wadi Salib, Haifa. Founded in 1992 by a group of veteran artists led by Avraham Eilat, who has also served as its chairman since 2003, the organization was established with the declared aim of fostering artistic exchange between Israel and the world and promoting art in Israel. It received an abandoned elementary school building from then-mayor of Haifa, Aryeh Gur'el, and gradually renovated it into a multi-level gallery and studio complex. The building, which had been empty since the neighborhood's population was evacuated and had served as a drug den, became one of the first steps in the slow urban renewal of the lower city. The center operates a large gallery that has hosted exhibitions since 1994, showing both established Israeli artists such as Yair Garbuz, Moshe Kupferman, Menashe Kadishman, Meir Pichhadze, Moshe Gershuni, Aliza Olmert, Pinchas Cohen-Gan, Yigal Tumarkin, and Yechiel Shemi, as well as artists from New York, the Netherlands, and Italy. In 1996, Pyramida launched the "Young Artists Project," which offers studio spaces in the building to emerging artists for periods of two to four years, providing them with working conditions and exposure. In 2006, it initiated a music performance series, hosting alternative ensembles and musicians such as Albert Beger, Harold Rubin, and Ariel Shibolet, as well as groups from Germany and the United States. The association is partially funded by the Israeli Ministry of Culture. In late 2017, Galia Bar Or, former director of the Mishkan Museum of Art in Ein Harod, was appointed chief curator of Pyramida. The gallery is open to the public during fixed weekly hours, while most of the time the space functions as workshop areas open by arrangement with the artists.

Pyramida Art Center was founded in 1992 by a group of veteran Israeli artists led by Avraham Eilat, who has also served as its chairman since 2003. The group's declared aspiration was to foster artistic fertilization between Israel and the world and to promote art in Israel. They received an abandoned elementary school building from the mayor of Haifa, Aryeh Gur'el, and were joined by younger artists. The building underwent partial renovation and was the first in a slow series of urban renewal steps that later took place in the lower city. Alongside Eilat, the veteran core included artists such as Yehuda Yitziv, Yaakov Dorchin, Israel Wertman, and Morel Derfler, who was killed in the 2001 Nahariya attack. The members took it upon themselves to reflect through the gallery space what was happening in Israeli and international art, and exhibitions held since 1994 brought world-renowned artists to Wadi Salib. The building, with three broad levels, had stood empty since the neighborhood was evacuated and had served as a central and active drug den. Even after the new occupants, the Pyramida members, moved in, homeless people continued for a time to break into the place, interested less in art materials and more in the contents of the refrigerator. Its large, bare windows and its being, in the words of curator Smadar Schindler, "not physically pampering" were an essential element for the building in the creative processes that took place within it since the 1990s. Separate from the gallery, in 1996 the "Young Artists Project" was inaugurated, in which artists whose names were not yet known, from a variety of visual art fields, come to rent studio rooms on its various floors, in a program lasting between two and four years during which they engage in their artistic fields personally and receive working conditions and exposure they had not previously enjoyed. Among those exhibiting in the changing exhibitions were artists such as Yair Garbuz, Moshe Kupferman, Menashe Kadishman, Meir Pichhadze, Moshe Gershuni, Aliza Olmert, Pinchas Cohen-Gan, Yigal Tumarkin, Yechiel Shemi, and others from the national artistic mainstream. Alongside them exhibited artists from New York, the Netherlands, and Italy. The continuation artists who take and have taken part in the Young Artists Project include Shimon Wanda, Yael Balaban, Nadav Weissman, Shahar Sivan, and others. Among the curators of exhibitions to date are curators from Israel and abroad, some of whom were part of the Pyramida group at different times. At the end of 2017, Galia Bar Or was appointed chief curator of Pyramida. Bar Or directed the Mishkan Museum of Art in Ein Harod for about 30 years. Bar Or, from Kibbutz Ein Harod Meuhad, holds a doctorate in history and philosophy of science and ideas from Tel Aviv University, has curated many exhibitions in Israel and abroad, directed cultural events and biennials, and published many articles and catalogs. Another project that began in 2006 is music performances, an initiative that also started from a search by young alternative ensembles for a home, with Pyramida dedicating to them the space that every month turns into a performance space. Among the artists hosted were Albert Beger, Harold Rubin, Ariel Shibolet, and ensembles from Germany and the United States. The association is partially funded by the Ministry of Culture. In the exhibitions held in the gallery, members of the association and guest artists reveal the fruits of their work from the studio rooms, from Israel and the world, and these include drawings, video installations, sculpture, photography, and a wide range of mixed techniques. The gallery opens to the public during a number of fixed hours during the week. Most of the time, however, the place serves as workshop spaces, open to the public by arrangement with the artists.

• 2017

  Galia Bar Or appointed chief curator of Pyramida.

• 2006

  Music performance series initiated, hosting alternative ensembles.

• 2003

  Avraham Eilat begins serving as chairman of the association.

• 2001

  Artist Morel Derfler, a member of the veteran core, killed in the Nahariya attack.

• 1996

  Young Artists Project inaugurated, offering studio spaces to emerging artists.

• 1994

  First exhibitions held in the gallery.

• 1992

  Pyramida Art Center founded by a group of veteran artists led by Avraham Eilat.

Non-profit contemporary art center and gallery fostering artistic exchange and urban renewal in Haifa.

• Contemporary art exhibitions

  Changing exhibitions featuring Israeli and international artists.

• Young Artists Project

  Studio program for emerging artists lasting two to four years.

• Music performances

  Monthly performance space for alternative ensembles.

1. 1Pyramida art center - Wikidatawikidata.org
2. 2פירמידה (עמותה) - Wikipediahe.wikipedia.org