The exhibitions designed for the whole family at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art are interactive, based on an education philosophy which stresses individual learning through hands-on experience. The Museum, which was been entrusted with preserving original works of art, has established a policy of maintaining a physical distance from the works of art. In order to allow the children to have a hands-on experience in an informal atmosphere, the interactive exhibitions offer a richly-stimulating learning environment which allows the children to operate freely. In this way the visit to the Museum becomes a positive experience. The main objective of this learning technique is to train the child to independent learning which is both effective and enjoyable. We believe that the sense of enjoyment will encourage the child to return to the Museum and to apply the tools that he has acquired in his repeated encounters with works of art. The interactive exhibitions at the Museum are designed especially for young people, and are successful in attracting thousands of children, parents, and grandparents. Families learn about original works of art through hands-on experiences and activities that turn the visit to the Museum into a multi-sensory learning experience. In addition, thousands of schoolchildren come to the Museum on class trips and receive special explanations from the Museum guides. The exhibitions also stimulate and inspire hundreds of teachers and educators who use their visits to develop new programs and methods for teaching art. Original ideas, the use of technology, the manner of displaying art works, and the fact that each exhibition is different than the one before in design and activity – all make a visit to the exhibitions an appealing experience.

The objectives of the interactive exhibitions: to give the child tools to understand the language of art, to develop skills in viewing works of art, to arouse curiosity and interest, to turn the Museum visit into a positive experience, to enrich the child’s inner world, and to heighten his sense of criticism and appreciation.

ART ANY WAY: EXPLORING THE WHEEL

An Interactive Exhibition for the Whole Family

Why devote an exhibition to the subject of wheels?

In Israel, bicycles have become a widespread form of efficient everyday transportation that is environmentally friendly while improving our quality of life, as well as a popular physical activity and competitive sport.

Over the course of history, the artistic interest in wheels has been given expression in different cultures in paintings, reliefs, and even in written texts. Wheels are already mentioned in the Bible: "And the work of the wheels was like the work of a chariot wheel: their axletrees, and their naves, and their felloes, and their spokes, were all molten" (Kings I, 7:33).

In the early twentieth century, Futurist artists frequently painted bicycle riders as a symbol of the movement and dynamism characteristic of modern life. In 1913, the artist Marcel Duchamp set a bicycle wheel on a stool, thus challenging centuries-old conventions concerning the nature of sculpture. Duchamp intended to shock viewers and to call for creative freedom by presenting this first "ready-made" (an object detached from its everyday context) in the temple of high art – the museum.

The innovative decision to create a sculpture out of an everyday object that has the capacity for movement gradually transformed the character of modern art, mobilizing it in different directions that gave rise to new ways of thought and original types of artistic expression. Duchamp's choice of a wheel, which was clearly no coincidence, calls to mind the unanswered question "Who invented the wheel?" – which refers to one of the most revolutionary inventions in human history.

The bicycle wheel embodies two contrasting forces operating in two different directions, which come together to produce movement. One is the circular motion of the wheel itself, while the second is born of the contact between the wheel and the ground, which creates a linear movement forward in space. These two forces – the circular and the linear – may serve as a metaphor for the two basic human essences – male and female.

The works featured in this exhibition present a range of surprising and original artistic approaches to bicycles. The exhibition is dynamic, and points to various connections between the wheel and artmaking, as well as between the wheel and everyday life. Like the bicycle rider steering his course along different paths, this exhibition "rolls" in different artistic and extra-artistic directions that are both direct and associative. The various activities it features examine the form and function of the wheel; some of them are directly related to bicycles as vehicles, while others center on the visual effects created by circular motion. A number of activities also explore other types of wheels, such as the wheel of colors and the zodiac.
And now, to your seats, ready, go!!!

Curator: Sara Raiman Shor
Assistant Curator: Orit Sabag
Design and Production: Tucan Design Studio Ltd.

This exhibition is sponsored by
British Friends of the Art Museums of Israel

For more information:
sarar@tamuseum.com

Curator: Sarah Reiman Shor

+972 (0)3-6077044

orits@tamuseum.com

Assistant Curator: Orit Sabag

+972 (0)3-6077046