The exhibition project began its exploratory journey in 2021, at the Artists’ Museum in Givatayim, Israel. This first volume entitled “On the table” – “Crossed perspectives for a new vision of Morocco” was initiated by Rafi Barbibay, Israeli artist and curator of Moroccan origin, in collaboration with the Israeli artist Doron Polak, curator of the International Artists’ Museum in Israel since 1993 and co-curator of the project.

The premise of this multidisciplinary event is the establishment of diplomatic relations between Israel and Morocco and the consequent opening of a cultural programme between Israel, Morocco and France. The intention of this first chapter was to offer a more complex and richer vision of Moroccan culture in its entirety, and of the Jewish culture that originated there. The exhibition and the series of conferences, gathering artists and scholars, aimed to try “to understand the deep links the exist between (often) the unspoken past with the visible present and future aspirations”.Rafi Barbibay

The exhibition at Mémoire de l’Avenir expands this inquiry geographically to other countries in North Africa and Europe. In a political and societal context of growing hostility, in Europe and in France particularly, towards migrants and migration policies, it is essential to share the work of artists, particularly from generations that have migrated or gone into exile, who, through their artistic syncretism, embody the richness of encounters and who also make it possible to question the strategies of domination that push people to reject otherness.
This project will continue its journey with the production of a multidisciplinary event in Morocco, at the end of 2022.

By examining intergenerational links, the artists question both the nuclear family (the relationship between parents, children, grandchildren, etc.) and society at large, through dialogues that younger generations initiate with their elders, and vice versa. They also question history, with a big or small “h”, confrontations and dialogue of cultures, the relationship with religions… more generally, in intergenerational relationships, what draws people together, creates distances or ruptures, but also what forms or alters the relationship with the other.

Through these explorations of intergenerational links, the artists also question the notion of transmission, both material and immaterial heritages. Throughout this exhibition, we witness them appropriating the objects and concepts linked to knowledge, experiences and cultures that have been transmitted to them, to create new aesthetical and ethical proposals.

Building upon the links to the generations preceding them and the different cultures that shaped them, the artists present works on the boundaries between nostalgia, traditions, belonging and modernity. The question of gender is also addressed whilst considering their heritage and the societal changes with which they identify and engage.

“In selecting the artists for this exhibition, we sought those who share both a complex context and a nuanced and insightful artistic response to confronting their heritage”. Henie Westbrook
“The aim of this exhibition is to present some of the artists’ recent research on societal issues arising from a long and complex process of migration, which has roots as much in France as in Israel, and everywhere else. The “In-Betweeners” echoes the undefined spaces that exist between generations and questions subjects such as colonisation, conflict situations, stereotypes and all forms of racism, while valuing multiple identities, individualism, cultural complexities and modern pluralism”. Margalit Berriet

14 artists working in various media (installation, painting, film, photography…) give a closer look at the social, political and cultural lives of dynamically evolving identities, based on intergenerational relationships embracing histories, memories, traditions and contemporary issues.

At the invitation of UNESCO and C.I.P.S.H, Mémoire de l’Avenir shared the reflections and artworks related to this exhibition project during the World Logic Day on January 14, which took place online.

Curators of the exhibition

Doron Polak – Director of the Artists Museum – Givatayim, Israel
Henie Westbrook – Curator at Large
Margalit Berriet – Présidente-founder of Mémoire de l’Avenir, Artist researcher.
Marie-Cécile Berdaguer – Responsible of the exhibitions at Mémoire de l’Avenir

Texts In betweeners

by Margalit Berriet
and Henie Westbrook
read HERE

Partner
of the exhibition

Le service culturel de l’Ambassade d’Israël en France

IN CONNEXION WITH THE
EXHIBITION
SCREENING +
ROUND TABLE

Thursday 24th 2022
7:30PM

At Mémoire de l’Avenir
and ONLINE

PROJECTION

INVENTORY TO THE FATHER
By Sélim Martin
Documentary – 31 minutes

“Why don’t you create more despite your art studies?” In response to one of his recurring questions, I first wrote a letter to my father, a psychiatrist; as to make for him an inventory of my entry into adult life. The letter became a film filled with the kind of thank-you-reproaches we often make to our parents for what they have done for us and for what we think they should have done. This film takes a gentle look at the intimacy of a father-son inter-projection.

In the presence of  Sélim Martin

ROUND TABLE

Access the discussion via ZOOM the day and hour of the event via this link

Related to the exhibition and Sélim Martin’s documentary, the evening screening will be followed by a round table discussion between the artists and the curators on the issues raised by intergenerational links, particularly those linked to migration or exile, and the way in which artists deal with them in their work