Here, There, and Nowhere

The exhibition Here, There, and Nowhere explores representations of landscape in works from the Haifa Museums' collections and invites viewers to move between the familiar, the Other, and the unknown. This exhibition showcases the dynamic visual language of printmaking, its various techniques, and how this medium is used to interpret and examine space.

The exhibition's starting point is 'Here'. This space features works by Hermann Struck, a pioneering printmaker who laid the foundations of the medium in Israel.  Spanning between views of the Land of Israel and records of his global travels, Struck's landscapes engage in dialogue with works by local Jewish and Arab artists from different periods. Together, they form an intergenerational, multi-voiced exchange that situates the concept of place within the historical and cultural context of our region.

From local space, the exhibition moves to 'There.' This space gathers works depicting scenes that cannot be immediately identified and landscapes detached from a specific local context. The power of printmaking as a tool for reimagining geographic reality becomes evident here, as the press transforms it into a thought-provoking image that reflects on the nature of space.

The journey concludes in 'Nowhere' – a realm of departure from the known. In this space, landscapes become mysterious, dreamlike, and indecipherable. It is a twilight zone where familiar reality is abandoned in favor of an experience of placelessness.

Printmaking is a vibrant and continually evolving art form. It enables artists from different disciplines to expand their personal visual language through processes such as reproduction, etching, abrasion, subtraction, and transfer. The appeal of this medium lies in its indirect working process: the encounter between plate, press, and paper creates a pause that allows the image to be broken down and reconstructed. The result is a rich range of visual expressions that underscores the medium’s vitality as a tool for contemporary art.

Liav Shopen Gochev   Yifat Ashkenazi   Yael Ofir
Curator                       Consulting         Graphic Design