A cornucopia of creativity

It's no mean feat to visit 10 exhibitions by graduates of design schools in two and a half weeks. Thousands of works are usually tediously presented in uninspired fashion without much difference between institutes or departments.

	Candy boxes from Polina Penskov
	Photo by: Oded Antman

It's possible to do it differently, as Yael Burstein proved in curating the display of the department of visual communication at Jerusalem's Bezalel School of Art and Design. The works used to be hung on the walls in classrooms divided into small, overcrowded cubicles. Windows were hidden so works could hang there, too. This created dark mazes, increasing the visual load. This year saw a new, even revolutionary, concept. All the works stood on uniform tables of rough wood, with two or three pot plants in every room, together with white reading lamps. These, plus the natural light, created a warm and homey feeling. The white walls were left bare except for a minimalist line of text on the works of every graduate.

	A car seat that turns into a stroller from Ariel Ben Lulu
	Photo by: Oded Antman

This display choice, of course, provoked criticism. It was said posters should go on a wall, that the concept was forced and looking down on exhibits created a gloomy atmosphere. It seems, however, the exhibition actually served to benefit the works. It required serious viewing, it significantly reduced the spectator's visual load and created a sense of integration instead of a random collection of works.

	Etti’s Cohen’s 'Life in Boxes'
	Photo by: Oded Antman

A stage for the left

	Omer Minshari's chair for hyperactive children
	Photo by: Oded Antman

Other schools likewise paid heed to how works were displayed. The department for visual communication at the Avni Institute held its exhibition at the Old Train Station in Tel Aviv. The Shenkar College of Design and Engineering exhibited for the first time in what used to be the Elite factory in Ramat Gan. The move to an impressive industrial space was beneficial for most of the departments but not for Shenkar, which exhibited the works of 77 students and had to make do this year with a smaller hall. It was divided by plaster walls on which the works were hung in a crowded fashion. The students created the "outcasts project," born of the need to find a solution to the overcrowding. Businesses and places of entertainment across Tel Aviv offered to exhibit the works. The initiative received the blessing of the department director.

Usually, there are complaints about students not being sufficiently involved with their surroundings and too involved with themselves. This year they turned their energies toward a social, cultural and political statement. Proof of this could be seen in the number of projects dealing with commercial branding was much smaller than in previous years.

Most of the results were professional, if not original or innovative. "Small Talk" [the word "smol" in Hebrew means "left"] by Ella Cohen at Bezalel proposed a personal illustrated column on the op-ed pages of Haaretz, in which a topic of the week would be a conversation between two left-wingers. The amusing dialogue is written in verse to stress irony; Cohen believes most Israeli leftists are busy talking more than doing. Paulina Pinsakov, also of Bezalel, created illustrated wrappers for Russian candies, a cross between Russian and sabra culture in an original design language.

Between people and plants

The smaller schools showed distinct improvement. It used to seem the large institutes (the Holon Technological Institute, WIZO Haifa, Bezalel and Shenkar ) did not have serious competition. But consider the first group to complete their studies at Minshar under Amit Trainin and at Goren College, the first group that studied four years under Aviram Meir. Consider the quality of their work and the subjects they chose. In "Life in a Box", an installation and booklets, Etti Cohen from Goren College attempted to document the lives of evacuees. All the works at Avni Institute's visual communication department were entitled "Seam Line" and reflected its location on the seam between Tel Aviv and Jaffa. Tal Trapper's "Tel Aviv Hyphen Jaffa" suggested the hyphen is not a sign of neutrality but rather of division. His turned the hyphen into a plus sign and created a new equation.

The industrial design department at Hadassah College in Jerusalem stressed the concept that the designer's role is to create functional products for the general population as part of an inclusive social approach. Magda Rok's project dealt with the interaction between people and plants in rehabilitative surroundings. Yonatan Robbins offered first-aid for fractures. Ariel Ben-Lulu had a car seat for cars that becomes a children's stroller.

A furniture hospital

At the Holon Technological Institute's department of industrial design, 65 graduates exhibited "classic" design. An office system of work table, shelves and filing cabinets by Liron Atlas and Neta Forber proved to be modern interpretation of the classic escritoire. Ilan Vardi desinged a light protective vest for soldiers, and Omer Minshari had a chair for hyperactive children. The range of industrial design at Bezalel (as befits a department in an academy of art and design ) was broader. Arthur Bruter had a safety table for earthquakes, and there were projects stressing aesthetics. Adi Zafran Weisler examined the interface between natural and synthetic materials, while Noam Tabenkin had a furniture hospital where damaged pieces no longer in use were brought to life again.