Rose, Tel Aviv Museum of Art promote Israeli video art

Biennial Chami Fruchter Video Prize announced

From left, Suzanne Landau, director and chief curator of the Tel Aviv Museum of Art; Haim Samet, deputy chairman of the board of directors of the Tel Aviv Museum of Art; Chami Fruchter; Brandeis President Frederick Lawrence; and Lazar Fruchter.

Brandeis University’s Rose Art Museum and the Tel Aviv Museum of Art are undertaking a shared initiative to support the work of emerging Israeli video artists.

The joint project, which includes the establishment of the Chami Fruchter Video Prize, was announced May 25 at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art by the museum’s director and chief curator, Suzanne Landau. The announcement accompanied a talk by Christopher Bedford, the Henry and Lois Foster Director of the Rose, on the role of Israeli video art in American museums.

The Chami Fruchter Video Prize will be presented every other year to an Israeli video artist who has demonstrated considerable promise but has not yet been the subject of a solo museum exhibition. The artist will receive $10,000 and his or her work will be exhibited at both the Rose and the Tel Aviv Museum of Art. A catalog will be produced in conjunction with the artist’s dual exhibition.

Lazar and Chami Fruchter, who are benefactors of the Rose and parents of a Brandeis graduate and a current student, endowed the prize. Lazar named it in honor of his wife, whom he credits with opening his eyes to contemporary art.

As Bedford explains, video art by Israeli artists is particularly strong. “While most nations can cite painting as the origin point and standard-bearer for their artistic traditions, Israel, a very young country in relative terms, could say the same for the moving image,” said Bedford. “Radical innovation in video art in Israel over the last decade makes this stretch of time the most significant creative period in the country’s artistic history, and the establishment of the Chami Fruchter Video Prize will enable the Rose, in partnership with the Tel Aviv Museum, to both chart and support the medium’s continued growth in the hands of Israel’s most promising video artists.”