Written By: Keri Rosenbluh
For Dr. Noam Gal, senior lecturer in Art History at Hebrew University’s Faculty of Humanities, art is best experienced in its natural habitat — not flattened on a lecture hall screen, but alive in space, light, and context. “It’s in my DNA to think about art by encountering it in real life,” shares Gal.
That sensibility has shaped his career, from his years as Chief Curator of Photography and Video at the Israel Museum to his current academic role, where he teaches subjects ranging from the history of photography and Israeli art to aesthetics, video art, and performance studies. His courses often shift between classroom and gallery, lecture hall and public square.
That same drive to bring theory and practice into dialogue has fueled his latest initiative — the newly launched Artists Program, a year-long fellowship connecting Israeli artists with international scholars at the prestigious Israel Institute for Advanced Studies (IIAS) on Hebrew University’s Edmond J. Safra campus.
The IIAS, Israel’s only institute for advanced studies, plays a pivotal role in advancing Israeli academia by launching new research fields, shaping existing directions, and fostering collaboration across all of Israel’s universities. As a vital bridge between Israeli and international research, it attracts leading faculty and outstanding students, bringing the nation’s scholars — and the knowledge they generate — into the global arena of academic exchange.
The seed for the program was planted during a deeply turbulent time. Yet even before October 7, Gal sensed a pervasive struggle among Israeli artists to find inspiration. “Artists are always the most sensitive minds, often the first to be shaken by historical earthquakes — and the first to respond,” he says. “In recent years, many in Israel’s art community have felt adrift.”
Gal noticed something else: while artists may occasionally seek out academics for conversation, it’s rare for scholars to enter the artist’s studio. “Artists and scholars tend to move in parallel orbits,” he says. “Close, but rarely intersecting.” The Artists Program aims to bridge them — not by commissioning art about academic themes, but by creating a space for genuine, curiosity-driven encounters.
With the support of Professor Yitzhak Hen, Director of the IIAS, Gal designed and launched the pilot year with six Israeli artists from diverse backgrounds and media. Over the course of the year, they engaged with Institute fellows — experts from Israel and abroad across the humanities, sciences, and beyond — in intimate, discussion-based sessions held in the IIAS seminar room. The guiding principle: no expectations, no deliverables, just the exchange of ideas.
Encounters That Spark New Ways of Seeing
This year’s cohort included artists such as Hanita Ilan, a Jerusalem-based painter known for her dreamlike, expansive canvases that blur the boundary between memory and imagination. Her recent project, Because of Me the Sea Is Wild, draws on nature and myth to evoke turbulent seas, enigmatic figures, and fleeting emotional states.
Another participant, painter and sculptor Hillel Roman, explores impermanence through works that merge technology with perception. In his recent project, From a Distance at Night, a device powered by artificial intelligence generates an endless series of images of utopian cities viewed from a distance at night. Projected onto a phosphorescent cylinder, the images vanish as quickly as they appear, turning the act of viewing into an encounter with loss and renewal.
The program’s sessions are as eclectic as the artists themselves. One week, a historian of music in antiquity might present research on ancient instruments whose exact form and sound are lost to time. The next, a scholar might reveal the marginalized roles of female figures in New Testament crucifixion narratives.
For the artists — a mix of painters, filmmakers, sculptors, photographers, and video artists — these conversations open unexpected doors. “They gain exposure to entirely new realms, and they take from it whatever they can,” says Gal. The result is not only intellectual stimulation, but also a broadening of artistic and personal horizons.
“We were amazed to meet such serious scholars, some of whom are immersed in worlds that are long lost yet still resonate in the present,” reflects Roman. “Many of us felt a powerful connection, a shared devotion to abstract visions that transcend time.”
The scholars, too, are changed by the process. Many have remarked that they were asked questions they have never encountered in their academic careers — sometimes deeply personal ones connecting biography to research. And the dialogue is far from one-sided; exhibitions and artistic projects during the year prompted invitations for scholars to step into artists’ worlds — and vice versa — whether at a museum opening in Tel Aviv or an archaeological dig in the north.
A Rare Opportunity in Israel’s Art Landscape
In Israel, artist residencies with sustained, funded engagement are rare — Gal estimates there is just one funded residency program for artists in Tel Aviv. Among contemporary art curators, both in Israel and abroad, there is a common perception that Israel has an unusually high number of active artists per capita — possibly the highest worldwide — making competition for such opportunities especially fierce.
This scarcity makes the Artists Program all the more significant and unique. For participants, the fellowship is not about producing work to satisfy a requirement, but about nurturing their practice and vision without the pressure of immediate output. “Once you introduce that expectation, it changes the dynamic entirely,” says Gal. “We are in the position of giving, and the return will come in its own time.” This aligns closely with the Institute’s own mission — to encourage interdisciplinary dialogue and the open exchange of ideas without the pressure of producing results.
Each artist receives a modest fellowship to make participation more accessible. Selections are overseen by a rotating committee from various departments within the Faculty of Humanities. The committee prioritizes diversity of artistic medium, gender, generation, geography, and cultural background, ensuring a dynamic and representative cohort.
Over the course of the year, the artists gather at the Israel Institute for Advanced Studies roughly every six weeks for a full day of sessions with the Institute’s fellows — scholars from across disciplines, many of them international.
These intimate, discussion-based meetings create a rare space where artists can engage directly with world-class scholarship. The fellows are free to present whatever they choose from their recent or ongoing research, and are explicitly encouraged not to tailor their content to art, allowing the artists to encounter new fields of knowledge on their own terms.
But the engagement doesn’t end in the seminar room. The Institute also welcomes the artists into its community of scholars, inviting them to join traditional weekly brunches — a convivial gathering of fellows, staff, and guests. Here, they enjoy yet another chance to mingle, exchange ideas, and build connections in a relaxed, informal setting.
Building Common Ground in a Divided Time
Beyond its professional benefits, the program has had a profound personal impact on its participants. Artists often spoke of leaving sessions with a renewed sense of connection — not just to their craft, but to others outside their usual circles.
“In an age marked by separation and division, we’re moving in the opposite direction,” Gal reflects. “We’re stimulating a muscle we may have forgotten how to use.”
That sense of shared purpose is part of Gal’s long-term vision. He imagines the program as fertile ground for intersections between Israel’s thriving intellectual and artistic spheres, allowing ideas from laboratories, archives, and libraries to organically find their way into artistic expression. “Israel is remarkable for both its intellectual and artistic achievements. And to witness these two spheres converging here at the university is truly inspiring.”
Looking Ahead
As the pilot year closes, the selection process for the next cohort is well underway. The program will likely remain the same size, keeping sessions intimate and accessible for artists without formal academic backgrounds. While participation is currently limited to local artists — Israelis and non-Israelis alike — Gal is open to including international participants in the future.
For now, the focus remains on deepening the connections already sparked. As Gal sees it, the true measure of success lies in those moments when an artist and a scholar recognize themselves in each other’s search: “They no longer feel alone in searching for something they know is there — even if they don’t yet know its form, how to shape it, or how to convey its importance. Finding people who understand this search, even if they’re not artists, can be deeply affirming."
Dr. Noam Gal is a senior lecturer in the Department of Art History at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s Faculty of Humanities. A graduate of Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, he earned his master’s degree from Hebrew University and his PhD from Yale University. Before joining the faculty full-time, he served for eight years as Chief Curator of Photography and Video at the Israel Museum. His research focuses on the history of photography, contemporary art, Israeli art, new media, and aesthetics. Alongside his academic work, Gal continues to curate exhibitions and lead independent projects in Israel and abroad.
For more information regarding the Artists Program at the Israel Institute for Advanced Studies, visit here.