Photographic exhibition “Siberians’ View of Israel”

For the whole last week photo exhibition “Siberians’ View of Israel” was open for everyone at the Faculty of Arts. The opening ceremony was held on 25 March with the participation of First Secretary of Israel Embassy in the Russian Federation, head of Israel Cultural Center in Novosibirsk Iris Zweig, who visited Altai State University in order to establish cooperation in cultural and educational exchange. The exhibition participants included exhibition curator, head of Faculty of Arts International Research Laboratory “Cultural Heritage and Ethnocultural tradition of Altai, Kazakhstan and neighbouring territories”, Doctor of Arts, Professor T.M. Stepanskaya; Faculty of Arts dean L.I. Nekhvyadovich; assistant professor of the Department of Art Theory and Cultural Studies A.L. Usanova; other lecturers and students of the Faculty of Arts. Welcomin the audience, Ms. Zweig said:

“The exposition includes the best works, selected in the course of the competition. We received over 1,000 photos from amateurs, novice photographers and real professionals, all of them are Siberians, who traveled to Israel. The judges chose 85 best works, which were presented at the exhibition. To be honest, it had never come to my mind to take a picture the majority of the depicted things, as I thought them customary and trivial. Although, when I looked at them from another angle, I have noted them as really interesting. It often happens, that we only notice the surrounding beauty, when look at it from someone else’s view.”

According to Ms. Zweig, the exhibition was supposed to attract students’ interest to Israel, extend the relationship between our countries. First Secretary of Israel Embassy in the Russian Federation called the students for cooperation with Israel in arts and education.

T.M. Stepanskaya in her welcoming speech emphasized the necessity of conducting such photo exhibitions, which teach people to notice differences and similarities between different cultures.

“For example, one of the photos pictures the roller-skating Israelite. We often see roller-skaters in the center of Barnaul, near the Lenin Monument. The main difference here is that in Russia roller-skates are associated with the youth, while in Israel they are a king of transportation for adults, who even have a religious rank. Such man is pictured on the photo. In our culture it is hard to imagine a roller-skating priest.” said Tamara M. Stepanskaya.

Alla L. Usanova thanked Ms. Zweig for the opportunity to see the exhibition and the students for its organization.

When Larisa I. Nekhvyadovich was given the floor, she said that the exhibition “Siberians’ View of Israel” established a tradition. It had first been organized in Universum gallery in 2015 in the framework of Israel Culture Days. Larisa I. Nekhvyadovich expressed her hope or further intercultural dialogue.

After the opening session visitors had a whole week to see the exposition and leave the feedback in the comments book. On 30 March they were also able to watch Salsa Tel Aviv movie (2011) by Yohanan Weller, which was shown in the framework of the exhibition.