Mevo’ot - The Joav BarEl Ideas Foundation

The Mevo’ot Foundation was established in 2021 to promote contemporary artistic actions inspired by the late Joav BarEl. The foundation works to create and promote diverse spaces for discourse about and with art, and to make BarEl’s work accessible to coming generations.

Joav BarEl (1933–1977) was a plastic artist, art critic for Haaretz newspaper, art lecturer and teacher of three-dimensional design in the Department of Architecture at the Technion, and a cultural agent who pioneered and accompanied inter-and multidisciplinary projects during the '60s and '70s, until his untimely death at the age of 44.

"BarEl represented a new type of artist in the context of Israeli culture – an artist who realizes the manifestation of the option of spiritual freedom, who demands of himself active involvement/participation in all levels of life and living. The act of mapping, aimed at marking the gateways to a higher level of consciousness, is a true metaphor for the essence of his journey, as one who could read the cultural map and identify signs and processes in their states of becoming. His good friend, the poet Yair Horowitz, described him as "the Mapper of Gateways." (Batia Donner, City and Utopia)

Mevo’ot (Gateways, in Hebrew) was founded to kick-start actions today inspired by Joav BarEl’s life's work. In his estate, he wrote:

"To create a fund that will make it possible for artists to conduct researches, reach conclusions and initiate development in the arts in Israel. The research and development fund will support original inter-disciplinary researches that will prepare the ground for putting social-artistic perceptions into practice."

(Joav BarEl, 1970)

During the time when conceptual art began to percolate into the work of Israeli artists, BarEl was among the first to respond to its calling as he sought to embed it in the local art field – the urge to research, process and collaborate. Mevo’ot wishes to renew the innovative motivations he inspired in the current moment.

The foundation supports projects by invitation and annual open calls.

More About Joav Barel on Wikipedia English.

Team

Chair: Joel BarEl

Manager and Artistic Director: Shiraz Grinbaum.

Advisory Board: Michal Vaknin, Adi Engelman, Vered Maimon, Batya Donner, Dafna Kron, Lior Zalmanson. 

BarEl Family Foundation: Joel BarEl, Neta BarEl, Ami Blay, Joav Blay, Ami Steinitz, Noga Kapp.