The international project #ArtistsStandWithIsrael calls on artists to support Israelis in these difficult times. The artworks are projected by galleries and volunteers on the city streets around the world, and the offline exhibition opens in Tel Aviv on 30th of November. So far more than 300 artists from 20 countries, including Israel, Canada, Poland, Ukraine, the USA, Slovakia, France, Russia, Great Britain, Taiwan, etc – have joined the project.

Manifesto

This is a statement of the international project #ArtistsStandWithlsrael which was launched on 17.10.2023 with the goal to give emotional support to people from different Israeli cities in this tough time.

Who we are?

We are an initiative group of young independent artists, curators and other art professionals from Israel.
This project is our sincere, non-profit, volunteer initiative. We do not get funding from any organization or government.
We are not a political organization and we do not have affiliation with any of them.
Our team, partners and artists are people of different political views, origin and nationalities, united by the common pain, grief for human lives and willing to support each other in the dark times.

What #ArtistsStandWithlsrael means and does not mean?

This is first of all an art project. A video-installation in public spaces that gives voice to artists who want to share their feelings about the war. Its goal is to bring a "ray of hope" to the cities in Israel and around the world, and send emotional support from the indifferent.
The open call invites to submit the works with "a message to the people of Israel, or your reflection on the situation".
We do not call to hate or disrespect the lives of civilians in Gaza Strip and other regions who are also suffering from this war. All works from our open call go through curatorial selection, and we do not include the works that don't match these ethics into our night projections.
So if this project wasn't a site-specific gift to our home country of Israel, we could've called it #ArtistsStandWithHumanity.
Unfortunately we can't control the usage of the hashtag #ArtistsStandWithlsrael on Instagram. To our regret, some people use it to post offensive and hateful content towards both Israel and Palestine. We do not support such activity and ask to stop it. We apologize if this unethical use of our initiative caused someone's feelings to be hurt.

Why are we doing this?

We feel deep empathy towards Israelis after the tragedy of 7th of October, when HAMAS attacked the south kibbutzes, towns and the rave next to Gaza.
We share the feelings of the pain and horror, because we are human beings, because we were here in Israel on that bloody morning, and we are still here.
Day by day we are waiting for good news about hostages coming back home and possibilities of ending this lifetaking on both sides.
Day by day we hear the sounds of alarming sirens, and the lack of hope in the news.
So we invited our art community to bring a ray of light to our neighbors. A beam of support and solidarity from artists around the world - to streets of Israeli cities, via night projections.
This empathy through art could mean a lot for people in grief, fear and depression, it could heal and inspire, it could give a feeling that we are not alone.


Curators: Kate Finkelstein, Dasha Iliashenko

Organisers: @sviva.space @kakdelart

Team: producer Artur Kir, art manager Eva Glazer, tech.coordinator Marie Noa and Michael Marushkin, SMM Polina Ashina and Aleksandr Demidov,
Inter. communication Anna Smoliarova, designer Vera Konyashova,
projections coordinator Julia Goland