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Zvi Goldstein (; born January 21, 1947) is a Romanian-born Israeli visual artist and teacher. He lives in
Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...
, and has taught at Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design.


Early life and education

Goldstein was born to
Hungarian Jewish The history of the Jews in Hungary dates back to at least the Kingdom of Hungary, with some records even predating the Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin in 895 CE by over 600 years. Written sources prove that Jewish communities lived i ...
parents in 1947 in
Cluj Cluj-Napoca ( ; ), or simply Cluj ( , ), is a city in northwestern Romania. It is the second-most populous city in the country and the seat of Cluj County. Geographically, it is roughly equidistant from Bucharest (), Budapest () and Belgrade ( ...
, Romania. He is the only son of Szigmund Goldstein (born 30 August 1917), a taxi driver, and Margaret Golstein (born 2 February 1919). His father survived
Mauthausen concentration camp Mauthausen was a German Nazi concentration camp on a hill above the market town of Mauthausen, Upper Austria, Mauthausen (roughly east of Linz), Upper Austria. It was the main camp of a group with List of subcamps of Mauthausen, nearly 100 f ...
and returned to Cluj, where he met his future wife, an
Auschwitz concentration camp Auschwitz, or Oświęcim, was a complex of over 40 Nazi concentration camps, concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany, occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) d ...
survivor. Golstein spent his early childhood in Cluj and often went hiking with his father in the
Carpathian Mountains The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians () are a range of mountains forming an arc across Central Europe and Southeast Europe. Roughly long, it is the third-longest European mountain range after the Ural Mountains, Urals at and the Scandinav ...
. He attended elementary school, during which he suffered numerous
antisemitic Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...
attacks at and after school. In 1958 he and his parents emigrated to
Kiryat Gat Kiryat Gat () also spelled Qiryat Gat, is a city in the Southern District of Israel. It lies south of Tel Aviv, north of Beersheba, and west southwest of Jerusalem. In it had a population of . The city hosts one of the most advanced semicondu ...
, Israel, with the help of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee. In 1962 he left school after tenth grade, and between 1962 and 1963 he worked at Polgat Textiles in Kiryat Gat. In 1963 Goldstein applied for the
Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design () is a public college of design and art located in Jerusalem. Established in 1906 by Jewish painter and sculptor Boris Schatz, Bezalel is Israel's oldest institution of higher education and is considered the ...
in Jerusalem but was rejected. In 1964 he tried again and was accepted, and he began his studies in the graphic department as the youngest student in his class. In November 1964, Goldstein had to interrupt his studies at the Academy to fulfill his mandatory military service. He served in the Israeli army for two years and four months. In January 1967, towards the end of his military service, he was allowed to return to the Bezalel Academy under certain conditions. He returned to the army to serve a further two months in April and May. As a young servant, he was called for the
Six-Day War The Six-Day War, also known as the June War, 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab world, Arab states, primarily United Arab Republic, Egypt, Syria, and Jordan from 5 to 10June ...
in June in the
Gaza Strip The Gaza Strip, also known simply as Gaza, is a small territory located on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea; it is the smaller of the two Palestinian territories, the other being the West Bank, that make up the State of Palestine. I ...
and the
Sinai Desert Sinai commonly refers to: * Sinai Peninsula, Egypt * Mount Sinai, a mountain in the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt * Biblical Mount Sinai, the site in the Bible where Moses received the Law of God Sinai may also refer to: * Sinai, South Dakota, a place ...
front. Following this he is stationed as a reservist at various locations in Israeli for the next six months. In 1968 he finally returned to the Academy but the year after he broke off his studies to travel to Europe. He departed with hardly any money, just one bag and a one-way-ticket, financed by money from the Academy as the winner of the Hermann Struck Prize (with a wood engraving). In the West for the first time, he hitchhiked through Europe (France, Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland, Belgium, Italy) and made a short trip to the United States, New York City, to visit
Sol LeWitt Solomon "Sol" LeWitt (September 9, 1928 – April 8, 2007) was an American artist linked to various movements, including conceptual art and minimalism. LeWitt came to fame in the late 1960s with his wall drawings and "structures" (a term he pref ...
, whom he knew from his time in Milan. He enrolled at the
Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera The Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera (), also known as the or Brera Academy, is a state-run tertiary public academy of fine arts in Milan, Italy. It shares its history, and its main building, with the Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan's main public mu ...
(Brera Academy) in
Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...
in the Painting and Sculpture Department and made frequent visit to the Faculty of Philosophy at the Università degli Studi di Milano. In 1972 Goldstein was awarded a Diploma in Fine Arts and Sculpture and continued his studies in the Scenography Department. Later that year he had his first solo exhibition in Milan at the Galleria la Bertesca. In 1973, he married Rachel Bitran.


Career

Goldstein moved back to Jerusalem to establish a peripheral position from which to develop a new artistic perspective. He embarked on extensive research into other contexts marginal to the West, sowing the seeds for his future travels. At the same time he became a lecturer in the Fine Arts Department at the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design: his first teaching post. In 1982 he was recalled to the army during the first Lebanon War and served in patrol operations. In the years after he was ordered to serve at the detention camp, where prisoners were detained without trial. Faced with this evidence of civil rights infringements, he refused to serve as a soldier in Lebanon. He was imprisoned as a conscientious objector, first at the Tzrifin military camp, near Rischon LeZion, and then in Prison Six, near Atlit. He became one of the first members of Yesh Gvul. Eventually he was released early from prison, but remained on the Israeli army reserve list until 1991. In the 1990s a number of carefully prepared travels took him to particular places in
Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...
,
Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...
,
Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...
and mainly in
Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...
, following a quest for
cultures Culture ( ) is a concept that encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, Attitude (psychology), attitudes ...
and sites still under a strong non-
Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...
and hermetical tradition. During the 1970s Goldstein worked within the tradition of conceptual art using
photography Photography is the visual arts, art, application, and practice of creating images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is empl ...
,
film A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...
,
audio recording Sound recording and reproduction is the electrical, mechanical, electronic, or digital inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects. The two main classes of sound recording t ...
s,
performance A performance is an act or process of staging or presenting a play, concert, or other form of entertainment. It is also defined as the action or process of carrying out or accomplishing an action, task, or function. Performance has evolved glo ...
, objects, and not at least text as his
media Media may refer to: Communication * Means of communication, tools and channels used to deliver information or data ** Advertising media, various media, content, buying and placement for advertising ** Interactive media, media that is inter ...
exploring perceptional,
social Social organisms, including human(s), live collectively in interacting populations. This interaction is considered social whether they are aware of it or not, and whether the exchange is voluntary or not. Etymology The word "social" derives fro ...
and
political Politics () is the set of activities that are associated with decision-making, making decisions in social group, groups, or other forms of power (social and political), power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of Social sta ...
phenomena. Discontented with the
Post-Modern Postmodernism encompasses a variety of artistic, cultural, and philosophical movements that claim to mark a break from modernism Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experi ...
discourse in the
West West is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some Romance langu ...
, in 1978 he decided to choose Jerusalem as a place on the edge between
Orient The Orient is a term referring to the East in relation to Europe, traditionally comprising anything belonging to the Eastern world. It is the antonym of the term ''Occident'', which refers to the Western world. In English, it is largely a meto ...
and
Occident The Occident is a term for the West, traditionally comprising anything that belongs to the Western world. It is the antonym of the term ''Orient'', referring to the Eastern world. In English, it has largely fallen into disuse. The term occidental ...
and made it the geographical as well as conceptual base for his art. At the same time he turned to object-related
sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...
based on a kind of open constructivist approach. In the 2000s Goldstein gave his work a new and additional dimension by two books, which are not written in his
mother tongue A first language (L1), native language, native tongue, or mother tongue is the first language a person has been exposed to from birth or within the critical period. In some countries, the term ''native language'' or ''mother tongue'' refers ...
(s) but in a particular kind of English, both readable and idiosyncratic, to fit into the dominant language of
global communication Global Communication is an electronic music duo consisting of Tom Middleton and Mark Pritchard; the duo have also recorded under other aliases, including Reload and Jedi Knights. They founded the labels Evolution Records and Universal Langua ...
. In ''On Paper'' (Cologne 2004) stories and reflections on subjects like
autobiography An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life, providing a personal narrative that reflects on the author's experiences, memories, and insights. This genre allows individuals to share thei ...
,
gardening Gardening is the process of growing plants for their vegetables, fruits, flowers, herbs, and appearances within a designated space. Gardens fulfill a wide assortment of purposes, notably the production of Aesthetics, aesthetically pleasing area ...
,
philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...
,
war War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...
,
art theory Aesthetics (also spelled esthetics) is the branch of philosophy concerned with the nature of beauty and taste, which in a broad sense incorporates the philosophy of art.Slater, B. H.Aesthetics ''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy,'' , acces ...
, or
lifestyle Lifestyle is the interests, opinions, behaviours, and behavioural orientations of an individual, group, or culture. The term "style of life" () was introduced by Austrian psychologist Alfred Adler in his 1929 book, ''The Case of Miss R.'', w ...
blend into an impressive picture of his position between different cultures. The book was followed by a long poem titled ''Room 205'' (Cologne 2010) which describes the musings and hallucinations during a one-minute open-eye recall.


Exhibitions


Solo exhibitions

* 1975 –
The Israel Museum The Israel Museum (, ''Muze'on Yisrael'', ) is an Art museum, art and archaeology museum in Jerusalem. It was established in 1965 as Israel's largest and foremost cultural institution, and one of the world's leading Encyclopedic museum, encyclopa ...
, Jerusalem, Israel * 1983 – The Tel-Aviv Museum, Tel-Aviv, Israel * 1986 – Museum Haus Esters, Krefeld, Germany * 1987 – Center Georges Pompidou, Paris, France * 1989 – Kunstraum München, Munich, Germany * 1990 – D.A.A.D. Galerie, Berlin, Germany * 1992 –
De Appel De Appel is a contemporary arts centre, located in Amsterdam. Since it was founded in 1975 by , the goal of De Appel is to function as a stage for research and presentation of visual arts. Exhibitions, publications and discursive events are the ...
, Amsterdam, Holland * 1993 – The Art Gallery of York University, Toronto, Canada * 1995 – Mala Galerija, Moderna Galerija, Ljublijana, Slovenia * 1998 –
Kunsthalle Nürnberg The Kunsthalle Nürnberg is an art centre founded in 1967, near the city centre. It organizes exhibitions by contemporary international artists in its galleries in Nuremberg. The Kunsthalle commissions new work by a majority of the artists it wo ...
, Nürnberg, Germany, and Kaiser Wilhelm Museum, Krefeld, Germany * 2010 – ''Zvi Goldstein: Haunted by Objects'',
Israel Museum The Israel Museum (, ''Muze'on Yisrael'', ) is an Art museum, art and archaeology museum in Jerusalem. It was established in 1965 as Israel's largest and foremost cultural institution, and one of the world's leading Encyclopedic museum, encyclopa ...
, Jerusalem, Israel * 2015 – ''Reconstructed Memories (Lariam B)'', Daniel Marzona Art Gallery, Berlin, Germany * 2016 – S.M.A.K., Ghent, Belgium * 2017 –
Tel Aviv Museum of Art The Tel Aviv Museum of Art ( ''Muzeon Tel Aviv Leomanut'') is an art museum in Tel Aviv, Israel. The museum is dedicated to the preservation and display of modern and contemporary art both from Israel and around the world. History The Tel Aviv ...
, Tel-Aviv, Israel


Group exhibitions

* 1974 – Contemporanea, Area Aperta, Rome, Italy * 1978 – Kulturhaus, Graz, Austria * 1987 – Documenta VIII, Kassel, Germany * 1988 – Aperto 88,
La Biennale di Venezia The Venice Biennale ( ; ) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy. There are two main components of the festival, known as the Art Biennale () and the Architecture Biennale (), which are held in alternating ye ...
, Venice, Italy * 1990 – ''The Ready Made Boomerang'', The 8th Biennial of Sydney, Sydney, Australia * 1995 – ''New Orient/Ation'', 4th
Istanbul Biennial The Istanbul Biennial is a contemporary art exhibition that has been held biennially in Istanbul, Turkey, since 1987. The Biennial has been organised by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (IKSV) since its inception. Istanbul Biennial p ...
, Istanbul, Turkey * 1998 – 24th
São Paulo Art Biennial The São Paulo Art Biennial ( Portuguese: ''Bienal de São Paulo'') was founded in 1951 and has been held every two years since. It is the second oldest art biennial in the world after the Venice Biennale (in existence since 1895), which serves as ...
, San Paolo, Brazil * 2000 – ''The Oldest Possible Memory'', Sammlung Hauser und Wirth in der Lokremise St. Gallen, Switzerland * 2002 – Startkapital, K21 Kunstammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf, Germany * 2005 – EindhovenIstanbul,
Van Abbemuseum The Van Abbemuseum () in Eindhoven is one of the first public museums for contemporary art to be established in Europe. The museum’s collection includes key works and archives by Joseph Beuys, Marc Chagall, René Daniëls, Marlene Dumas, Shee ...
, Eindhoven, The Netherlands * 2008 – 6th
Shanghai Biennale The Shanghai Biennale is one of the highest-profile contemporary art events in Shanghai and the most established art biennale in China. It was initially held in the Shanghai Art Museum. From 2012 on, it has been hosted in Power Station of Art, th ...
, Shanghai, China. * 2011 – ''The Second Strike'',
Herzliya Museum of Contemporary Art The Herzliya Museum of Contemporary Art () is contemporary art museum with a collection of over 1000 artworks. It curates four exhibitions each year. History Established in 1965 in Herzeliya, Israel, the museum's main focus is Israeli and interna ...
, Herzliya, Israel * 2011 – Herzliya Biennial, Herzliya, Israel * 2013 – Zugaben, Museum Haus Lange / Haus Esters, Krefeld, Germany * 2019 – The Collection (1) – Highlights for a Future, S.M.A.K., Ghent, Belgium


Museum collections

*
Israel Museum The Israel Museum (, ''Muze'on Yisrael'', ) is an Art museum, art and archaeology museum in Jerusalem. It was established in 1965 as Israel's largest and foremost cultural institution, and one of the world's leading Encyclopedic museum, encyclopa ...
, Jerusalem, Israel *
Tel Aviv Museum of Art The Tel Aviv Museum of Art ( ''Muzeon Tel Aviv Leomanut'') is an art museum in Tel Aviv, Israel. The museum is dedicated to the preservation and display of modern and contemporary art both from Israel and around the world. History The Tel Aviv ...
, Tel-Aviv, Israel *
Kunstmuseen Krefeld The Kunstmuseen Krefeld (''Krefeld Art Museums'') is collection of three art museum, art museums in Krefeld, Germany. and particularly dedicated to modern art, modern and contemporary art. Comprising the Kaiser Wilhelm Museum, the Haus Lange an ...
, Germany *
Centre Pompidou The Centre Pompidou (), more fully the (), also known as the Pompidou Centre in English and colloquially as Beaubourg, is a building complex in Paris, France. It was designed in the style of high-tech architecture by the architectural team of ...
, Paris * Sammlung Hauser und Wirth, Switzerland


Awards

* 2013 – EMET Prize in the category Art and Culture * 2002 – LennonOno Grant for Peace, New York City, New York * 1988 – Prize of the
Ministry of Education and Culture A ministry of education and culture is a cabinet position in the governments of several nations. In some nations the ministry of education and the ministry of culture are separate departments; in others, the ministry of education and culture al ...
, Israel * 1987 – Aaron Levi Prize of the Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Israel * 1985 – Mies van der Rohe-Stipendium artist in residence, Krefeld, Germany * 1984 –
Sandberg Prize The Sandberg Prize for Israeli Art refers to a prize for art and design awarded at the Israel Museum, Jerusalem, with a particular focus on Israeli art. The prize was inaugurated in 1968 with funds from an anonymous New York City, New York–based ...
of the Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Israel


Solo exhibition catalogues

* Zvi Goldstein, The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Israel, 1975 * Zvi Goldstein – Structure and Super-Structure, The Tel-Aviv Museum, Tel-Aviv, Israel, 1983 * Zvi Goldstein – Die Sprache des Bauens, Museum Haus Esters, Krefeld, Germany, 1986 * Zvi Goldstein -Tiers-Monde et Monde 3 – Modeles Anomaux, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France, 1987 * Zvi Goldstein – The Glory of Abstraction, Kunstraum München, Munich, Germany, 1989 * Zvi Goldstein – Black Hole Constructions, D.A.A.D. Gallery, Berlin, Germany, 1990 * Zvi Goldstein, De Appel, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, 1992 * Zvi Goldstein, Mala Galerija, Liublijana, Slovenia, 1995 * Zvi Goldstein, The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Israel, 1995 * Zvi Goldstein – To Be There, Kunsthalle Nürnberg and Krefelder Kunstmuseen, Oktagon, Germany 1998 * Zvi Goldstein – Sirocco – Day 4, 24th International Biennial of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil 1998


Publications

* Zvi Goldstein, On Paper, Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, Cologne, Germany, 2004 (= Kunstwissenschaftliche Bibliothek, vol. 29) * Zvi Goldstein, Room 205, Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, Cologne, Germany, 2010


References


Further reading

* Zvi Goldstein, On Paper, Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, Cologne, Germany, 2004 (= Kunstwissenschaftliche Bibliothek, vol. 29) * Zvi Goldstein – To Be There, Kunsthalle Nürnberg and Krefelder Kunstmuseen, Oktagon, Germany 1998 * Zvi Goldstein, Room 205, Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, Cologne, Germany, 2010


External links


Official website (archived)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Goldstein, Zvi 1947 births Living people Artists from Jerusalem Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design alumni Brera Academy alumni Israeli contemporary artists Israeli people of Hungarian-Jewish descent Romanian emigrants to Israel