1972 / 2025

In the historiography of Israeli art, the iconic Metzer-Meiser project held in 1972 in the intervening area between Kibbutz Metzer and the village of Meiser that belongs to the Menashe Regional Council, was considered the first artistic endeavor to take place in a joint Jewish-Arab space. This, although the four artists who initiated and implemented it were Jews. The initial project coincided with the emergence of conceptual art in Israel and embodied a new language that involved linking art and life, action in space, and environmental-geo-political and social consciousness. At the same time, it was inspired by the kibbutz environment within Israel’s geographical periphery, shared as it is with Palestinian-Arab towns; a project born in Kibbutz Ein Shemer, materialized in Kibbutz Metzer and the village of Meiser, and drawing from the kibbutz ideology of co-existence between the two nations.

In Metzer-Meiser 1972, Micha Ullman executed an operation that received wide exposure and became emblematic of the project: exchanging soil between Kibbutz Metzer and the adjacent Arab village of Meiser, by digging two pits and switching the earth within them. The pits were dug by youth from the kibbutz and the village. At the Metzer-Meiser junction, Avital Geva scattered books rejected by the Amnir paper recycling facility in Hadera and invited residents of the two towns to come and pick up books. Dov Or Ner issued an appeal to the residents of Metzer and Meiser in Hebrew and Arabic, asking for personal objects that were not in use, which he then buried together in a shaft dug in the earth, as an archeological deposit to be uncovered in the future. Moshe Gershuni parcellated (designated plots) in the fields of Metzer, granting each family in the kibbutz its own share of land, a prophetic act that anticipated the privatization process in the kibbutzim decades later and aroused resistance and anger within the kibbutz.

Metzer-Meiser: Take 2 examines the memories of members of Metzer and residents of Meiser regarding the artistic event that took place in their towns 53 years ago, reveals the different narratives that emerged regarding this event over the years, and explores the mutual bond between the Jewish and Arab towns.

Kibbutz Metzer, founded in 1953 in the vicinity of the village of Meiser that had been established in 1883, was built on land granted to the state of Israel at the conclusion of the War of Independence in 1949, as part of the Rhodes Armistice Agreement that included land exchanges. The cooperation between the two towns was exceptional to begin with, manifested as it was in a joint water system used to irrigate the fields of both towns. Despite political and social changes and waves of radicalization in Israeli society that tainted the relations between Jews and Arabs in different periods, the good neighborly relations between Metzer and Meiser stood the test of time and they managed to keep up the mutual support even in radical situations.

Metzer-Meiser: Take 2 observes the dual Metzer-Meiser model from three perspectives: the ideological dimension of Metzer and its inhabitants, as a kibbutz of the Hashomer Hatza’ir movement established by a particularly friendly and peace-seeking group of Jewish immigrants from Argentina; as seen by the village of Meiser – a previously unexplored angle that raises complexities involving interpretation sand memory distortions; and the wider view of the kibbutz movement, spread as it is throughout Israel’s peripheral areas and maintaining daily neighborly and close relations with Arab towns. What is the stance of the Kibbutz movement and its outlook at present as regards the Metzer-Meiser model?

Micha Ullman and Avital Geva have installed works that correspond with their works in the original project and with the country’s current circumstances: Ullman (“Two Chairs”, 2025) dug two chair-shaped pits in front of the gallery, placing the heaps of sand extracted within the gallery, in a reference to his former “Two-Family House”; Avital Geva alludes to the books he scattered in the fields in 1972, addressing the petrification process of the Jewish-Zionist literary corpus and the corruption of the previously internalized moral code: “Books Embedded in a Swamp”, displayed in front of the gallery, and “The Jewish library in concrete” within the gallery, present treated books from Jewish and Zionist literature, immersed in a concrete swamp.

Corresponding with Ullman’s soil-based work and Or Ner’s object burial, Saher Miari displays the contents of the pits and the objects within a transparent column (“Column”, 2025). In another work he engages with the art of sculptor Yechiel Shemi and displays “The Cave”, from which diggers’ conversing voices emerge. Abed Elsalam Sabia’ displays a large-scale landscape painting based on an aerial photograph of the joint area between Metzer and Meiser that resembles two lungs, entitled “One Breath”. Another installation by Sabia’ is based on gathering clothes from the two towns and hanging them on a clothesline. Faten Abu Ali displays another version of her efforts at botanical grafting of olive trees with other trees, as a metaphor for adapting and mixing different species, in this case olive and carob trees. Asala Hassan interviews young people from Meiser on the connection they feel to the area where they live and to neighborly relations, translating select sentences into Morse code. Her work centers on the issue of understanding / not understanding, distress and well-being. Tsibi Geva copies the dual Metzer-Meiser format to the biographical domain and inscribes in the space two names of personal friends – Yoav, Nagib – one from Metzer and the other from Meiser. In her paintings, artist Marion Fuchs, a member of Kibbutz Metzer, follows the morning walks by residents of Metzer and Meiser along the two sides of the smart fence erected after a terrorist attack on the kibbutz, highlighting the proximity and otherness within their reciprocal gaze. Peter Jacob Maltz drew and linked pieces and compositions gathered from the two sites. Photographer Dror Ben Naftaly presents three spatial photographs of adjoining Jewish and Arab towns, isolated from their landscape. In preparation for the exhibition, documentarians Noa Karavan and Smadar Timor interviewed Micha Ullman, Avital Geva, members of Metzer, and residents of Meiser, who shared personal memories of the original 1972 event and how they perceive the relations between the two towns, each from their own point of view. The visual journal created, which encompasses differences and distinctions experienced by each side, seeks to encourage reflection.

The exhibition also includes an archive wall that restructures the four original operations and presents documents attesting to the mutual relationship between Metzer and Meiser. Metzer-Meiser: Take 2 primarily seeks to investigate the complex issue of everyday neighborly relations between Jews and Arabs and to indicate their utmost significance for the future of this land, remaining conscious of the differences alongside the connecting hyphen.

Anat Lidror and Tali Tamir, curators of the exhibition

Metzer-Meiser: Take 2