A Spoken Exhibition
Created by: Ruth Kanner
Curated by: Yair Vardi
Design: Kinneret Kisch
Partners in creation and performers: Shirley Gal, Siwar Awwad, Ronen Babluki, Adi Meirovitch, Bashir Nahara, Ebaa Mundir
S o w e s t r o l l e d o n s i d e s t r e e t s w e e a v e s d r o p p e d o n p a s s e r s b y w e s e a r c h e d f o r s a y i n g s s t a t e m e n t s s p e e c h a c t s w e d i s c o v e r e d s t r u c t u r e s i n w h i c h w e s u b m e r g e d o u r s e l v e s w e s a w w e l i s t e n e d w e s n a p p e d s h o t s w e s e l e c t e d w e n o t e d t o o u r s e l v e s t h a t t h e s u b j e c t m a t t e r w a s f o r e s e e a b l e w e w e r e s u r p r i s e d t o l e a r n h o w u n f o r e s e e a b l e i t w a s w e s p o t t e d s o r r o w w e h e a r d s h o u t s w e s e t a s i d e o u r n e e d t o m a k e s e n s e w e a s k e d q u e s t i o n s w e w e r e s t a r t l e d t o d i s c o v e r t h a t t h e q u e s t i o n s t h e m s e l v e s e x p o s e d u s t o o u r s e l v e s w e s n e e r e d a t o u r s e l v e s w e s o u g h t s i n c e r i t y w e g a v e u p s i n c e r i t y w e r e w e s i n c e r e ? W e s o r t e d o u t s o r t e d o u t s o r t e d o u t w e s t o p p e d .
The exhibition, “Tell Me Something” presents a new series of speech-acts by the Ruth Kanner Theater Group. The exhibition invites us to listen to the phenomenal mechanisms of the human speech – the surprising ways in which people take action with words: declaring, attacking, complimenting, threatening, seducing, exposing, covering up, creating and dismantling worlds with words. The exhibition extends over both floors of Bet HaGefen Gallery, where visitors are invited to move within and throughout spheres of speech.
The actions presented within the exhibition are based on an ongoing working process in the Hadar and Wadii Nisnas neighborhoods. Members of the group collected the random talk of passersby and residents, and tried to hunt down particles of local narratives from conversations, primarily through listening to what speech covers up, distorts, pushes aside, erases. From these speech acts, throughout the gallery’s spaces, the actors perform a collection of speech patterns, speech-scapes and speech-disruptions, in which conditioning and hidden patterns are revealed.
Speech is an act that exists and fades away in time, often turning into a memory that remains etched into our psyche. The exhibits act as live-speech-performances, taking place, disappearing and reappearing while visitors are wandering around the empty walls of the gallery.
Thanks to all the women and men of Haifa, whom we eavesdropped on, whom we interviewed, from whom we sampled – the exhibition evolved from your conversations.
Arabic Language Guidance and translations: Siwar Awwad
Image: Ruth Gwily
Graphic Design: Zarafy Studios
Sound: Marco Milevski
Exhibition Pieces: Dudi’s Workshop, LTD
Group Manager and Production: Shira Yovel
Beit Hagefen Arab-Jewish Cultural Center
CEO: Asaf Ron
Director and curator of Beit Hagefen Gallery: Yael Messer
Project coordinator Beit Hagefen Gallery: Maria de Pina
Technical staff and operations: Nizar Khamra and Samir Lulu
The piece; “Speech Act 3: Kip Seeking Closeness” ‘was created with The Human-Robot Collaboration & Companionship (HRC2) Lab at Cornell University, Ithaca, NY. and miLAB Media Innovation Lab at the IDC Herzliya University, Herzliyah / Prof. Guy Hoffman, Cornel Univ. Director of the The Human-Robot Collaboration & Companionship (HRC2) Lab at Cornell University / Idan Vidra, Research Assistant at miLAB / Udi Lumnitz, CTO and VP Production Engineering, Lead Technology Research and Development at miLAB / Dr. Hadas Erel, Senior Research Scientist, Team Lead Human – Robot Interaction at miLAB / Dr. Oren Zuckerman, miLAB Founder and Director, IDC miLAB (Media Innovation Lab) at The Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) Herzliya, Israel.
The show was produced with the support of the Israel Lottery Council For Culture & Arts 
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