Tel Aviv: 27 artists dare to embrace "hope breaks boundaries"

"Robert" @Batya Malka

The Bifnokho Cultural Center in Tel Aviv will host the collective exhibition “Hope Breaks Boundaries” on October 30 — an ambitious artistic and social project exploring the power of hope as a mental, emotional, and creative force capable of crossing the barriers of pain, loss, and uncertainty. Initiated by artist and entrepreneur Daniel Mano-Bella, the exhibition is realized in collaboration with Nefashot, a social collective that has been working for several years to raise public awareness about mental health through art, culture, and dialogue.

Hope as an act, not just a feeling

In a collective context of psychological fragility, pain, and ongoing tension following two years of war, “Hope Breaks Boundaries” encourages thinking of hope not merely as a comforting feeling, but as an active cognitive and emotional capacity — a skill to be practiced. Art thus becomes a guardian of hope: a space where inner experiences can be contained, reshaped, and transformed when they become too heavy to bear alone.

Twenty-seven artists participate in this pluralistic exhibition, presented in the historic building of the former IDF spokesperson’s office, now transformed by intu Reality Group into a space for exchange and expression. The exhibition is curated by artist and curator Asya Weisberg, who sought to create a dialogue between artworks, emotions, and contexts.

The works explore hope in all its forms: intimate, universal, fragile, or luminous. Inbal Lotan presents “I Am What I Am and What I Was”, an introspective piece in which inner demons are trampled by silhouettes — a metaphor for transformation and growth.

Artwork by Udi Shafran

For Asya Weisberg, the exhibition takes on a particular significance in the aftermath of October 7:

"The works evolve across different spaces of hope. Some deconstruct familiar symbols to give them new meaning. In this period of war, mourning, and anxiety, art becomes a space for reflection, support, and healing. It does not bypass reality but enters into it, seeking to heal it from within through a movement that is at once gentle, attentive, material, and imaginative," she explains.

Katya Korin presents a wooden box with a peephole, where a kaleidoscope-like mechanism invites intimate and poetic observation. Assia Weissberg transforms two simple words from a memorial sticker for a fallen soldier into a flickering neon sign — a vibrant tribute to both the perseverance and fragility of hope.

The figure of the little girl Tikva (Hope), imagined by Daniel Mano-Bella, embodies a hope that is both universal and personal, addressed to anyone carrying a visible or invisible wound.

Artwork by Inbal Lotan

In Rina Stern’s video art, an Israeli orange placed in front of a destroyed house becomes a symbol of vitality and resilience. For Peleg Makmel, the same fruit transforms into an “eternal flame,” a light that never goes out. Ayala Elbaz’s visual poetry features a paper airplane in flight — a gesture suspended between past and future, opening a passage toward trans-temporal hope.

Meanwhile, Gabriel Ra'anan assembles shards of ancient ceramics into a contemporary sculpture, while Udi Shafran combines wood and glass in a dialogue on growth and rebirth. Artists Michael Alvarez Pereyre and Abed Alselam Sebba present a moving video performance on compassion and human connection, while Natalia Volkov photographs herself in a fragile pose, transforming the act of showing oneself into an act of faith.

This exhibition will be open to the public from October 30 at 7:30 PM until December 4, at 9 Itamar Ben Avi Street, Tel Aviv.

Caroline Haïat