In the Old Town Hall located in the heart of Marzahn, Berlin-based, Israeli artists are showcasing their work under the title “Kombinat”. In German this word means: combined enterprises in the former socialist countries. In Hebrew, it is an unofficial word describing unconventional solutions. This exhibition is the gap that lies between these different definitions.

For the first time the chosen artists will exhibit side by side in this constellation, bringing out the exhibition’s diversity of mediums, such as painting, drawing, calligraphy, photography and performance, along with a variety of conceptual approaches.

The historical Old Town Hall was planned by an architectural Kombinat. It poses an unorthodox choice of location for the exhibition. Being a public space, it provides accessibility to random observers, creating unconventional circumstances to encounter the art. Therefor, the exhibition is bringing the unusual into the daily and the strange in to the familiar.

Through the act of presenting their works in the Old Town Hall, the artists are forming a very personal communication line between Israel and the former GDR in east Berlin. As a diplomatic relationship hardly ever existed between the two, for many, this encounter could be the first personal discovery of each other. This assumption echoes with the Latin origin of the exhibition’s title: Unite.

★ The exhibition is the 8th part of the exhibition series “Kostbarkeiten”.
Alten Rathaus Marzahn, Helene-Weigel-Platz 8, 12681 Berlin.