Go for Broke

Go for Broke focuses on findings and inventions; objects and their stories, situated in the dialogue between archeology and design. For the archaeologist, ruins are an essential starting point that yields great finds and knowledge. Together, they lay the foundations for unfolding the past. However, the recounted past is only as good as the quality of the discoveries that attest to it. The past is therefore an evolving story constructed over time, and can change according to the accumulated knowledge concerning its nature. Archaeological artifacts are classified according to their degree of integrity: a whole object; a fractured object indicative of the whole; and a fragment which does not necessarily reflect the whole. The findings carry fragmented information – some completely destroyed, others collected innocently, or otherwise stolen – and their quality is measured by the knowledge they impart. The archaeologist seeks to uncover the concealed information regarding the whole object, revealed by one or more of its individual parts. In a sense, both the archaeologist and the designer are engaged in nothingness, driven by the attempt to find and pinpoint it based on accumulated knowledge; The former gazes into the past, while the latter strives to understand how existing objects may be altered, clarified, and renewed. Go for Broke employs archeological practices to offer insight about fragments and the whole through a prism of design, exploring  the past in the form of a new object. Comprising three areas, the exhibition presents archaeological artifacts on loan from the Israel Antiquities Authority, alongside new works by various artists and designers, created in response to the nature of archeology; fundamentally scientific, it is actually based on and fostered by hypotheses. The fragment, in its various senses, is the starting point for design through the questions it raises, the solutions it provides, and primarily through countless hypotheses that range from an unusable mound of pottery, to a complete, coveted treasure.

 

Shahar Kedem

Ofir Halaly, Dov Ganchrow, Guy Megides, David Shat, Roni Yeheskel, Haggai Eyal, Yoav Balaban, Talia Luvaton, Yuval Harel, Olga Stadnuk, Michal Simon, Lavi Zohar, Shlomi Marcovich,  Noa Rich , Micha Yisraeli, Reddish – Naama Steinbock & Idan Friedman, Keren Kuenberg, Shir Senior, Rona Giladi-Ouannou, Shahar Ouannou, Ruth Patir, Shaul Cohen, Tamara Efrat

Exhibition Design and Production: Shahar Kedem and Amit Portman

Raanan Kislev, Director of Establishment and Operations of the National Archeology Campus

Dr. Michael Sebbane, Director of State Treasures

Dr. Barak Monnickendam-Givon, Co-Director, Western Wall Plaza Excavations

Jerusalem Region

Zehavit Shamul,  Administrative Assistant

Irina Lidski-Rezniko, Senior Illustrator

Adrienne Ganor, Senior Conservator of Glass and Ceramics