OK Protest
Contemporary Works in the Context of Civil Struggle
Curator: Hadas Yossifon
Tel Aviv-Yafo has always been an open space for critical thinking and civic solidarity. Over the years, it has hosted protests reflecting diverse opinions and perspectives on identity, the environment, housing, livelihood, and peace – testament to a free and pluralistic civil society.
The OK Protest project offers a view of our current time through contemporary video artworks, screened in the museum on a wall dedicated to stories of activism and civil struggles in the city's history.
The seven works screened this year share a focus on sustained effort, both physical and mental. In six of them, the artists themselves embody the action. After more than two years of continuous presence in the streets, against a backdrop of war and loss, the works convey stubborn persistence alongside mounting exhaustion. They present repetitive actions involving labor, investment, toil, and struggles, acts that demand determination in a reality shadowed by doubt about whether the task will bear fruit. Many of the physical and cultural spaces where they unfold are distinctly Israeli.
The effort is great and requires perseverance. These works don't document protests that occurred on the ground. Rather, through artistic action, they articulate the possibility of protest as performance in and of itself – stubborn, sustained bodily gestures enacted within charged spaces. The body stands at the center, dictating the pace and limits of action, bearing the struggle and thereby making it visible. Within these acts, the absurdity of struggle also surfaces, echoing Samuel Beckett: we must go on, we can't go on, we’ll go on.
Opening: 05.02.2026
Exhibition duration: one year
Location: Tel Aviv–Yafo City Museum, 2nd floor
Admission: included in the museum entrance fee
