Propaganda and Visual Representation of Modernism - The Case of Tel Aviv and Gdynia

The modernist ideas brought to Israel in the 1930s were visualised in architecture and art, and also incorporated in posters, advertisements and as well as in various other examples of political propaganda. A promise of modernity was essential for Tel Aviv, but also for Gdynia, as both cities symbolized the new beginning – close to the sea and thus open for promising interaction with the external world. Waves of immigration to mandatory Palestine on one hand, and a freshly regained independence of Poland (in 1919) on the other, gave rise to the desire to construct new political imaginery, and Tel Aviv and Gdynia were meant to realize it.
This evening we will present some examples from mandatory Palestine and Gdynia. We shall examine the way modernist ideas penetrated the public consciousness through art, commercial advertisements and visual propaganda.

A discussion panel with: Iddo Ginat, Bezalel University, author of a PhD dissertation “The Construction of the Zionist Space in International Exhibitions and Fairs”; Oded Ben Yehuda, Art director, Lecturer and a Design journalist.; Artur Tanikowski, curator of the exhibition “Gdynia – Tel-Aviv” at the POLIN Museum, Warsaw; Anna C. Zielinska, philosopher at the University of Lorraine, France & manager of the European Association of POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews

This event is organized by the Liebling Haus – The White City Center in Tel Aviv, The European Association of POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews, Polish Institute in Tel Aviv and the Adam Mickiewicz Institute in Warsaw.