Embassy of the Republic of Slovenia Tel Aviv

The Embassy of the Republic of Slovenia Tel Aviv has functioned as an official representative of the Republic of Slovenia in Israel since 1994. It provides consular services in Israel (and Palestinian territories) and promotes bilateral political, economic, and cultural ties between the two states.

Other representatives of the Republic of Slovenia in Israel include the consulates in Tel Aviv and Bethlehem.

Cultural cooperation

Cultural cooperation is based on the "Program of Educational, Scientific, Cultural, Youth and Sports Cooperation between the Government of Republic of Slovenia and the Government of the State of Israel for the years 2012–2014", which was based on the "Agreement on Cooperation in the Fields of Culture, Science and Education between the Government of the State of Israel and the Government of the Republic of Slovenia" signed in 1993. This legal basis enables a platform for regular cooperation and cultural exchange between cultural and educational institutions. The cultural ties between the two countries seem to be thriving, especially regarding the promotion of contemporary art production from Slovenia.

Visual arts, design, and architecture

Contemporary visual art production was presented by the Irwin collective: in 2010 at the The Eye of the State exhibition at the Israeli Centre for Digital Art in Holon and from September to December 2013 with the Corpse of Art, a mixed-media installation at the Other People’s Problems: Conflicts and Paradoxes exhibition at Herzliya Museum of Contemporary Art.

Corpse of Art, a mixed-media installation by Irwin at the exhibition Other Peopleâs Problems: Conflicts and Paradoxes at Herzliya Museum of Contemporary Art, 2013

Zdenka Badovinac (Museum of Modern Art) participated at the Art TLV 08 international panel of curators from Istanbul, Moscow, Ljubljana, and Herzilya (north of Tel Aviv), and video artist Nataša Prosenc was invited to the exhibition Sounds & Visions, Artists' Films and Videos from Europe within the Yafo Centennial at Tel Aviv Museum of Art in 2009. Some photo exhibitions took place in Tel Aviv and Givatayim (Photos by Arne Hodalič).

In 2012 eight Slovene designers – (OLoOP Design, Bevk Perović Arhitekti, AKSL Arhitekti, AlmiraSadar, BelaBela, Pleksimanija, Studio Drevo, and Janez Suhadolc – were presented at the exhibition Common Roots – Design Map of Central Europe co-curated by Špela Šubic at the Design Museum in Holon.

Eight Slovene designers – (OLoOP Design, Bevk Perović Arhitekti, AKSL Arhitekti, AlmiraSadar, BelaBela, Pleksimanija, Studio Drevo, and Janez Suhadolc presented at the exhibition Common Roots – Design Map of Central Europe at the Design Museum in Holon, 2012

The exhibition Five Years of Slovene Architecture – ARCHITECTURE = and screenings of Small and Smart: Expressions of Contemporary Slovenian Architecture in Films was presented at the Architect's Gallery in Jaffa, Tel Aviv in summer 2013. The exhibition prepared in the cooperation with the Architects' Bulletin (ab), Architectural Gallery DESSA, RAZ:UM and House of Architecture Maribor with the support of the Slovene Embassy in Tel Aviv, presented 40 projects of contemporary Slovene architecture of the last five years. The opening featured also lectures of Kristina Dešman, a curator of the exhibition, and Rok Oman from Ofis Arhitekti.

Film

In September 2013, Boštjan Hladnik's classic film Dancing in the Rain [Ples v dežju] (1961) was screened at the 29th Haifa International Film Festival. End of 2013 the first retrospective of Slovene film takes place at Haifa, Tel Aviv and Jeruzalem Cinematheque, accompanied by a meeting of film producers.

Class Enemy [Razredni sovražnik], a film directed by Rok Biček produced by Triglav Film, 2013

In 2014, the Class Enemy, a film directed by Rok Biček, won a Special Mention at the Haifa International Film Festival.

Students and professors from the University of Ljubljana's Academy of Theatre, Radio, Film and Television (AGRFT) regularly participate at the one of the largest student film festivals in Tel Aviv, the TAU Film Festival. Some of the young authors have even been awarded, for example, Matevž Luzar.

Performing and musical arts

The embassy has promoted many Slovene artists and art groups from the field of dance, including En-Knap Productions, for a retrospective of choreographer Iztok Kovač's opus at the VDance festival in 2007 in Tel Aviv. Edvard Clug's Radio & Juliet ballet produced by Slovene National Theatre Maribor was presented in Herzliya and at the Karmiel Dance Festival, the largest Mediterranean dance festival in 2007, while Slovenian performer and choreographer Jurij Konjar performed Bach’s Goldberg Variations at the 24th Room Dance Festival 2012 at Hateiva in Tel Aviv.

The Bat Yam International Street Theatre Festival hosted a performance by KUD Ljud in 2009.

In 2013 the Ljubljana City Theatre (MGL) participated at the Cameri's Hanoch Levin International Festival with the production Requiem. The performance, the director Matjaž Zupančič, the choreographer Iztok Kovač, and the cast all received excellent reviews from Israeli theatre critics in Yediot Achronot and Haaretz daily newspapers.

Theatre performance Requiem directed by Matjaž Zupančič, Ljubljana City Theatre (MGL), 2013

Links with the Theatre International Exposure Israel in Tel Aviv and with the International Festival of Puppet Theater Jerusalem were established.

An official event to mark the end of the six-month Slovenian Presidency of the European Union in June 2008 was a concert performance by the folk music ensemble Katalena at Einav Cultural Center in Tel Aviv. Violinist Anja Bukovec performed at the World of Classics Festival at the Tel Aviv Performing Arts Center in 2008, the violinist Žiga Brank at the Ra'anana Music Center in 2011, and jazz player Gašper Bertoncelj who played at the International Jazz Summit Australia– Slovenia–Israel at the Mandel Cultural Centre in Tel Aviv (Jaffa) and at the HaSimta Theater in Tel Aviv in 2013.

Promotional Flyer for An International Jazz Summit, 2013

An internationally known soprano singer Bernarda Bobro appeared in The Infernal Comedy at the Eilat Chamber Music Festival in Tel Aviv and at the Felicja Blumental International Music Festival at the Recanati Hall in Tel Aviv Museum in 2013.

Literature

In 2012 Barbara Pogačnik who works on the first anthology of Slovene poetry in Hebrew, was a resident in Israel. In Jerusalem she was hosted by Musrara, The Nagar School of Photography, Media, new Music, Animation & Phototherapy that organised the poetry evening in the Ktovet Leshira Cultural House. Pogačnik and Dr Hava Pinhas Cohen introduced prominent Slovene poets (e.g. Dane Zajc, Tomaž Šalamun,Veno Taufer) in Hebrew and Slovenian. The event was followed by the poetry reading in Tel Aviv where two further translators from Slovenian into Hebrew, Miriam Steiner Aviezer, Slovene-Israeli poet, and Dina Katan Ben-Zion were present. Eventually Barbara Pogačnik participated in the translation workoshop programme of the International Poetry Festival Nissan in Maghar Village in the north of Israel.

In the forthcoming Anthology of Slovene Poetry the poems by 40 Slovene poets have been translated into Hebrew by Barbara Pogačnik, Dr Klemen Jelinčič Boeta and Dr Hava Pinhas Cohen.

Marcia Falk (Jewish writer and poet), Hava Pinhas Cohen (Jewish writer, poet, translator) and Barbara Pogačnik (Slovene author and poet) at the Slovene Poetry reading in Jerusalem, 2012

En zo agadá, Anthology of Contemporary Hebrew Literature, edited and translated by Klemen Jelinčič Boeta, was published by Slovene Writers’ Association in 2012.

Education and science

The embassy promotes exchanges in the spheres of education and science according to a bilateral agreement. Scholarships are offered annually for undergraduate and postgraduate students from Slovenia to study in Israel (Hebrew or other Israeli-related subject), and three nine-month scholarships are offered each academic year for Israeli postgraduate students to study in Slovenia.

External links

Gallery

Barbara Pogačnik at the international poetry Festival Nissan, 2012