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A well-known israeli author and literary critic, Amalia Kahana -Carmon, died recently at the age of 93.  In her stories, she focused on the plight of women in a male dominant society.

It appears the family (three surviving children: a daughter who lives in the UK, and two sons) hasn't issued any announcement, and the news of her death reached the public indirectly, some time after her private funeral. I've even read somewhere that they won't participate in  public ceremonies in her memory. If that's true, it sounds a bit far fetched. 

Perhaps, it's too early to know the reason for the family's decision to go entirely private. As far as I know, Amalia Carmon was honored with all the literary prizes and awards possible. So, no ground for frustration in this respect. 

Shortly before her death, another israeli famous writer, Amos Oz, left us (RIP). The latter(aged 79), was an internationally acclaimed writer and  a man of great charisma. . His death opened an "orgy" (in the ancient sense) of events in his memory,  and perhaps that scarred a little the Carmon family. There are people for whom  privacy is  above all public interest.

And who knows, may be, it was Amalia Kahana- Carmon's explicit wish to have a private funeral and no memorial ceremonies, and that, of course, has to be respected.  We shall probably hear something about it later, or....not .

May her soul rest in peace!

YAMA

'YAMA'  stands for :Yaakov Agam Museum of Art.

I visited there two days ago,on Thursday, and  experienced a unique sort of viewing art.  It was trying to see "beyond the visible", to see "the hidden" and the 'constant change' in any of the exhibits which were 'art' movable and transformable. This was made possible by looking at the exhibit from each side, coming closer to it, or going a bit away from it. That was quite fascinating, and I was deeply impressed !!

Yaakov Agam,  90 year old, internationally  known as the father of kinetic art movement, painter and sculptor, was born and raised in  a  very religious family,the Gebstein family, located in the israeli town of Rishon Lezion.

 Agam's portrait , white beard and hat, welcomes the  visitors
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His works are displayed in famous museums  such as Gugenheim in New -York,  Pompidou Center in Paris, and many other museums and art venues. His environmental works adorn public spaces in major metropolitan areas of the world.  In Israel, he's mostly known to the local public, through his iconic fountain in Dizengoff Square of Tel Aviv, "fire and water"(see my two posts on that : feb.4, 2011 and march 12, 2016), and the facade of Dan Hotel near the beach of Tel Aviv.

mini hotel Dan facade  (on the wall) and some of his tower works

The little museum in Rishon Lezion, dedicated to Agam's work, was opened in 2017- so it's actually a new place.

 name of museum in hebrew, english, arabic (tiny letters)

blue sign indicating the entrance to the museum

Both inside and outside the building there are  kinetic columns of great beauty and color ( tin +acrilic ) in memory of his late wife Clila, and named after her "the pillars of Clila" (20 pillars outside, near the entrance, and 9 pillars inside the building).

Me, and the pillars outside

women on the bench chatting and contemplating the pillars

The various exhibits (paintings, objects, sound works, interractive digital works), are displayed on the  two levels of the building: the ground level and the upper one (reached either on foot, or by a cute, little lift). The museum also has activity rooms/halls for both children and adults. 

curved ground floor and upper floor

visitors listening to museum's guide explanation

contemplating exhibits

visitor trying to capture an exhibit called 'waves'

corner  for sitting  and watching screen running constant kinetic motions

pillars inside the gallery

During the whole vist at the museum, I kept telling myself: 'the man is a genious'. Here are some of the exhibits on the wall: