THE WING - ART IN HAIFA, ISRAEL

If you have been following Hook and Line, then you will know that we are very fond of learning about art scenes that drift passionately under the extremely schizophrenic and undulating radar of popular art culture - the ones that are currently off the grid yet just as interesting and legitimate as any other big city's cultural climate. Rest assured,  we are not pretentious bastards who dislike anything that is well known.  No, not at all, those sentiments are much too selfish and narrow. However, in this day and age where we are much familiar with the artistic history of places like LA and NY, it could be much more interesting for us to find clean slates and create our own collectives and cultures with our own friends in our own spaces in our own towns.  Much like a person, cities create habits from histories and in turn have predictable futures. It is in the "genes", so to speak.  I once heard a wise woman say,
"IT'S NOT WHERE YOU ARE, IT'S WHO YOU'RE WITH".

Functioning in the same vein as Teaadora Nikolova and his home grown collective in Bloomington, The Wing is an art gallery, bar and living space in downtown Haifa, Israel, right by the port at 51 Hanamal Street.  The Wing, or HA'AGAF in Hebrew, came about a little over two years ago when photographer Livi Kessel met musician Tsvi Peterkovsky (listen to him below) and fellow artist Shahar Sivan on the streets of Haifa. As Livi puts it, the trio became “a family in three days” after going to a Morrissey concert together.  Since then, the collective has grown to eight people (Iddo, Livi, Mark, Diana, Shahar, Iris, Boaz, Talya, Tsvi) who , at one point, all lived in the same building together above the space that would become The Wing. These days only two of the members still live in the building, that is, Livi and Iddo, but they are still going full speed ahead and are bringing regular art exhibitions, live music and movie screenings into downtown Haifa, a city that is otherwise know as being backward and slow.  This is an interview I did with Livi, the chief documentor of the group.– KEBA ROBINSON//ALL PHOTOS BY LIVI KESSEL

Keba: CAN YOU DESCRIBE HAIFA ISRAEL?

Livi Kessel: To begin with, Haifa is known as one of the "mixed cities" in Israel - where Arabs and Jews live side by side. It's also a port city. Also, Haifa is commonly referred to as "Red Haifa" - red as in labor, socialism and the worker’s city. Unfortunately, Haifa is also known as a very old city - sleepy, tired and behind. There's a famous saying that the best thing about Haifa is the road to Tel Aviv. Thanks to its not so flattering reputation, rent in Haifa is dramatically low. The first question people ask me when I say I live in Haifa is why. I have very good answers. 

Keba: DID ART HAVE MUCH OF A PRESENCE IN HAIFA BEFORE YOU GUYS STARTED THE GALLERY?

LK: I have to admit that there wasn't any noticeable art scene in Haifa that I was aware of - and I was a photography student in a design academy when I moved to Haifa. There is a good modern art museum here, it’s actually the third of its size in Israel but it usually suffers from lack of budget and visitors.  A few months ago a new lead curator was hired and since then the museum has had a bigger presence in my routine.  Also, there are no commercials, Haifa has classic format galleries, although there have been a few tries.

K:HOW DID YOU ALL MEET?

LK: Low rent brought us all to downtown Haifa.  I was ending my first year in 51 Hanamal St. and I liked the neighborhood but the building was half empty and I was bored and lonely.

I met Shahar a few times on the street (his studio was already here) and he told me he was thinking about moving to the area. I told him to come and see my apartment since I was thinking about leaving.  I met Tsvi at Shahar's studio and after three days we went to a Morrissey concert that I wanted to go to but didn't have anyone to go with.

A few days after that I went to a photography seminar in Poland and to the states for a month without figuring out if I wanted to move or not.  When I came back a few weeks later I found Shahar and Tsvi living in my building, on my floor. Shahar and I wanted to collaborate ever since we met and so we decided to work on a video for an art competition. We needed music and someone to block the street while we drew a tank using glue and lit it on fire. We didn't win the competition, but TSVI, SHAHAR AND I BECAME A FAMILY IN THREE DAYS.  It was only the three of us for a short time, and after a while Diana moved to the building, then Shahar's girlfriend Talia came, then Iddo who became my husband. In the meantime two other artists moved to 61 Hanamal St. - Iris and Boaz – they both became a part of the gallery’s collective.

K: HOW AND WHEN EXACTLY DID THE GALLERY START?

LK: Tsvi closed his pizzeria and wasn't working for a while. After few months of not paying his rent he announced to us one tearful night that he was leaving the building.  We couldn't accept his absence and tried to think of a solution that would keep him here on very low rent with us being responsible for at least half of it so that he doesn’t have to leave again.  On the street floor of our building was a neglected 2 floor space owned by our landlord. Since it had to be renovated the rent was low and we worked on it for 6 months - the gallery and bar on the first floor and Tsvi upstairs. WE HAD NO RULES OR CLEAR PLANS EXCEPT THAT THE ART WE SHOW MUST BE GOOD.

K: DO YOU GUYS HAVE A LOT OF SUPPORT FROM THE LOCAL COMMUNITY?

LK: The local community is an integral part of the essence of the gallery. We have a wide age range of artists and art lovers who make the gallery what it is.  On the other hand, the municipally ignores us.

K: WHY DID YOU GUYS DECIDE TO CALL THE GALLERY THE WING?

LK: The "Wing" as in "Section".  When our landlord wrote our lease she separated the part where Tsvi lives and the part meant for the gallery. "The Wing" was what she called the gallery part.  In Hebrew it also hints at the mental section in hospitals.

K: WHAT ARE YOUR MOVIE SCREENINGS AND YOUR MUSIC PERFORMANCES LIKE?

LK: For art we are very open - we have a back yard which is perfect for shows, and on our exhibition openings we have live music. We’ve hosted a  jazz trio, an Irish music show, a flute liturgical music band, Russian Israeli rock,  electronic vocal performances and when we get lucky we host Tsvi's concerts.  As for movies, we show lots of documentaries, Korean & experimental film and Disney classics.

K: DO YOU FEEL LIKE THERE IS A STRONG MUSIC AND ART COMMUNITY IN HAIFA?

LK: There is a good strong graffiti scene (Broken Fingers) and few indie bands.

The community is small, but strong and happy!

K: WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO MAKE “51 PORT ST. A WAR FILM”?

LK: In Israel, there is a war every few years, so basically it's just a matter of time until the next one starts.  Through the last war in 2006, Haifa was a major target, and downtown, near the port, got many rockets that caused destruction and death. I was taking many pictures at the time and wanted to have some video documentation but didn't have a  "story" or know how to start. One day, a friend of mine, who was in the military service, told me that there will be war in the summer, she even gave me a date.  As I grow up my fear of war and conflicts gets distracting and I feel like I need to be ready for the next war. Since our building is in such a bad location when it comes to missels, I wanted to know where the war would be.  Then came the poor incident were the Israeli army killed nine people in the Gaza Flotilla raid that made me think war is going to strike any minute now...that was the general atmosphere too.

K: WHAT DO YOU SEE THE WING BECOMING IN THE FUTURE?

LK: My dream is that The Wing will be an art center, a school even, with a residency program (that we might start this year), lectures, classes and strong community center as
 today, but maybe in a bigger space.

CHECK THE WING OUT ON FACEBOOK & MORE OF LIVI'S PHOTOGRAPHY