Art on the Tracks

7.2003 – Art on the Tracks
Haifa Theater Gallery, Tel Aviv and Be'er Sheva train stations
Curators:  Doron Polak and Esti Drori


Israel Railways Company has initiated the project "Art on the Tracks", in which works by Israeli artists which have been inspired by trains, were exhibited in drawing, sculpture, photography and poetry.  The drawings and photographs were printed on banners that were hung in the train station areas, with the sculptures on exhibit next to them.  Some of these sculptures are comprised of leftover train parts that have been recycled by the artists.
The project has been exhibited at the Tel-Aviv and Be'er Sheva train stations as well as at the Haifa Theater Gallery.

Artist Tami Cohen, a participant in the project, manages manpower and wages department at Israel Railways Company and since 2001 has been creating sculptures from railway waste:  wooden templates of railroad car parts, track parts, motor parts, wheel systems and more.  Her sculpting materials have been taken from a foundry for railway car parts that was established in the Kishon region of Haifa in 1931, and where, until 1952, railway car parts were produced with wooden templates.  This foundry served as the source for railway car parts for all trains in the Middle East.
Tami Cohen uses her wood and steel sculptures, industrial products, to personify the soul of the materials.

Doron Polak and Esti Drori, curators