Aliyah Blog 56: Agam Museum


A bit “off the beaten path” is an interesting little museum in Rishon L’Zion near the center of the country and the sea. Born Yaacov Gibstein in 1928, first art exhibition in 1953, and still alive in 2025, Yaacov Agam does “kinetic” art. Short version: it looks different from different angles because you move or it moves.

There are a lot of pieces of art in his museum with acutely angled sharp sections such that the colors look different depending from where you view. Some you can rotate … apparently only for tour groups because we got scolded for rotating one ourselves.

As with many museums, it was filled with school groups. The particular layout of this museum lent itself to playing frogger. You’re walking to the next piece of art and … forward one row … back a little … forward two. I got this! Made it through all six rows of moving lily pads disguised as children.

The museum is one big room on the ground floor with a ramp going around the room in Guggenheim style to another room on the second floor. While you might think there’s a basement because there’s a a sculpture extending all the way down through the floor and you think, “even for Israel this lack of safety around this is a bit much” … it’s actually a very convincing reflection.

School group around a rotating irregular pentagon in three dimensions. Each person around the circle sees something different, yet they are all correct. If I were to design the perfect thing not on fire to put a group of kids around, this would be it.

Not pictured: one of the teachers was Haredi. 99.9% of people get along just fine here.

The above two side of the ramp are taken from the same place. However, each part of each ramp is painted the exact same. Just stand over there … and … photos can’t do this place justice.

Here’s another view – note that each of those pictures looks different depending on where you stand, as does the side of the ramp.

Have you any idea the kind of self-restraint you need to walk by this piece of art and not pull the string?

There’s no basement.
The post doesn’t go to the ceiling.

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