Noa Eshkol (1924-2007) was a dancer, composer, visual artist, teacher and theorist. She founded the Chamber Dance Quartet in Tel Aviv in 1954 and developed minimalist choreographies without sets, costumes or music. Her goal was absolute concentration on the essentials. Eshkol had a deep understanding of the body and space, and, in 1954, together with the architect Abraham Wachmann, developed a unique notation system that records physical movements which serves to document and communicate: the Eshkol-Wachmann Movement Notation (EWMN). In doing so, she also made important cultural and scientific contributions to developments in medicine, computerised electronic music and cybernetics.
Image gallery
Noa Eshkol Circle of Fire | 1996
The extensive retrospective provides an insight into her movement research since the 1950s: choreographies, language studies, dances, textile art and the notation system she developed for human and animal movements. The counterpoint to her minimalist choreographies and graphic dance notations are the large-format and colourful tapestries that she created from collected and donated scraps of fabric together with her dancers from 1973, with the outbreak of the Yom Kippur War. With the presentation on the life and work of this pioneering artist, the Georg Kolbe Museum is further exploring important themes for the institution such as modern dance, the body in space and modern architecture.
The exhibition also features works by contemporary artists inspired by Eshkol's practice. These include works by Sharon Lockhart, Yael Bartana and Omer Krieger as well as a new work by Ayumi Paul, developed especially for the exhibition. A supplementary presentation of the museum's collection provides an insight into the subject of dance in the Weimar Republic, ruptures and points of connections. To mark the opening of the exhibition, KW on Location and the Georg Kolbe Museum will present the first reprint of the pioneering publication Movement Notation, which was first published in English in 1958. Until 25 February, the Georg Kolbe Museum is showing the exhibition Lin May Saeed. The Snow Falls Slowly in Paradise. A Dialogue with Renée Sintenis.
Additional information
Open Wednesday to Monday, 11am – 6pm. Closed on Tuesdays Entry €8 (reduced €5), free entry for under 18s and for Friends of the Museum
Participating artists
Omer Krieger
Sharon Lockhart
Ayumi Paul
Noa Eshkol
Yael Bartana
