Cultural Calendar

The Williams Club of New York is pleased to present "My Father's Microcosm, Tel Aviv", which is a photographic installation by Israeli photographer Yossi Guttmann. The exhibition was curated by Eva Grudin.

Yossi Guttmann and Eva Grudin are at work on a book about the social, cultural and architectural history of once one of the grandest and oldest apartment buildings in Tel Aviv. Though it's now condemned, Yossi Gutmann's father, Kalman Gutmann, 96 years old, still lives there, the sole tenant. He refuses to leave his third floor (walk-up) apartment. He has a fixed-rent contract from 1934 and no one can pry him loose.

The photographs in the exhibition record Kalman's world - scenees from the (Shuk Ha'Carmel) Carmel market next door, where he shops after-hours, pictures of the apartment itself and the building, in ruins, but still noble in its skeleton and detail, and the eccentric watchmaker's shop Kalman worked in for 70 years. The apartment and the shop are crammed full by a man who refuses to through out anything. Even the tape on the apartment windows dates back to 1940, when the Italians bombed the British in Tel Aviv.

The opening reception will take place on Friday, March 19 from 6PM until 8PM. This event is free and open to the public, with no need to R.S.V.P. 

Image: Yossi Guttman, My Father's Kitchen, Tel Aviv (2007), c-print