Exhibitions at The Magnes

The Power of Attention: Magic and Meditation in Hebrew shiviti Manuscript Art Exhibition (2017)

On Display at The Magnes

The exhibitions of The Magnes rely on the collection’s extensive, and ever-growing, holdings of art, books, manuscripts, and material culture. By combining museum practice, research, and instruction, they present to the public the results of engaging collaborative projects led by UC Berkeley faculty, students, visiting scholars, artists, and curators. Exhibitions are presented in conjunction with programs connecting academic life and the public interest.

Cities and Wars: Roman Vishniac in Berlin and Jerusalem (1947/1967) exhibition images

Cities and Wars: Roman Vishniac in Berlin and Jerusalem 1947/1967

Aug 29, 2023 - May 9, 2024

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Time Capsules

Time Capsules. The Magnes: 10 Years at UC Berkeley

Aug 29, 2023 - May 9, 2024

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An Archive of Archives: Roman Vishniac's Exhibition History | New York, 1971-72

An Archive of Archives: Roman Vishniac’s Exhibition History | New York, 1971-72

Aug 29, 2023 - May 9, 2024

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Special Installations

gifCollider: Night Vision by Greg Niemeyer

GifCollider: Chapter 11. Night Vision

Aug 29, 2023 – May 9, 2024

Artist and UC Berkeley Professor Greg Niemeyer’s contemporary work, a computer-generated image tracing the shape of the menorah, uses GIF animations, layering, moving, and blurring them to suggest stratas of digital memory.

Traveling Exhibitions

In Real Times artwork mosaic

In Real Times Exhibition headed to the East Coast

Sep 2023 – Dec 2023

 In Real Times. Arthur Szyk: Art & Human Rights (1926-1951), an exhibition created by UC Berkeley’s Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life to showcase the Taube Family Arthur Szyk Collection, has finished its residency at The National World War II Museum and will head to the Fairfield University Art Museum this fall.

Past Exhibitions

Since its founding in 1962, The Magnes has a history of presenting exhibitions that break new ground in Jewish Studies research, build upon the collaboration between curators and UC Berkeley faculty and students, expand Judaica connoisseurship, introduce under-recognized Jewish artists of the 20th century, and take risks with experimental projects by contemporary artists. Many of its exhibitions draw on selections from its extensive collections, or commissioned works that use the collections as inspiration.

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