LASER Talks in Jerusalem

Gender Identity in Contemporary Art: Women's Perspectives on Society, Culture, and Religion
With : Jungsuk Noh, Nataliya Kamenetskaya, Dana Pulver

Chaired by: Galina Bleikh

Moderated by: Daria Kesler 
Supported by: CYLAND

The INEMEA Association, in collaboration with CYLAND, organizes a discussion featuring an artist, a researcher, and a curator exploring groundbreaking approaches to women's art theory and practice, highlighting issues at the intersection of gender, society, culture, and religion.

EVENT INFO

When: Tuesday, February 6, 2025, at 1:00 PM (UTC +2) | 5:00 AM (EST)  | Find your timezone HERE

Where: Hybrid event

• In-person: The President Hotel Art Center, Ahad Ha-Am str. 3, Jerusalem, Israel.
• Online: Access via Zoom (Please register, and we will send you a Zoom link)

Website: INEMEA

Program Overview

• Introduction: Galina Bleikh
• Presentation of Speakers: Daria Kesler
• Talk 1: Jungsuk Noh - Women’s Art in the Frame and the Power of Difference
• Talk 2: Nataliya Kamenetskaya - After Him Who Sees Me...
• Talk 3: Dana Pulver - Dresstelling: Wearing Stories, Weaving Identity
  
  
  The talk aims to foster dialogue between diverse approaches to gender identity in art, highlighting how women’s artistic narratives are evolving in response to contemporary challenges while preserving connections to cultural and religious traditions.
  
  
• Jungsuk Noh (The Republic of Korea) in her talk, “Women’s Art in the Frame and the Power of Difference”, explores how the representation of women in art has evolved, transitioning from carriers of local cultural identity to objects of aesthetic and sensual consumption in contemporary society. The discussion will delve into how modern media perpetuates distorted portrayals of female bodies and identities, contrasting these with historical perspectives rooted in local cultural traditions. By examining the tension between globalization and regional identity within contemporary art, the talk will raise critical questions about the future trajectory of women's artistic expression.
• Nataliya Kamenetskaya (Israel) in her talk, "After Him Who Sees Me..."(in collaboration with Michaёl Wogman),explores the artistic identity of Jewish women through three distinct groups: contemporary Israeli and American artists who consciously engage with religious themes; artists from the former USSR who express Jewish identity intuitively; and early 20th-century artists whose work was subtly shaped by their Jewish and feminine heritage. She highlights how these diverse perspectives intersect with and reflect Jewish tradition, offering a nuanced understanding of the interplay between art, identity, and heritage.
• Dana Pulver (Israel) in her talk, “Dresstelling: Wearing Stories, Weaving Identity”, explores the interplay of pop-culture and Jewish wisdom, by transforming garments into narratives. Her project explores boundaries between self and world, Jewish and global, feminine and universal. Blending humor and insight, Dresstelling reimagines identity through wearable texts, offering a creative lens on the intersection of tradition, culture, and personal expression 
  
  
  

BIOS

Galina Bleikh

Israel

A multidisciplinary artist. Her creative expertise spans a rich spectrum of artistic domains, encompassing AI, 3D modeling, AR and VR, bio-art, generative art, and more. At the heart of her artistic pursuit lies a fascination with the profound synergy between the emerging artificial reality and its transformative interaction with human experience through art. Galina graduated from the Stieglitz St. Petersburg State Academy of Art and Industry (MA). Since 1993, lives in Jerusalem. Galina is a cofounder of the INEMEA Association for Art, Culture, and Education and the INEMEA Jerusalem Art & Science lab. Since 2024, Galina becomes a host of Leonardo ISAST Laser Talks Jerusalem. Galina takes part in many exhibitions and conferences. Among them: Jerusalem Biennale (curator and participating artist, 2023–2024), ArtPlatform-On, Republic of Korea (2022), The CICA Museum of Modern Art, Republic of Korea (3 group exhibitions, 2023, 2024, 2025, and solo, 2021), NordArt, Germany (2019), Haifa Museum of Art, Israel (2018), LA Art Show USA (2013), Artco France Gallery, Paris (solo, 2012), Art Asia Miami (2011), etc. (https://bleikh.art)

Moderator:

Daria Kesler

Israel 

Cross-disciplinary researcher and artist. Works with human and machine-generated texts, sounds, documentaries, scents, and video art. Daria is interested in using modern technologies and science to spread empathy towards all species. She wants to explore new ways of co-living between technology, human, plants, and animals. Education: Master of Art&Science (Inovice), ITMO, Russia, Major studies in Hybrid (Technological and Bio) Art.

Speakers:

Jungsuk Noh

President of the International Visual Culture & Arts Association

The Republic of Korea

Jungsuk Noh was an adjunct professor at Gwangju Women's University and Chonnam National University for 30 years, fostering the younger generation. She worked as a co-curator of the Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art Special Exhibition and a director of the International Women's Arts Festivals in Japan and Malaysia. She established a 5+ nations platform called ‘Art Platform-On’ in 2021 and organized overseas exhibitions with co-curators from 5+ countries. Currently, she is the president of the International Visual Culture & Arts Association and the chairwoman of both the International Women Artists Federation – Gwangju Chapter, Republic of Korea and the Gwangju EPOQUE Society of Contemporary Art. Starting with etching which subject matter was the May 18th Gwangju Democratic Uprising, she has worked as an artist in various art fields. She had 22 solo exhibitions in the Republic of Korea, France, Japan, USA, and Mongolia and more than 417 group exhibitions in different countries. To be specific, she had a solo exhibition France at Chapelle Saint-Julien and a two-person exhibition at Nicolas Poussin Museum in 2022. She participated in the etching triennale in France in 2023, and the Jerusalem Biennale in Israel and AAmA exhibitions in Hangzhou, China and Portugal in 2024.

Nataliya Kamenetskaya

The Chairwoman of INEMEA Association for Art, Culture, and Education

Israel

A multimedia artist, researcher, and curator of international and regional art projects, she has exhibited her work in Sweden, South Korea, the United States, France, Italy, and Germany. Her academic and curatorial work explores shifting paradigms in scientific, philosophical, and sacred texts, as well as gender issues in visual arts.

She holds a degree in Fine & Applied Arts from Moscow Textile Institute (1981) and studied "Performing Gender: Cultural Studies, Literary Theory, and Visual Arts" at Central European University, Budapest (1997).

In 1989, she co-founded the female creative studies group "Idioma Lab" and served on the editorial board of "IdiomaA" for Heresies journal #26 (1992). She helped organize pioneering feminist art exhibitions in Russia, including "Femme Art / Women Painting in Russia XV-XX Centuries" (State Tretyakov Gallery, 2002) and "ŽEN D'АRТ: The Gender History of Art in The Post-Soviet Space 1989-2009" (MMOMA, 2010).

Her international curatorial work includes the Hindelopa conference and exhibition in Sweden (1991) and International Women Art Festivals in Guangju, South Korea (2012-2016). She contributes to educational publications and art catalogs as both author and editor.

Dana Pulver

Israel

Dana Pulver is fascinated by the depth and resilience of Jewish texts and traditions, constantly inspired by their ability to engage with and illuminate contemporary phenomena. She is the creator of Talmudic Ballads project, that weaves poetic interpretations of Talmudic stories with European traditional music, offering a unique feminist perspective on ancient narratives.

Dana also founded Dresstelling, exploring the connection between text and textile through clothing that conveys dialogue between Jewish traditional expressions and pop culture images.

She has collaborated with educational initiatives such as JDC, Hillel, Moishe House, and pluralist beit midrash programs. Her insights on Jewish texts have been published in Maariv Online, Makor Rishon, and Eretz Acheret, and her work has been featured in Dirshuni — a groundbreaking compendium of women’s midrashim. In 2023, Dana initiated and led the creation and publication of the first Ukrainian Haggadah. She is now working on a new publishing project: an illustrated edition of Perek Shira dedicated to the memory of the victims of the Nova massacre.

She holds an MA in Cognitive Sciences from the Hebrew University and an MSc in Molecular Biology from Ariel University. Born in Kyiv, Ukraine, Dana made aliyah to Israel and now lives in Maale Shomron.

SPONSORS