HOLON.- Design Museum Holon presents Black Box, exposing objects from the museum’s ‘black box’ of treasures that have typically been reserved for preservation purposes and limited viewing. The exhibition brings to mind a visit to a historical cabinet of wonders, one that remained largely invisible and inaccessible to the public. Curated by Design Museum Holon staff, Black Box divulges pieces by local and international designers, design studios and manufacturers that have been preserved behind-the-scenes in the museum’s collection room.

The exhibition reveals a range of objects that have remained largely inaccessible until now. The Museum’s Black Box exhibition shows everyday objects from stone tools, to vacuums, and televisions, all of which tell the story of the interaction between humans and objects. The exhibit is located on two floors and is composed of four parts which operate both jointly and separately.

Each of the four different spaces in the museum deals with a different aspect of the human to object relationship. The Dr. Shulamit Katzman Gallery (The Lower Gallery) explores the essence of the museum collection – its value, composition and hierarchical relations. The Upper Gallery structures the complex relations between people and objects and will display two movements that run in parallel: one indicates the way in which people produce objects, and the other will deal with the way in which objects define human beings.

The museum’s Design Laboratory features an exhibition by Yaakov Kaufman “A Research Design Collection,” curated by Adi Hamer Yacobi, examines the concept of “collection” as a method of working that combines materials, technologies, ideas, perceptions and insights, through the collection of arches by Yaakov Kaufman.

The Margalith Gallery and the Peripheral Corridor ­features the exhibition “The Pit: Artifacts Raised up From the Belly of the Earth,” curated by Avihai Mizrahi and Neil Nenner, which explores the life of discarded objects that have been abandoned by their human users.

“There is an increased intensity between physical objects and humans. We invite the viewer to observe these relations in a new and sober manner; to attempt to abandon our definitions of object and person, self and other – turning instead to openly explore role changes and multiple points of view,” says Maya Dvash, Chief Curator of Design Museum Holon.

The Dr. Shulamit Katzman Gallery ( The Lower Gallery)

The Lower Gallery invites visitors to delve into the mysteries of the collection while exploring the collection room as an object in itself. Everyday objects and their internal hierarchy are exposed revealing classificatory categories among themselves. Defining what is selected in the collection sparks curiosity about the fate of objects not selected. Select designers include Jaime Hayon, Ron Arad, Lea Gottlieb, Marcel Wanders, Tal Gur, Yael Mer and Shay Alkalay of Raw-Edges Design Studio, nendo, Tord Boontje, Kenya Hara, Chiara Onida, Issey Miyake.

Selected objects to make their debut in Black Box fall into five categories of descriptors:

Troublemakers: Objects made of organic and other unstable materials, whose inclusion in the collection requires consideration not only of their own preservation, but also of their influence on the entire collection.

Invisible Objects: Objects required to tend to the maintenance and preservation of museum artifacts. Despite their lack of formal titles, these objects are a necessary component of museum life. Examples include gloves, wraps and vacuums. They reveal much about the upkeep of the collection and the thin lines separating backstage necessities from main performers.

Odd Ones Out: These are conceptual and material processes involved in the journey to the object’s creation. These include templates, sketches, models and production plans.

Sublime Objects: These pieces question if one should value a physical piece or the emotional response to an idea that the piece portrays. This is a matter of the functionality of products versus the satisfaction and pleasure derived from consuming them.

Left Behind: This group represents the layers that remain invisible to visitors – those objects, colors, materials and memories that have been kept in storage behind closed doors. It also exposes the negative spaces left by the items on display.

Upper Gallery




The upper gallery presents a semi-fictional history of the relationship between human beings and objects in six chapters, from stone-age craft, to modern interactions between humans and machine interfaces. The first chapter starts with an exploration of artifacts made of stone. The sixth chapter discusses how machinery is able to imitate mental processes and techniques once limited to humans, now creating an equal value among humans and machines. As a result, humans have formed a new intimacy with machines. Select designers include Philip Starck, Richard Hutten, Peter Marigold, Gilli Kuchik and Ran Amitai, Naama Agassi , OTOTO, Ami Drach and Dov Ganchrow.

The upper gallery takes the viewer through six chapters, representing the duality of human-object relationships:

Chapter 1 - Encounter: The beginning of a human’s relationship with objects, such as stone. Humans defined the stone as a tool, and the stone provided a sense of productivity for humans by creating jobs and responsibilities.

Chapter 2 - Connection: The human’s relationship with an object develops. As a result of this, information and culture passed on to later generations, connecting different materials and technologies.

Chapter 3 - Domestication: The examination of the relationship between humans and objects, not only as a functional relationship, but also a set of power relations, like the domestication of animals or inventing electric appliances, which enables adaptability and hierarchy.

Chapter 4 - Unification: The journey from a single individual person to larger groups of people forming communities based on shared beliefs, ideology and symbolic objects.

Chapter 5 - Mechanization: The complexity of human encounters with machines and how the human dictates what the machine is serving.

Chapter 6 - Conversion: The realization that customized machines can now communicate with humans about their needs. The machine is getting to know a human on an intimate level rather than a human getting to know the machine.

“A Research Design Collection” | Curator: Adi Hamer Yacobi (Design Laboratory)

Yaacov Kaufman is an industrial designer who developed a unique creative research methodology on a worldwide scale. Kaufman has been working for years challenging and studying objects. The exhibit “A Research Design Collection,” is a collection of about 90 non-functional bows, created since March 2020. It was then that life underwent radical change: Kaufman was forced to replace his studio with his home space, and instead of his raw materials, he had to use items he found in his neighborhood supermarket. A package of bamboo skewers he purchased led him to engage in the bow – an object which as a young boy he used for games. This collection method provides significant inspiration and value to his creative process.

“The Pit: Artifacts Raised up From the Belly of the Earth” | Curators: Avihai Mizrahi and Neil Nenner (The Margalith Gallery and the Peripheral Corridor)

The exhibition “The Pit: Artifacts Raised up From the Belly of the Earth” is concerned with the life of discarded objects that have been abandoned by their human users. This three-part exhibit which sits alongside Black Box, lends an ear to the findings from the archaeological dig in the Mikveh Israel landfill – Tel Aviv’s first garbage dump during the British Mandate era, in operation from the mid-1920s until the early 1950s.