JERUSALEM.- “To the Internal Libraries,” a new work by artist Hadassa Goldvicht is now open the
National Library of Israel.
Between 2019 and 2023, Goldvicht documented the inner workings of the National Library of Israel at a pivotal moment in its 133-year history — just before the institution’s historic relocation from its long-time home in Givat Ram to its new building. Through encounters with long-serving staff members, Goldvicht accompanied this transformation, capturing the behind-the-scenes world of the Library’s warehouses and archives, from shelves to conveyor belts to library carts.
The resulting piece, “To the Internal Libraries,” offers a rare glimpse into the lives of the people involved in this monumental logistical undertaking, and the challenge of relocating one of Israel’s oldest and most significant cultural institutions.
In this work, inanimate objects are imbued with emotional weight, revealing the deep, invisible bonds between the Library building and those who inhabited it. At the center of the exhibition is a kinetic sculptural installation: an original conveyor belt salvaged from the old Library and reanimated in the present. Surrounding it are four new video works that echo themes of transition between past and future, material and spiritual, memory and imagination.
“To the Internal Libraries” invites visitors to sit within the calm and quiet of the gallery space and consider the Library as both a place of preservation of riches from all corners of the globe — written, printed, and recorded over centuries — and as an evolving realm of identity, memory, and cultural continuity.
Netta Assaf, Curator at the National Library of Israel, said, “The theme of a library as a living, breathing organism containing multitudes of time, meaning, and story, is central this new work by Hadassa Goldvicht. It originated in our old building but is in dialogue with the new one. In this way, the Library — its history and mission, content, treasures, and activities — plays an essential role in this work’s presentation. This is a site-specific work that could only take place at the National Library of Israel.”
Hadassa Goldvicht stated, “Like a Russian nesting doll, “To the Internal Libraries” holds many layers. This exhibition includes not only the past version of the National Library of Israel, but also its present – personal, physical, and spiritual – even what awaits in the future. In telling its own story, the new library building becomes both a home and a display of reconstruction and renewal. Parts of the exhibition dialogue with the library’s robotic book storage system, linking it to earlier ways the library stored knowledge – systems that act as containers to the collections’ subconscious. These changes also reflect how our relationship with language continues to evolve, especially as its form becomes more and more digital.
“To the Internal Libraries” runs concurrently with the exhibition “Flowers: Leafing Through the Collections of the National Library.” Both exhibitions run from August 1, 2025, to May 2026.
Hadassa Goldvicht is a multidisciplinary artist, writer, and lecturer. Her solo exhibitions have been shown in major institutions worldwide, including the Israel Museum (Jerusalem), the Jewish Museum (New York), the Querini Stampalia Foundation (Venice), and Meislin Projects (New York). Her work is held in leading collections, including the Tel Aviv Museum of Art and the Jewish Museum Frankfurt.
