Dor Guez named head of the Master in Fine Arts program

The Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem has appointed artist and scholar Dr. Dor Guez as head of the MFA program effective October 2017. Guez is currently the head of the Photography Department at Bezalel. 

Dor Guez was born to a Palestinian and Tunisian-Jewish family in Jerusalem, and now lives and works in Jaffa. Guez is considered a critical voice from the Middle East who’s work explores the relationship between art, narrative, and memory. Through a variety of disciplines and media, Guez work is grounded in the region’s histories from a geopolitical perspective. In 2008 Guez founded the Christian Palestinian Archive (CPA), a growing collection of archival materials from the first half of the 20th century. The CPA is based on a wide range of professionals and amateurs photographers documenting the personal stories of the Christian Palestinian community worldwide. Guez’s latest research project about archives, Pre-Israeli Orientalism, was published by Resling Academic Press in October 2015. 

Guez’s appointment marks the program’s commitment to the contexts in which Bezalel’s Jewish and Arab students live and work. The program’s new curriculum will encourage ongoing exploration of the students’ identity as artists who are aware and committed to their environment. The curriculum will also focus on the link between artistic practice and research.

Dor Guez work has been displayed in over 30 solo exhibitions worldwide, including the Museum for Islamic Art in Jerusalem (2017); the Museum of Contemporary Art, Detroit (2016); the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London (2015); the Center for Contemporary Art, Tel Aviv (2015); the Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, Massachusetts (2013); Artpace, San Antonio (2013); the Mosaic Rooms, Centre for Contemporary Arab Culture & Art, London (2013); the KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin (2010); and Petach Tikva Museum of Art, Israel (2009). He has participated in numerous important group exhibitions, including shows at the Buenos Aires Museum of Modern Art (2016); the North Coast Art Triennial, Denmark (2016); Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro, North Carolina (2015); the 17th, 18th, and 19th International Contemporary Art Festival Videobrasil, São Paulo (2011, 2013, 2015); the 8th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art (2014); Cleveland Institute of Art (2014); Triennale Museum, Milan (2014); Centre of Contemporary Art, Torun (2014); Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography (2014); Maxxi Museum, Rome (2013); Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2012); the 12th Istanbul Biennial (2011); and the Museum of Modern Art, Ljubljana (2010).

About Bezalel Academy
Established in 1906, Bezalel is one of the most prestigious academies of arts and design in the world. The Academy takes pride in its many generations of graduates at the cutting edge of their profession, such as Yael Bartana, Ron Arad, and Michal Rovner. The Academy’s unique strength lies in its ability to respond swiftly to cultural changes, as demonstrated by the numerous artistic breakthroughs for which it has been responsible. The MFA program was established in 2001 as a studio-based program, and it is one of the five master’s programs at Bezalel. The program trains high-level artists and prepares them to integrate and contribute to the local and international art world.