Curator Yona Fischer and the transition from object to performance in Israeli art of the 1960s–1970s

Yona Fischer served as the curator of Israeli art in the Israel Museum from 1965 until 1990. This article traces the evolution of performance sensibility in his curatorial practice. It contends that his innovative curatorship allowed for performative modes of art to infiltrate the conservative sphere of the Israeli museal institution, replacing its “archival” logic with that of a “repertoire” of embodied praxis. It asserts that Fischer was not only pivotal in strengthening the performative turn in Israeli art in the 1960s–1970s but, also, was critical of the object-oriented policy of the museum, which validated Israel’s national meta-narrative.