Hagar Cygler

Born 1979, Israel
Lives & works in Tel-Aviv, Israel.

Hagar Cygler is a visual artist based in Israel. She works in the larger context of archives and collections, focusing on the classification and reorganization of material and information. Her focus is on personal and historical memory, and by connecting photographs with personal and anonymous objects, she explores the act of collecting and its role within the archive as cultural memory. 

Education

2017 MFA, CalArts California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, CA 
2006 BFA, Bezalel Academy of Art & Design, Jerusalem, Israel
2011 Curatorial Studies, CCA the Center for Contemporary Art, Tel Aviv, Israel

Solo and Duo Exhibition

2019 I will try to draw a sketch of the property, as best as I can, but please do not laugh, Pracownia Portretu gallery, Lódź, Poland
2018 Present Progressive, Kav 16 gallery, Tel Aviv, Israel
2018 Faded but Not Forgotten, Nulobaz gallery, Tel Aviv, Israel
2017 Unbound Memories, Institute for Jewish creativity, AJU Gallery, Los Angeles, CA (duo show)
2017 There’s a Story I Think I Know, L-Shape gallery, CalArts, Valencia, CA
2017 Whole, POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews, Warsaw, Poland
2016 If You are Planning on Paying Me a Visit Today Call Me Before You Leave I Need Something from Home, JBSB gallery, CalArts, Valencia, CA
2015 Say Bird, Mint gallery, CalArts, Valencia, CA
2009 New Works, Sadnaot Ha'omanim, Tel Aviv, Israel (duo show)

Selected Group Exhibitions

2022 Yiddishland Pavilion, Online project at the 59th Venice Biennale
2021 Water Affair, The Center for Digital Art, Holon, Israel
2020 The Arts and Design Biennale TLV, Eretz Israel Museum, Tel Aviv 
2019 Ultiferet, Benyamini Contemporary Ceramics center, Tel Aviv, Israel
2019 From Near and Far Away: Dissenting Receptions of Jewish Warsaw, The Jerusalem Biennale, Jerusalem, Israel 
2019 Reception, Arad Contemporary Art Center, Arad, Israel
2018 From the Artist’s Diary, Hermann Struck Museum, Haifa, Israel
2017 Clothing Optional, Night Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2017 Shapes For Now, DAC Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2016 Melachat Nashim, The municipality gallery Beit Yad Lebanim, Ra’anana, Israel 
2015 BEUYS, BEUYS ,BEUYS, Benyamini Contemporary Ceramics Center, Tel Aviv, Israel
2014 Photographic Memory, International photography festival, Rishon LeZion, Israel
2013 Imprinting on Clay, The 7th Ceramics Biennale, Eretz Israel Museum, Tel Aviv, Israel 
2012 Reservoir, Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design BAAD gallery, Tel Aviv, Israel
2012 Adaptation, Greatmore Studios, Cape Town, South Africa 
2012 Thread of Life, MoFA Florida State University of Fine Arts, Tallahassee, FL 
2011 Borderline, Dana art gallery, Kibbutz Yad Mordechai, Israel
2010 Balata, Art Gallery of Umm El-Fahem, Umm El-Fahem, Israel 
2010 Traces IV, The 4th Biennale for Drawing in Israel, Artists House, Jerusalem, Israel 
2010 Up the Wall, Live art festival, Chester, UK       
2008 Grand Small Works, The F.U.E.L. Collection, Philadelphia, PA
2008 One Minute Film & Video Festival, Kino Freier Film, Aarau, Switzerland
2008 Snapshot, New Horizons Gallery, Ofakim, Israel
2006 Holon Now, The Israeli Center for Digital Art, Holon, Israel

Residencies

2019 Pracownia Portretu Gallery, Lódź, Poland (July)
2017 POLIN residency, Museum of the History of Polish Jews, Warsaw, Poland (January - February)
2016 Asylum Arts, International Jewish artist retreat, NY (May)
2015 Reciprocity, Los Angeles artists retreat, Los Angeles, CA (November)
2012 Greatmore residency, Greatmore Studios, Cape Town, South Africa (January - April)

Grants & Awards

2020 Asylum Arts Small grant
2020 Reciprocity: LA Artist Retreat Collaborative Project Grant by American Jewish University’s Institute for Jewish Creativity, in partnership with Asylum Arts
2018 The Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture fellowship grant
2017 American Jewish University’s inaugural WORD Artist Grant: The Bruce Geller Memorial Prize, Los Angeles, CA
2016 CalArts fellowship with Kaucyila Brooke, Los Angeles, CA
2016 First place award, Chiquita Canyon Landfill & CalArts Found art scholarship, Valencia, CA

Lectures & Workshops

2021 Faded but Not Forgotten, Recent Past Tomorrow’s Archive, Southland institute, Online workshop
2019 What We Thought We threw away, Teldan info conference, Tel Aviv, Israel
2018 Material Memory, Benyamini Contemporary Ceramics center, Tel Aviv, Israel
2018 Hana Project, Visual Arts and Copyrights, School of the Art, University of Haifa, Israel
2017 What Did We Really Learn About Animals?, Seeing with Animals 3: Co-existence conference, Eastern Kentucky University, Richmond, KY
2017 Artist Talk, POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews, Warsaw, Poland
2014 Hana Project, PechaKuchaTLV #16, Hangar 11, Tel Aviv Port, Israel
2013 Hana Project, Design in the Digital Age conference, Kibbutzim College, Tel Aviv, Israel
2012 Workshop and lecture, Philani clinic & Greatmore studios, Cape Town, South Africa
2011 Hana Project, Bezalel Academy of Art and Design, Jerusalem, Israel

Publications

2017 Faded but Not Forgotten, Self Published, Launched at the AJU, Los Angeles, CA & Nulobaz gallery, Tel Aviv, Israel
2016 When I grow up I want to be a postcard, Picturing Humanism: Notes on The Family of Man, CalArts Bartman Fund Publication
2014 Hagar Cygler: Hana, Essay by Yonatan Amir and Hagar Cygler, Sternthal books publishing, Launched at Alfred Gallery, Tel Aviv, Israel & The Espace pop, Montreal, Canada

Selected Bibliography (in English)

2022 “I will try to draw a sketch of the building, as best as I can, but please do not laugh”, ArtsEverywhere, November 2022
2019 Joshua Thies, “Pracownia Portretu”, Radio interview, RAAR Rotterdam Art and Radio, Episode 55, starting 01:17:00, September 14, 2019
2015 “Artist Interview - Hagar Cygler”, Frankie Magazine, December 12, 2015
2014 “Untitled, Girl & Tiger, Ruth Dayan & Lioness”, Harama art magazine, 5, November 2014
2014 “Animal”, A5 Magazine, 13, July 2014
2014 Keren Ben Horin, “A Fashion Mystery Solved”, interview, On Pins and Needles, March 29, 2014
2014 Kim Kachey, “Finding Another’s Identity In Photographs”, Montreal Rampage, March 7, 2014
2013 Yakir Segev, “The Material Memory is made of”, 1280̊c Magazine, 28, Winter 2013 
2013 Ari Seth Cohen, “Hana Style-Personal Style Before the Internet”, Advanced Style, May 9, 2013
2013 “Project Hana”, Harama art magazine, 3, May 2013

Permanent Collections

Tel-Aviv Museum’s Library, Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Library, Ahuvi collection, Eretz Israel Museum, Ha'Poalim Bank, Israel