Where Artistic Excellence and Shared Society Meet Barak Rubin, Director of Givat Haviva Shared Arts Center

 

By Enno Ebersbach

 

For Barak Rubin, art has never been only about exhibitions or aesthetics. It is a language for discovering one another’s stories, a bridge between cultures, and a tool for imagining a truly shared society between Jews and Arabs in Israel. That vision is precisely what drew him to Givat Haviva.

 

"Givat Haviva is the 'what if’ place," he says. “It dares to imagine what a shared democratic society can look like."

 

As the new Director of the Givat Haviva Shared Arts Center and Curator of the Givat Haviva Gallery, Rubin brings a rare combination of artistic excellence, educational experience, and cultural entrepreneurship. His ambition is clear: to position the Arts Center as one of Israel’s leading cultural institutions while remaining deeply rooted in Givat Haviva’s mission of advancing a shared society and democratic values. 

 

Lifelong curiosity about art and the Middle East

 

Raised in Tel Aviv in a family of Jewish Iraqi and Egyptian heritage, Rubin grew up surrounded by Arabic language, music, and stories. These early influences sparked a deep fascination with the cultures and histories of the Middle East. Alongside this cultural curiosity, he discovered a passion for art that quickly became a central part of his identity.

 

After studying at the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem, Rubin founded an independent contemporary art gallery dedicated to creating a space where Jewish and Arab artists could meet, collaborate, and exhibit together. His academic work explored Israel’s mixed cities and Islamic mysticism, leading him to travel extensively throughout the Middle East to better understand the communities and realities he was studying.

 

"If you want to talk about something, go there and explore it," he says.

 

Over the past five years, Rubin played a key role in establishing the Bezalel Gallery for Contemporary Art in Tel Aviv, shaping its program and curating exhibitions that consistently elevated Arab-Palestinian artistic voices alongside Jewish artists. In 2025, he and his family chose to leave the city and settle in the Wadi Ara region. Seeking meaningful engagement with the local cultural landscape, Rubin found his way to Givat Haviva. After working closely with the most recent cohort of Jewish and Arab artists in residency at Givat Haviva, he was selected to succeed Anat Lidror, who recently stepped down after serving a decade as the Shared Arts Center Director.

 

A vision rooted in excellence and shared society

 

Rubin believes that artistic excellence and social impact are mutually reinforcing.

 

“My vision is that Givat Haviva will become one of Israel's top cultural institutions," he says.

 

For him, this means cultivating a center where high artistic standards coexist with a deep commitment to shared society and democratic values.

 

Building on the Arts Center’s existing strengths — including its flourishing ceramics school and youth education programs — Rubin plans to expand into new artistic disciplines such as textile arts and glassmaking. Both fields are deeply connected to the cultural heritage of the region and hold particular significance within Arab-Palestinian artistic traditions. The residency program will continue to evolve as a genuinely shared Jewish–Arab creative space, guided by both Jewish and Arab artistic leadership.

 

Giving space to stories that deserve to be heard

 

One of Rubin’s first initiatives is creating an annual solo exhibition by an Arab artist in the Givat Haviva Gallery. The first solo exhibition will take place in 2027. For him, this is not merely a gesture of representation. "Palestinian identity has its own stories, its own questions and its own artistic voices. They deserve a place where they can be seen and heard in their own right," he says.

 

Rubin sees this as a vital step in building trust — an essential foundation for any institution committed to shared society. Future exhibitions also will bring Jewish and Arab artists together around themes that highlight shared cultural ground. One of the first topics will explore local folk stories, tracing the myths and narratives that have traveled across generations and communities.

 

Imagining what is possible

 

At the heart of Rubin’s vision lies a simple but powerful aspiration: to create a space where artistic dialogue transcends labels and identities without erasing them. "It shouldn't matter whether someone is Jewish, Muslim, Christian or Druze,” he says. “What matters is what they bring to the table—their creativity, their vision, their culture."

 

It is an ambitious vision, but one that feels entirely at home at Givat Haviva — a place built on the belief that shared society is not only necessary, but possible.