Real Myths Group Exhibition | 17 September - 17 December 2025 - Overview

“Myth is a type of speech", wrote Roland Barthes. Not just speech, but a system of communication. Myth does not conceal or glorify: it distorts. It transforms history into nature, and the accidental into the inevitable. But what if myth is also memory? The story of the flood, for example, appears in distant cultures: from Gilgamesh in Babylon to Noah in the Bible, from India to South America.

Is this a universal idea of destruction and renewal, or perhaps a collective memory of a real catastrophe, wrapped in symbols and hybrids in order to survive the journey through generations? The exhibition “Real Myths” explores this concept, where myth is not the opposite of truth but another form of preserving and reflecting upon it.

This cultural crossing is also embodied in the exhibition via a variety of artists. Most are contemporary African artists who are at the forefront of the art scene, alongside both established and emerging Israeli artists, all from the Serge Tiroche collection.

A special selection of works presents hybrid creatures inspired by cross-cultural mythologies, while others address space and identity from an African perspective. Many of the African works share a common quality: a visual richness and surreal use of color that invites the viewer into a powerful, imaginative encounter.

Alongside them are works by Israeli artists, creating a dialogue between African myths and local narratives. "Hagolem" by Amon Yariv engages with the Jewish myth of a creature formed from inanimate matter and given life. Other works draw inspiration from biblical stories, transforming them through processes of metamorphosis and change.

Uri Lifshitz’s “Boxers”, like the wrestlers Barthes described, are players in a modern myth of confrontation and catharsis, emotion and ritual.

Innovative interpretations of urban memory and archetypal imagery, cast in a new light, are interwoven throughout the exhibition. Although the boundaries between narrative, myth, and truth are unsettled, one fact remains constant: human society is founded on myths, which give it meaning just as much as it gives meaning to it.

All works courtesy of Serge Tiroche Contemporary

Curator: Guy Aon
Assistant Curator: Omer Ovadia

Exhibition Design: Yarden Eder