A field is a space or area with clear boundaries — within which an organized, planned and productive activity takes place based on knowledge, experience, and an economic system. The concept of a field was borrowed by the area of design. Unlike an agricultural field, however, the field of design is a dynamic field that reacts to the spirit of the times, and defines and expands its boundaries continuously — maintaining a tense internal debate between conservatism and progress, between the ethical and the economically pragmatic. 

A traditional agricultural field depends on an agricultural experiment station, where experiments are conducted on new or different strains of plants, to test, isolate, and check different
characteristics and the possibility of being appropriate for changing living environments. This is how the Bezalel Academy relates to its Department of Industrial Design, where the activities of its students are a kind of "experimental farm for design". 

At this "experimental farm", a process of assessment takes place that attempts to investigate the role of industrial design, as a component of the ecosystem that exists among human beings, society, and the objects that serve us — a component that contributes to the future of humankind. The "farm" does not restrict itself to the guidelines of history and technology but, rather, it encourages the exploration of questions that are conceptual, and, at times, fundamental. Some of the fields of activity in which industrial designers work today are deeply rooted in the familiar, industrial, immediate present — making innovations for the world of today — while some take off toward new and futuristic territories of activity.

This exhibit of Bezalel's Department of Industrial Design presents the work of its graduates — work that was done as part of the students' final projects, in the last few years. The exhibit is divided into five main "fields" of activity that reflect the spirit of the time and illustrate the wide range of areas of design activity and research conducted within the department. 

Every "field" displays a number of selected projects that extend the boundaries of a field of activity and assess it from different angles. Some of the projects connect two or more areas, and thereby express the interdisciplinary crossbreeding or flow that is one of the salient characteristics of activity and thought in contemporary design.

The fields are: Hospitality, Environment, Culture & Education, Innovation, Locality.

The Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design was established in Jerusalem in 1906. The Department of Industrial Design, a pioneering department that was the first of its kind in Israel, was set up in the 1950s. Graduates of the department are at the forefront of activity, research, development, teaching, theory, and criticism in the field of industrial design in Israel and around the world. Since its establishment and continuing today, the department is typified by the freedom of activity, creation, and self-expression of its students. These characteristics allow it to continue to be diverse, up to date, and relevant throughout the years.

Exhibition Organizer: Consulate General of the State of Israel, Saint Petersburg

NATIV — Israeli Cultural Center in St. Petersburg

At the Embassy of the State of Israel in RF

Exhibition Production: Industrial Design Department, Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design

Curation, Text: Safi Hefetz, Tal Gur

Design: Tal Gur

Production: Eli Spivak, Michal Simon, Lilach Spivak, Kamea Devons, Adi Kofman

Graphic Design: Ayal Zakin, Stas Tuchinsk