Reut Ferster
Reut Ferster
Reut Ferster is an Israeli artist and curator, born in Tel Aviv. She is the Director of the Petach Tikva Museum of Art and the city’s Museums Complex; Chair of the Israeli Association of Museums and ICOM Israel.
Education
B.Ed.F.A. in Interdisciplinary Fine Arts and Arts Education, Hamidrasha School of Art, Beit Berl College.
M.Ed. in Visual Literacy, Kibbutzim College of Education, Technology and the Arts (Seminar HaKibbutzim), Tel Aviv.
Managerial Career in the Museum Field:
Beginning in 2001, Ferster headed the Education Departments at the Petach Tikva Museum of Art and the Rishonim Museum of the History of Petach Tikva. In this role, she developed the museums’ educational programs, managed a team of guides, artists, and actors, and produced community-based art projects.
In 2020, she was appointed Director of the Petach Tikva Museum of Art and Director of the city’s Art Department. In this position, beyond traditional museum activities, Ferster promotes exhibitions and projects that bridge art with society, community, and sustainability.
In 2021, she founded "The Museum Orchestra” and serves as its Artistic Director alongside conductor and Musical Director Michal Oren. The orchestra accompanies visual art exhibitions at the Petach Tikva Museum of Art with musical interpretations, creating a unique fusion of different art forms.
In 2022, she was appointed Director of the Petach Tikva Museums Complex—a cultural hub comprising the Petach Tikva Museum of Art, the Rishonim Museum of History, Yad LeBanim, the Visual Arts Institute, the City Archives, and the "HaDofen” Fringe Theater.
In 2023, Ferster launched an Artist-in-Residence program at the Petach Tikva Museum of Art’s Print Workshop.
In October 2025, she was appointed Chair of the Association of Museums in Israel and ICOM Israel.
Artistic Career:
Reut Ferster’s art engages with her everyday life and immediate surroundings. Persistent questions about the nature of contemporary art—its language, its modes of representation, and the political "game” it entails—arise from her work. Relationships between daily obligations and leisure, loss and joy, burden and humor, are interwoven into both her practice and her stance as an artist.
For many years, her work—and the location of her studio—have been inspired by an old-fashioned accessories shop on a busy Tel Aviv street, managed by her family for three generations. Among dozens of boxes of accessories, decorative studs, buttons, and buckles, she has created an artistic "bubble”. Drawing on childhood memories of Sisyphean holiday work, the sounds of workers, customers, and vendors, street noise, and the density of the urban space, she maintains a complex dialogue with this place—deeply drawn to it, yet simultaneously resisting it.
Prizes & Awards
2016 – The Dalia Ben-Eliezer Scholarship for Excellence, Kibbutzim College of Education
2015 – Scholarship, The Yehoshua Rabinovich Foundation for the Arts
2006 – Outstanding Employee Award, Petach Tikva Museum of Art
2005 – The Creation Endorsement Award, Ministry of Culture
2000 – The Young Artist Award, Ministry of Culture
1995 – AICF – The America-Israel Cultural Foundation Scholarship
1994 – Scholarship for Excellence in Photography, Hamidrasha School of Art, Beit Berl College
1994 – AICF – The America-Israel Cultural Foundation Scholarship
1993 – Scholarship for Excellence, Hamidrasha School of Art, Beit Berl College
Solo, Duo, and Curated Exhibitions
2024 – Vanitas, Doron Wolf, Petach Tikva Museum of Art [Curator]
2023 – Running Up the Wall, Gary Goldstein, Petach Tikva Museum of Art (co-curated with David Frenkel) [Curator]
2021 – Kfula (Twin), Sagit Friedman Hallel, Petach Tikva Museum of Art [Curator]
2020 – Metsorefet, Lilach Madar, The Corner Gallery, Rishonim Museum, Petach Tikva [Curator]
2019 – The World According to Valery, House of Artists, Tel Aviv (co-curated with Revital Ben-Asher Peretz) [Curator]
2019 – LU, Shira Zelwer, The Corner Gallery, Rishonim Museum, Petach Tikva [Curator]
2019 – Bubble Painting, Nir Molad & Amos Alenbogen, Petach Tikva Museum of Art [Curator]
2018 – Comeback, The Municipal Art Gallery, The Gordon-London House, Rishon Lezion
2018 – End-of-Season, Grand Art Gallery of Contemporary Art, Haifa
2016 – Workspaces – Management, Art & Family, The Raya Strauss Center, Coller School of Management, Tel Aviv University
2016 – Wild Draw, Pamme-Vogelsang, Cologne, Germany (with Rolf-Maria Krückels)
2015 – Knoller Accessories, The Helena Rubinstein Pavilion for Contemporary Art, Tel Aviv Museum of Art (within the Workplace project)
2013 – Forgotten Worlds, Haifa Museum of Art [Curator]
2012 – Outstanding Employee, Petach Tikva Museum of Art [Curator]
2012 – Relations, Petach Tikva Museum of Art (co-curated with Sigal Barkai) [Curator]
2011 – The Warrior and the Boy, Nelly Aman Gallery, Tel Aviv
2010 – To Do It, Oranim Art Gallery, Kiryat Tiv’on (with Karin Mendelovici)
2009 – 10 Plus, The Morel Derfler Gallery, WIZO Academy of Design, Haifa
2008 – Publicly Recognised, Nelly Aman Gallery, Tel Aviv
2006 – My Beauty Your Brains, Nelly Aman Gallery, Tel Aviv
2005 – Kchal u Srak, Srak, Srak, Tivon Commemoration Center Art Gallery
2005 – 7 Minutes in Paradise, Herzliya Museum of Contemporary Art
2004 – Golden Era, The Gallery at Beeri, Kibbutz Beeri
2004 – Outside Girl, Tmoona Theater, Tel Aviv
2003 – Belly, Nelly Aman Gallery, Tel Aviv
2003 – Piercing Story, Jerusalem Art Center, Jerusalem
2002 – Golden Shower, Hamidrasha Gallery, Beit Berl College
2002 – Ayelet and Reut Offer Chocolate Spread, Ishur Zmani Gallery, Tel Aviv (with Ayelet Hashahar Hacohen)
2001 – Bodywear, Municipal Gallery, Nes Ziona
2001 – Bodywear, Wilfried Israel Museum, Hazorea (traveling exhibition)
1999 – Prêt-à-Porter, Borochov Gallery, Tel Aviv
1997 – When a Family Becomes a Decoration, Museum of Israeli Art, Ramat Gan
1997 – Works, The WIZO Academic Center for Design and Education Gallery, Haifa
1997 – Side-Accessories, Nelly Aman Gallery, Tel Aviv
Selected Group Exhibitions
2023 – The Mirror –- In Between, The Municipal Art Gallery, Rehovot
2021 – Turning the Tables, Teo Center for Art & Culture, Herzliya
2021 – A Tale to Tell: The Man with the Brown Suit, Artspace Tel Aviv
2021 – The 4th Mediterranean Biennale, WIZO Academy of Design, Haifa
2019 – Work, Workers & Workspaces, Grand Art Gallery of Contemporary Art, Haifa
2019 – Portrait: Mother, The Artists' House, Tel Aviv
2018 – Fronteiras Indigestas, Contemporão Project Space, São Paulo, Brazil
2018 – In Service, Kabri Gallery for Contemporary Art
2018 – In Service, Petach Tikva Museum of Art
2017 – Sagi (screening), Filmideo, Index Art Center, Newark, NJ
2017 – Sagi (screening), Filmwinter – Festival for Expanded Media, Stuttgart, Germany
2017 – The Prime Minister's Residence, The Red House, Tel Aviv
2016 – Symbols for Sale, Nelly Aman Gallery, Tel Aviv
2016 – Multiple Times on Tour, Lage Egal Space for Contemporary Art, Berlin
2014 – Chicago Triangle, Haifa Museum of Art
2013 – Vitrine, Comme il Faut, Tel Aviv
2012 – The Way of a Teacher, Peila Gallery, Tel Aviv
2012 – Open Close Open, Binyamin Gallery, Tel Aviv
2012 – Best Workers, Petach Tikva Museum of Art
2012 – Good Night, The Israel Museum, Jerusalem
2011 – With this Ring, Ashdod Art Museum
2010 – More than Canvas, Tel Aviv Museum of Art
2010 – With this Ring, The Museum of the Jewish People at Beit Hatfutsot, Tel Aviv
2010 – Missing, Port House, Tel Aviv
2009 – Beneath the Surface, Musrara, Jerusalem
2006 – Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports Awards, The Israel Museum, Jerusalem
2005 – Spatial Translations, Petach Tikva Museum of Art
2004 – Women Nursing, Musrara Gallery, Jerusalem
2004 – Dreams, Grindge Gallery, Herzliya
2004 – Collector’s Choice, The Art Workshop Gallery, Yavne
2004 – Exposure: New Photography Purchases, The Israel Museum, Jerusalem
2003 – Good Morning Israel, Orian Gallery, Ramat Hasharon
2003 – Families of Man, The Art Gallery, University of Haifa
2001 – The Young Artist Awards Exhibition, Museum of Israeli Art, Ramat Gan
2001 – Fields, Havila Gallery, Neve Tzedek, Tel Aviv
2001 – Borrowed Objects, Haifa Cinematheque
2001 – 4 x 4, Ashdod Art Museum
2001 – Hands, Youth Wing, The Israel Museum, Jerusalem
2000 – Concerning the Body, The Museums Forum (Janco-Dada Museum, Ein Hod & Bat Yam Museum)
2000 – Women, Borochov Gallery, Tel Aviv
2000 – In the First Person, Jerusalem International Convention Center
2000 – Wholeheartedly, Tel Aviv Museum of Art
2000 – The Dressing Person, Haifa Museum of Art
2000 – Intimidance, Tmoona Theater, Tel Aviv
1999 – 1 + 1 = 3, Hamumkhe Gallery, Tel Aviv
1999 – See Through Cover, Municipal Gallery, Kfar Saba
1999 – Story Time, The Artists' House, Jerusalem
1999 – On a Thin Line/Equilibria, The Museums Forum (Bat Yam Museum & Arad Museum)
1998 – Story Time, Candid Arts, London
1997 – Four – Photography+, Municipal Gallery, Kfar Saba
1996 – Suits and Combinations, Yadayim Gallery, Jaffa
1996 – AICF Fellowship Awardees, Museum of Israeli Art, Ramat Gan
1995 – AICF Fellowship Awardees, The University Art Gallery, Tel Aviv University
