Exhibition 1956

A convergence of exile, homeland, and memory

Exhibition 1956 is a solo exhibition by Israeli artist Eli Gross, presented in Manhattan in March 2026 and visited by hundreds of attendees. The exhibition brings together a large body of work, including the central piece The Menorah of Hope, the memorial installation From Ruin to Renewal, The Mezuzah of Hope, and dozens of additional works created from materials that carry stories from across the world and from different historical periods.

Through sculpture and installation, Gross transforms fragments of reality into a unified visual language that connects past and present, destruction and renewal, exile and belonging.

About the artist's journey

Artist Eli Gross presents a personal and collective journey that begins in a Hasidic family in Jerusalem, continues through reserve military service during Israel's recent war, and evolves into a full artistic practice centered on material, memory, and meaning.

At the heart of the exhibition stands The Menorah of Hope, first presented at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv and later exhibited in Manhattan. Around it unfolds a wider body of work constructed from missile fragments, metals, earth, and found objects, each carrying a physical and symbolic history.

The exhibition explores identity, memory, survival, and continuity. Materials are not neutral, they function as witnesses. Each object holds a story, and each work becomes a point of encounter between personal narrative and collective history.

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Participating artists

Alongside the works of Eli Gross, the exhibition featured five Israeli artists, not as external participants, but as part of a close circle of friends, collaborators, and family, each connected to the work through shared experience and ongoing relationships.

• Avi Gold. A close friend of Gross. His work moves through regions often avoided, crossing political and cultural boundaries.
• Moshe Tarka. A long time collaborator. Tarka's work reveals figures embedded within layers through carving and excavation.
• Tom Shmuely. A working partner in ongoing projects, engaging in material based practices rooted in metal and transformation.
• Ahuva Gross. The artist's mother. Her work emerges from a life rooted in family, tradition, and continuous creation.
• Lt. Col. Isaac T. Gross's commanding officer during military service, reflecting a life shaped by responsibility and decision making under pressure.

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Artistic interpretation

At its core, Exhibition 1956 is not only a presentation of objects, but a constructed environment where material becomes language. Fragments of missiles, industrial metals, and organic elements are removed from their original context and reassembled into forms that carry new meaning. What was once associated with destruction is repositioned as a vessel of memory, continuity, and hope.

The works operate across multiple layers:

• Historical: materials connected to real events and geographies.
• Personal: biography, relationships, and lived experience.
• Collective: a broader narrative of movement, exile, and return.

Rather than separating past and present, the exhibition collapses them into a shared space. The viewer does not observe history from a distance, but encounters it through physical presence.

Light does not deny darkness. It emerges from within it.