Zivia Kay is a textile artist, visual ethics researcher, and senior lecturer at Bezalel Academy of Art and Design. She holds a Ph.D. from the Technion and is known for her culturally-driven textile art. Kay's work combines political philosophy, hacktivism, and fashion theory.
Kay is a graduate of the Technion I.I.T. (B.Sc., M.Sc., PhD) and of Bezalel, Academy of Art and Design (B. Des. in Industrial Design Dept.). In her PhD research she coined the theoretical concept of ‘The Signature of Appearance’ combining political philosophy, hacktivism and fashion theory. Kay is the head of Strategies of Cultural Action at Israel100 [1] initiative and the initiator of the international conferences Urban-Action as Open-Source. [2] She is a member of ‘IMAGIN, INSTITUTION’, multidisciplinary research group, and a library associate at the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute. She is the Chair of Fashion Expertise steering committee at the Israeli Ministry of Education, Culture, and Sport.[ citation needed ]
Zivia Kay is the owner of kUAH studio, focusing on visual activism and civic strategies. Kay also teaches at Bezalel and the Technion, specializing in conceptual design, ethics, and activism. Since 2020, she has been active as a fashion designer.
Kay views design as part of an evolving creative process, which includes a conceptual statement referencing the history of design and art. Her professional intentions to combine practice and theory are assimilated in her teaching as well as in her artworks... [3] [4] .As part of her educational agenda in the Ethical Fashion track, students were challenged to rethink dressing rituals and codes [5] [6] [7] Kay uses simple materials such as plywood and fabric. She challenges fashion trends, "those that are the latest, talked about, with the artist's signature," she writes in the exhibition brochure for 'Rotunda', which showcased her works at the Periscope Gallery. The chairs, shelves, and tables she creates do not have stylistic or aesthetic significance, but they possess simplicity, movement, and conceptual experience, transforming a familiar and worn product into a work of art. [8] Kay's writing is a combination of a call to action and cultural criticism, along with new thinking on visual ethics. [9]
"Netilat Yadayim" (2008), designed in collaboration with Israeli designer Dov Ganchrow, was presented at the 'Reinventing Ritual' exhibition at the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco in 2010 and the Jewish Museum in New York in 2009. It re-examines the goals and constraints of ritual, focusing on objects, interior structure, and practices from Christian, Jewish, and Muslim traditions. [10]
"Kelipot" (2002) critiques the Israeli desire to convert Eastern folkloric rituals into an allegedly high culture. [11] It was displayed in exhibitions in Israel and abroad, including at the Bezalel School of Art, the Holon Gallery, and the Eretz Israel Museum. It consists of a ceramic serving bowl (12 cm in diameter) designed to hold sunflower seeds and shells. [12]
As a curator Kay worked on "Periscoptiva" an exhibition that documented 15 years of the Periscope Gallery for Design in Tel Aviv. Unlike the book, which chronologically documents the gallery's activities, the exhibition at the Artists' House examines local design developments through the lens of 15 years of Periscope's activities. the exhibition displays approximately 150 works by about 40 active creators, arranged along a path that runs through the spaces at the Artists' House. A path of rocks made of local stone is positioned as a terrace and serves as a display medium. The placement of the rocks in the center of the exhibition spaces directs the audience's attention to view from the edges toward the central activity, with the existing disorder pattern reflecting the nature of the local design space. [13]
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Kay is a senior lecturer at the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design and a visiting adjunct professor at the Faculty of Architecture and Urban Planning at the Technion IIT. Her expertise focuses on the connection between conceptual design, ethics and activism; she leads conceptual workshops, urban hacktivism and guides students at individual and final projects. In Bezalel she is a member of ‘Sustainable Action group’ in the Jewelry & Fashion Dept., the Jewelry & Fashion representative at the Center for Career Development, and the Jewelry & Fashion representative at the Sustainable Development Hub.
Kay was the head of the ‘Ethical Clothing’ Track at the Jewelry & Fashion, 2007-09 and the Head of Urban Action research center, the Hadarion urban lab of the Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning, Technion IIT 2017-22.
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