aviv Magazine

Nothing pervades culture more than language, just as language is pervaded in equal measure by culture. This equally applies to the meeting of two languages and the numerous relationships between them: there are many traces of how German and Hebrew have mutually influenced one another all the way up to the start of the 20th century. It’s the knowledge of this rich repository of shared history which is the starting point for around 30 artists from Germany and Israel working in art, literature, graphic design, and poetry seeking to carry out an experiment in publishing. It’s about coming together in the broadest possible sense – at the level of language as well as with reference to culture and artistic genres.  

Where languages and culture meet, clichés are often not far behind. aviv magazine picks up on this adage and looks beyond it in order to open up new levels of exchange. The contributors illuminate the relationship between Israel and Germany from new angles. They don’t just want to offer a forum, they also want to reach a young audience interested in both cultural themes and the two languages and their numerous points of contact, an audience looking to consolidate their understanding of both languages. In this way, aviv magazine also wants to take on a role of a mediator and tap into the semantic richness conjured up by different linguistic perspectives on the same content. For the special features of German and Hebrew respectively gives each of the various contributions a unique feel and makes them accessible to a different audience in each case.

The magazine thus makes a contribution to revitalizing German-Hebrew publication culture, with the fact that it is to be published only twice year also meaning that it functions as a place for reflection at a slower pace in the midst of a media landscape that is constantly gathering pace. This all forms the basis for more than just a new magazine having come in existence by the end of the project, with a whole network of creative artists from which new bilateral projects can emerge in the process.

aviv Magazin is a publishing project by the aviv publishing house aimed at a German- and Hebrew-speaking audience interested in culture which involves a wide range of different artists from German and Israel. This project will be starting for the first time in 2016.

© Photos: Adi Lev