Middle East Art Center Comes to Jersey City

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Mar 29, 2012, 02:01 ET

JERSEY CITY, N.J., March 29, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- As a not-for-profit space, the Middle East Center for the Arts' activities will focus on the concept of collaboration, with artists, curators, scholars, and institutions of different religious and cultural backgrounds working together as a unified community. The shared goal is to broaden the perception and educate the greater public about the Middle East, combining divergent philosophies and beliefs that would otherwise not meet.

MECA is the latest venture to develop from the creative partnership of Eugene Lemay and Yigal Ozeri, the visionaries and founders behind Mana Contemporary, in Jersey City. Housed within the third floor of Mana's cavernous building, MECA presents a unique range of programs including exhibitions, residencies, lectures and screenings. Celebrate the opening of this groundbreaking new art center April 1st, with the inaugural exhibition Spring, 2012.

About Spring, 2012

Spring, 2012, curated by Professor David Wakstein, explores trends within Israeli art showcasing 22 of the country's leading artists with Bedouin, Christian, Druze, Jewish and Muslim backgrounds, including Farid Abu Shakra, Anisa Ashkar, Raffi Lavie and Israel Prize recipient Micha Ullman; with over 60 works of all disciplines, many never before seen by the American public.

Exhibiting Artists:

Farid Abu Shakra, Hannan Abu Hussein, Anisa Ashkar, Asad Azi, Micha Bar-Am, Jenifer Bar Lev, Gideon Gechtman, David Ginton, Fahed Halabi, Michael Halak, Vered Kaminski, Raffi Lavie, Manal Mahamid, Efrat Natan, Khader Oshah, Sasha Serber, Dina Shenhav, Fatma Shannan, Micha Ullman, David Wakstein, Gal Weinstein and Reuven Zahavi