Tel Aviv Museum Director Speaks on Art, Boycotts and War
Tania Coen-Uzzielli, director of the Tel Aviv Museum of Art (TAMA) in Israel, has discussed cultural boycotts and the role art can play during war. Her conversation with the collector Adam Lindemann appears in an Artnet interview, published on 4 November 2026. Artnet is an art news website.
Coen-Uzzielli took over as director of the museum in 2019. Its deputy director is Mati Kliger, its chief curator is Mira Lapidot, and its deputy director of finance is Baruch Meidan.
The museum's most recent large show before the war was a Giacometti exhibition, with works from the Fondation Giacometti in Paris. The show was funded by Eyal Ofer and displayed in the newly renovated Eyal Ofer Pavilion. It opened in May 2023 and was scheduled to close on 8 October 2023. On 7 October 2023, the museum was still showing it.
The museum then hosted a show of the artists Ilya and Emilia Kabakov. Ilya Kabakov died on the day that show opened, according to Artnet.
Coen-Uzzielli was also one of several Israeli museum directors who responded publicly to an open letter circulated by Artforum, an American art magazine. The Times of Israel reported on that exchange in January 2025.
The full interview covers how boycotts affect museums and artists, and what Coen-Uzzielli thinks art can do in a time of conflict. Readers can find her answers in the Artnet piece.
