Aya Ben Ron

Artist Statement (very short)

Aya Ben Ron is a multidisciplinary artist who explores personal and social vulnerabilities and the possibility of repair, through a critical examination of power dynamics as they manifest in various social mechanisms. In her work, she combines artistic language with tools from design and user experience, creating participatory and immersive experiences that invite a renewed perspective on concepts such as illness and healing. Ben Ron is the founder and director of Field Hospital X for Social Ills and represented Israel at the 58th International Art Exhibition of the Venice Biennale in 2019. Since 2024, Field Hospital X for Social Ills has been operating within the academic space of the University of Haifa, serving as a platform for research, development, and reflection on social illnesses and mechanisms of silencing and denial.

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Artist Statment

Throughout my career, I have explored the potential of art as a medium for social engagement, with particular attention to the dynamics between power and vulnerability. My work critically examines representations of physical, mental, and social “illness” and the ways in which our personal and collective experience of illness is shaped. By employing multi-layered and often indirect visual strategies, I create encounters that challenge normative perceptions and open space for reflection on susceptibility, trauma, and personal and collective responsibility.

I work across varied artistic practices to develop immersive, site-specific installations that enhance viewer engagement. I have collaborated with major medical institutions in the Netherlands, Germany, the UK, and Israel, where I conducted extensive fieldwork and integrated emotionally complex artworks into existing institutional settings. These collaborations were grounded in close engagement with institutional staff and daily routines, allowing for contextual responsiveness and relevance.

Out of these experiences, I developed Field Hospital X for Social Ills (FHX), an ongoing participatory art initiative that engages the public in direct, emotionally charged encounters with pressing social issues. FHX was conceived in response to both systemic injustices and personal history, including my own experience of childhood abuse and its long-term silencing. The project confronts topics such as domestic abuse, xenophobia, racism, violence against transgender individuals, and military occupation. It continues to evolve to address additional forms of social harm and mechanisms of denial.

I have intentionally and gradually expanded the reach of FHX beyond the traditional art world, cultivating dialogue with professionals and institutions in education, healthcare, and the social sciences. This cross-sector engagement has been central to the project’s development and impact.

University of Haifa – anchored FHX as a long-term academic infrastructure: In 2024, FHX was integrated into the University of Haifa as part of the Faculty of Welfare and Health Sciences. It became an interdisciplinary academic platform for research, development, and reflection on social illness and mechanisms of denial. In this educational context, FHX has served students and faculty from the Faculties of Welfare and Health Sciences, Humanities, Social Sciences and Law, providing a unique learning environment grounded in affective experience and ethical inquiry. In 2025, it moved to a permanent home within the Faculty of Education, where it continues to develop.

FHX is the cornerstone and culmination of my artistic and academic practice. Its sustained impact on thousands of participants over the years has led to new interdisciplinary collaborations with scholars across fields. It provides a distinctive opportunity to examine the transformative power of art in provoking awareness, dialogue, and social change.

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Biography

Aya Ben Ron (b. 1967, Israel) is the founder and director of Field Hospital X. She is a multidisciplinary artist, received an MFA from Goldsmiths College, London (1999). She is a professor at the School of the Arts at Haifa University and head of the Art Depatrment. Her work ranges from site specific projects and installations to moving-image, documentary and film, and includes collaborations with medical institutions and hospitals in Israel and around the world. She was awarded the Creativity Encouragement Prize, The Ministry of Education and Culture (2016), the Dizengoff Prize (2011), and the Isracard and Tel Aviv Museum of Art Prize for an Israeli Artist (2009). Screenings, solo exhibitions and site specific works include: Busan Bienalle, Korea (2016); The Last Voyage To Cythera, Front (online since 2015); All Is Well, Máxima Medisch Centrum/Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven (2013); A Voyage To Cythera, Berlin Museum of Medical History (2012); First Aid Station, Aando Fine Art, Berlin (2012); Rescue, The Israel Museum, Jerusalem (2012); Shift, Aando Fine Art, Berlin (2010). Group exhibitions include: Tracing the Edge of Consciousness, The Wellcome Trust Gallery, London (2016); Out of Body, The Israel Museum (2013); Blackout, Exhibition Research Centre, Liverpool (Look/2013); It Doesn’t Always Have To Be Beautiful Unless It Is Beautiful, Kosovo Art Gallery (2012); Siyah/White, CDA-Projects, Istanbul (2012); Another World is Possible, Yaffo 23, Jerusalem (2011); Black and White, MOMA in Warsaw (2011); Die Untoten: Life Sciences & Pulp Fiction, Kampnagel, Hamburg (2011) Life: A User’s Manual, The Israel Museum, Jerusalem (2011); Darkside II: Photographic Power and Violence, Disease, and Death Photographed, Fotomuseum Winterthur (2009), among others.

Aya Ben Ron represented Israel at the 58th International Art Exhibition at the Venice Biennale, 2019, with Field Hospital X (Curator: Avi Lubin, Producer: Miki Gov). Since 2024, FHX has been operating at University of Haifa, serving as a platform for experience, development and research.

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