An emotional exhibition offering a meeting point between healing and recovery through art and technology in the aftermath of the events of October 2023 will open today at the Rosen Gallery. "Hector & Ofelia" is the result of a unique collaboration between Shenkar and the Hostages and Missing Persons Bureau in the Prime Minister’s Office. The exhibition will open with a festive ceremony today (May 15) at 18:00 at the Rosen Design Gallery, Shenkar, 137 Bialik Street, Ramat Gan, and will be on display until June 30. The gallery is open to the public on Sundays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays from 10:00 to 19:00.
The exhibition tells the moving story of Hector (81) and Ofelia (79) Reutman, survivors of the October 7 massacre, through the evolving capabilities of artificial intelligence. Hector, a mosaic artist, lost all his works when Hamas terrorists set fire to their home in Kibbutz Nir Oz, while Ofelia was kidnapped and held in captivity for 53 days.
During her captivity, Hector wrote letters and poems to his wife every day, while Ofelia maintained her sanity by writing a diary and letters to her husband and family. These letters formed the foundation of the new creation. Initiated and led by the Hostages and Missing Persons Bureau in the Prime Minister’s Office, the connection with Shenkar was established and the project took off.
Artist Ofir Liberman, head of the Guy Peres Visual Communication Center at Shenkar, used artificial intelligence technologies to connect Hector’s memories and artistic style with advanced creative possibilities. “It was important to me that the learning machine would generate the stylistic and thematic connections without my interference. I tried, as much as I could, to be of service within this process,” explains Liberman. “I wasn’t searching for beauty. With AI, one can create things endlessly beautiful. I was searching for Hector and his state of mind as it is embodied in the letters.”
Using a few photographs of his original works, Liberman trained the AI system to learn Hector’s unique style. Inspired by the letters and poems written to Ofelia, he recreated mosaics that reflect their artistic and emotional world.
The first meeting between Hector and Ofelia and the new artworks took place in January 2025. Hector’s immediate reaction was moving: “It looks as if I made this… the machine has a soul.” Surprisingly, one of the pieces even reconstructed figures that, according to the couple, strongly resembled their youthful appearance, even though the AI had not been exposed to any photos of them. Hector summed up the experience with the words: “On October 7, a part of me died. Now I feel that part beginning to come back to life.”
The exhibition presents a new possibility for using artificial intelligence technologies as a tool for commemoration, memory, and healing from trauma. While public discourse often focuses on the dangers of this technology, "Hector & Ofelia" demonstrates how it can be harnessed for recovery and new creation. The artworks, printed on paper, do not attempt to replace the lost originals but rather assert the birth of something new out of loss. The Hostages and Missing Persons Bureau in the Prime Minister’s Office regards this project as part of the healing process and has accompanied the family throughout.
Prof. Sheizaf Refaeli, President of Shenkar: “The saga of Hector and Ofelia’s lives is made of the strongest elements—love, migration, war, and destruction. In the exhibition 'Hector & Ofelia', we present Hector’s life’s work through the lens of artificial intelligence, creating a narrative of recovery and rebuilding from the ruins. As the author Toni Morrison phrased it: ‘This is precisely the time when artists go to work… that is how civilizations heal.’ This exhibition expresses our belief at Shenkar in integration—between engineering, design, and art; between innovative technology and traditional tools; and above all, between past and future—as we move forward without forgetting what was.”
Yaron Cohen, Head of the Hostages, Returnees and Missing Persons Bureau in the Prime Minister’s Office: “Hector’s words, describing the restoration of his works as allowing him to feel as if a part of him has come back to life after the disaster of 7/10, mark a significant milestone in the healing and rehabilitation process. We continue to accompany Hector, Ofelia, and their family—just as we do all the returnees and families of the hostages and missing persons—with a wide range of support and entitlements, and we long for the swift return home of all the hostages.”
