Foto Friday – Sharon Yaari

January 30, 2009 - 6:01 PM by · 1 Comment
Filed under: Art, Foto Friday, General, Israeliness 

Was it real or did I dream it? Photography on one hand, can document fact. On the other hand, it creates illusions, presents images without context to leave any narrative up to the observer, or records people, places, and things that have passed. By its very nature, photographs are short-lived, comprised of fragile paper, film, or – worse yet – digital data that will disappear forever with one good wave of a magnet.

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SharonYaari is an award winning photographer whose work has long dealt with the temporal. His new solo show “Jerusalem Boulevard” now at the Sommer Gallery in Tel Aviv are large-format photos of things readily identifiable as part of daily life in Israel: a checkered blanket of the kind that everyone used to have (we called them “sochnut blankets” when I made aliya, because the Jewish Agency distributed them to new immigrants); a classic semicircular Tel Aviv Bauhaus balcony; Ibex lying under a eucalyptus tree; a chair and some flowers; a woman at what is clearly (for Israelis) a memorial site.

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They are at once familiar and at the same time, raise questions on a practical level: Do they make those blankets any more? Aren’t the Ibex in danger of extinction? Will the Bauhaus structures, whose architectural philosophy never intended them to stand forever, survive urban pollution? Is that woman from the Twenties? The Forties? The Eighties? Now?

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They also raise questions on an existential level… does everything fade and die as undoubtedly these flowers did long ago?

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“Jerusalem Boulevard” will be at the Sommer Gallery through March 21st.

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Mamilla architecture

July 1, 2008 - 9:38 PM by · 4 Comments
Filed under: A New Reality, General, History and Culture 

The best underground parking lot in Jerusalem, possibly the entire country, is underneath the Mamilla pedestrian mall, part of the $400 million complex that was in dispute for many years, but is finally near completion. Large, spacious and with smooth cement floors that may very well be cleaner than those in my own home, I’m thinking of moving in there.

But despite the luxuriousness of the parking lot, that probably isn’t the most striking architectural feature of the complex, which features several dozen boutiques, several cafes and other businesses in the pedestrian-only shopping district along Rehov Mamilla. The stores are also fine, natch, a fairly interesting combo of local and foreign shops that offer some decent options for Malcha Mall-weary Jerusalemites.

What is worth checking out are some of the mall’s reassembled buildings from the turn of the century. The Stern House, for example, was where Theodor Herzl slept when he visited Jerusalem in 1898, and now houses the Mamilla Steimatzky bookstore and an outdoor cafe. What’s cool is that in order to move and reassemble the building, each stone of the facade was carefully numbered in order to reassemble it in its new location and with more modern construction behind the walls. Given that the original structures themselves were demolished, preservationists poo-poo the practice as ‘facadism.’

But, still, it offers the Mamilla project a more layered, architecturally interesting look to have preserved buildings on site, and if the Stern House hosted Herzl, why not Steimatzky?

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Jerusalem bridge may divide Jerusalem, but it looks really cool

June 27, 2008 - 1:50 PM by · 3 Comments
Filed under: Art, design, Travel 

The new Bridge of Strings was dedicated this week in Jerusalem. Designed by famed Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava, the construction of the bridge has not been without controversy. Outrageous traffic jams, increasing costs and even cracks (yes, cracks) in the bridge and other problems have made for a PR nightmare for the municipality. On Wednesday the bridge was officially dedicated and a ceremony was held at the outrageous cost of over 2 million shekel. Calatrava Bridge of Strings

On one hand, its incredible that Jerusalem can host such an architectural marvel which is incredibly cool looking. On the other hand the bridge cost over 240 million shekel and won’t even function as it was intended (for the light rail) for at least another two years. 240 million shekel is a hell of a lot of money to spend on something so extravagant in the poorest city in the country.

The ceremony itself was not without controversy either. A girls dance troupe were forced to cover up after their costumes were deemed immodest.

…the girls, who ranged in age from 13 to 16, were informed by production organizers several hours before the event that at the municipality’s instruction they had to don black knitted hats and wear long clothing for the performance, said Shlomi Hoffman, the director of the Jerusalem dance troupe…

…The head of the dance troupe noted that the girls – who were also informed an hour before the event that they could not perform three out of four of their planned dances – had danced in the official state Independence Day ceremony just one month ago on Mount Herzl in virtually the same attire.

“This was not a religious event or an event at the Western Wall, but an event for the public at large for the inauguration of a bridge,” Hoffman said.

Secular and National Religious remain the majority of Jerusalem’s population and the forcing of the modest dress upon the young dance troupe is being touted in the media as a move by haredi forces who do not want to see Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupolianski as the haredi candidate in the upcoming election. No one saw it coming, but the election for Jerusalem’s next mayor apparently started Wednesday night.

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