Yaffo 23

Bezalel Academy of Art and Design, Jerusalem is very pleased to announce the opening of Yaffo 23, a new art-site in downtown Jerusalem, on Thursday, June 17th at 8pm.

Yaffo 23 occupies the 3rd floor of the old office building from the time of the British Mandate, a huge 10,000SF facility that will house new practices in art and design and combine research, theory, and action.

#1, the first series of installations, performances, and sound-actions explore the new space through sound, movement, and time. At the opening night Maya Dunietz will play a sound sculpture by Alona Rodeh—a huge wheel with speakers and mics that turn in circles like an olive press, as in an ancient ritual around which the community converges. Lovegrenade, a noise-rock band, will be dispersed in space playing among the visitors or bringing the audience into the band; and Ashkara Metim, a Jerusalem-based punk band will play through video cameras and monitors.

Through the first cycle, artists and musicians will add new sculptural elements that combine sound and movement. The duo Dupress (Ido Govrin and Liora Belford) will conduct an “archeology of sound” retrieving the stories and voices that passed through the walls of the great hall that used to house the telephone switchboard operator of Jerusalem. Yaniv Kuris will insert the external auditory environment in by recording and condensing the sounds of Jerusalem on a Friday afternoon—the muezzins in the mosques and the bells of the churches—as if making the space breath in the city in a sort of sound meditation. Ilan Volkov and the collective marginal consort (Israel) will unload their tool box, spread in space and play for two hours acoustic and electronic instruments, combining harmony with risk and a-integration.

The events will conclude with a round panel and a closing party with the experimental groups: NX2 Space Patrol, Cassex Vibrato, and The Noses.

The audience is welcome to participate.

For updates
Be our friend on facebook: Yaffo TwentyThree.
And watch out for our coming blog reporting on the state of the arts in Jerusalem and beyond.

Staff:
Dr. Roy Brand, director; Sagit Mezamer, Yael Ruhman, and Simon Krantz, curators.