Stav Dror

Festival Israel Pavilion

Zion Square, Jerusalem

Collaboration between Bezalel Academy of Art and Design, Jerusalem Development Authority, and Festival Israel

Together with Liran Messer, Moti Bachar, Ifat Finkelamn, Deborah Pinto Fdeda

Situated in Downtown Jerusalem’s  Zion square and parallel to the Tramway line, the pavilion created a place to host a rich artist program including lectures by leading scholars, concerts, dance performances, video screening and theater shows. while enabling an encounter between the Israel Festival as a well-known established institute, and the city.

The structure, 24 meters long, 3 meters wide and 4 meters high, tracked and framed the scheduled and dynamic train’s appearance. It spanned between 2 boxes: the ‘toolshed’ of the project which encapsulated all of the festivals needs for the various events. At night, it is closed and packed while during the day it opens and expands, creating a place for a possible meeting and information point. On the opposite side,

around an existing tree, is an empty box: ‘the garden’. Filled with benches and closed by a curtain, it functioned as an intimate shaded space in the bustling square. The structure, on its different settings, served as a platform for various events, times and situations in its surrounding thus making it a “performance” on its own- mobilizing objects, deploying surfaces, and varying according to the different festival needs. At selected moments and events- a white curtain was drawn over the entire span of the project, connecting its two ends and creating a different urban dimension – a large event in the city square.