What is an ark? Primarily, a haven from the flood: a place to gather, preserve life itself, to collect the very materials from which a new world may be created; a place from which to look out upon the horizon, expecting that olive branch-carrying dove that confirms – dry land has emerged. The ark is a temporary home, an aquatic shelter, a source of hope in a raging storm.
What constitutes an ark’s inventory? In this case, a curatorial action determines the ark’s content: reality is shaped by each ruling, every choice elevates one story above all others. Choices are made following ethical priorities, which are stretched across a scale of encounter and contrast – the choice between life and death, past and future; between essence and the unnecessary, between preservation and annihilation.
The biblical tale of Noah joins a slew of myths from cultures across the globe, all centered around a massive flood drowning an ancient world. In the face of disaster, humanity is saved and a new world is created by virtue of the construction of an ark. In the Greek version of the story, Deucalion receives warning from his father, Prometheus, leading him to construct a wooden chest with his wife, who is saved along with him as they survive the nine days of storm. In the Epic of Gilgamesh, Uta-napishtim survives thanks to the god Enki (or Ea), who warns him of the imminent flood and instructs him to build a wooden ark named “the preserver of life”. In Genesis, recurrence of the verb root ע.ש.ה. (ASSEH - “to make / create / do”) serves to emphasize the human urge to act at times of crisis. When encountered by flood, standing at the cusp of oblivion and complete loss of all control, Noah, just like Uta-napishtim and Deucalion – decides to take action.
Myths of floods and arks deal with annihilation, but perhaps what stands at their center is creation; exceptional acts of design, engineering and craft that bear the weight of the entire human species, committed to collection and preservation; an act that provides both rescue and hope. The art of design therefore offers a wide range of skills which can help confront and cope with a given situation and react in real-time – to overcome complicated obstacles, and help save lives. Particularly at times of crisis, design work can rise above its material products and create new points of view, mediate and preserve cultural and spiritual knowledge. Today, in the midst of a flood, Jerusalem Design Week aims a light at the horizon. The designers participating in the exhibition this year have concentrated on creations that engage and mobilize the very elements with which we may be able to construct a future, once the waters have receded.
About Jerusalem Design Week
Hansen House invests significant resources in advancing the field of design in Jerusalem and throughout Israel. Its flagship project, Jerusalem Design Week, stands as Israel's largest and most influential public event in the design sphere. Held annually since 2011, Jerusalem Design Week features a multitude of events, performances, and local and international design exhibitions.
Each year, Jerusalem Design Week focuses on a central theme that serves as a lens for examining situations that are at once unique to Jerusalem and Israel, and of international relevance. This tradition is grounded in two core beliefs: that Israel's unique cultural landscape allows it to serve as a living laboratory for exploring urgent global issues, and that design has a duty to respond to such issues. Thus, each year, designers working in various disciplines are invited to respond to the annual theme by developing new projects and new ideas, in groups or individually.
Jerusalem Design Week was initiated by the Ministry of Jerusalem and the Jerusalem Development Authority. It is organized and managed by Hansen House and Ran Wolf Ltd.
Jerusalem Design Week Team
- General Management : Smadar Tsook, Ran Wolf, Ran Wolf Ltd.
- Chief Curators : Dana Benshalom, Sonja Olitsky
- Artistic Director: Roni Yeheskel
- Conceptual guidance and content development: Dr. Jeremy Fogel
- Production Coordinator: Yael Hershcovitz
- Content and Marketing : Ofer Getz, Karine Shabtai
- Technical Administration, Hansen House : Asaf Sabag
- Office Administration, Hansen House : Alma Schwebel
- Production : Kapaim - Maya Timsit, Zohar Natan, Ilan Leinwand, Ofer Shytrit
- Exhibition design : Noam Bar
- Graphic Design: The League (Koby Levy, Nitsan Mayost, ichael Berković Greif, Idan Ben Jacob, uval Katz)
- Web develop : Meir Sadan
- Local PR : Mira Ann Beinart
- Digital Marketing : Alex Gurevich
- Hebrew copyediting and proofreading : Rachel Perets
- English translation : Adam Miklaf
- Arabic translation : Janan Bsoul
