Video: “Jerusalem in Sand”

 
“Jerusalem in Sand,” performed by Sheli Ben Nun, to music by Sussita (Israel). This is a short section of the story of David and Bathsheva. The two male profiles depict King David and Uriah the Hittite, with Bathsheva in the background, between them.

Jerusalem Festival of Light 2013: Sand Animation and Ghosts

Sheli Ben Nun creates sand animation on a light box in the open Cardo. Her movements are graceful and almost choreographed, with music by Sussita in the background. This particular animation depicted the story of King David and Bathsheva. I noticed  that this year’s festival had very few live performers. The sand animation was one of the most interesting performances I’ve seen at this festival. I will post a short video later.

The photo above was taken with a telephoto from the railing above the open Cardo.

The photos below show “The Other Side,” by AVS. The trail in the Christian Quarter was transformed into a ghost town with music and videos playing at several stops. It was a challenge to photograph because the images are dark and move quite quickly.

Below, a jazz trio plays above a doorway. Every few bars they turn into skeletons and continue to play.

A violin-playing ghost is projected onto a stone wall. Interesting textures.

An organist plays Bach in the doorway of a building.

Dark, shadowy figures, with a broomstick-riding witch darting across the facade of the building.

Alley of waltzing ghosts projected onto white drapes. This was very tricky to photograph because there were so many competing light sources. It’s a pity that the chandeliers were not lit. Also a pity that they didn’t use a longer clip. Hearing only the first line of “Libiamo” from La Traviata over and over, as you walk down the long street, becomes irritating.

Super Moon over Maale Adumim

Although I had a tripod with me, this was taken by hand, braced against a fence, as I was sprinting to get to lower ground. It was a bit hazy when the moon cleared the horizon, so the moon wasn’t very impressive (moon too dark, sky too light). Next time I’ll try to photograph from a lower point so that I can get the moon clearing some buildings when it’s brighter. Unfortunately, I don’t live near the Taj Mahal or Acropolis, so the foreground will probably be apartment buildings.

Jerusalem Festival of Light 2013, Video: Ode to Joy among the Ruins

“From Darkness to Light,” by Moshe Kimchi (Israel) at the Jerusalem Light Festival 2013. The only place I could stand was right by the speaker, so I’m surprised that the sound quality was okay.

 

Jerusalem Festival of Light 2013: White Trail

This year several  exhibits used video-mapping. The photos above and below depict “Nón lá Poétry,” by ThéOriz Crew (France). The description says that the installation is intended to present viewers with a new and unconventional perspective on the Vietnamese conical hat. The surface of the wall is flat except for the cones, which have are hanging on the wall. (A short clip of the installation appears in the video I posted earlier.)

“Prima Ballerina,” by O*GE (Merav Eitan and Gaston Zahr) was much more popular than the installation they did two years ago (I forget what it was called but it looked like a hut made of orange glow sticks). I think I preferred their “Night Garden,” 2009. (I met Gaston Zahr that year when he found one of my Flickr photos of his installation and commented on it.) Still, the ballerina was very impressive. It was a tricky subject to photograph because the skirt is so bright and the face of the doll is in shadow. The doll is spinning, which makes it trickier to get a sharp focus.

“Light,” by Detlef Hargung and Georg Trenz (Germany), projects the word “light” in Hebrew and Arabic, moving in kaleidoscopic pattrns in Gan Hatekuma.

“Pyramid of Light,” by Heinz Kasper (Germany/Austria) is constructed of thousands of plastic bottles.

Beit Rothschild in Batei Machsei Square always has an impressive video-mapping installation. This year “Garden of My Dreams,” by Ocubo (Portugal) depicts children planting a garden, which grows with spectacular colours. The dog that you hear in the video isn’t part of the sound track. Someone brought a German shepherd, which was fascinated by the presentation and started howling.

Video: Jerusalem Festival of Light 2013

 
 
I put together a few video clips I took last week at the Jerusalem Festival of Light.

Jerusalem Festival of Light 2013: Jaffa Gate

The fifth Jerusalem Festival of Light opened a week and a half ago and closed last night. We went three nights in a row last week. I can’t compare it to last year’s festival, because we were in Italy, but this year’s festival seemed smaller than previous exhibits. There were three instead of four trails, almost no live performances, and fewer exhibits. These photos were taken around Jaffa Gate, at the beginning of the white trail (full Flickr set, slideshow).

The helium kites shaped like birds are “Les Luminéoles,” by Christophe Martine (France). In the photo below you can see the kite flyer behind the white fabric flowers.

The coloured bubbles lit inside are “Soul Forest,” by Lucion Média (Canada).

“Nomad Flowers,” by Gilbert Moity (France), by the moat of the Tower of David.

“Path of Stars,” also by Gilbert Moity, along Armenian Patriarchate Street.

On-Boarding the Satellite Dishes: Day Two

I only went up to the roof for about half an hour on Thursday, just to see what was going on.

The dish at the front of the building, the second largest dish on the building, was on-boarded. I was able to get a better shot of the activity (such as it was) by standing on the large satellite dish platform. Yes, that meant climbing up the ladder again, and it was very hot and windy.

They appear to be taping paper letters to the dish and then applying plastic stickers.

This is the small dish that faces the driveway. I call it “Gone but Not Forgotten” because you can still see the NDS logo clearly.

View of the ladder to the roof of pier D, this time looking up.

I couldn’t get in from the roof right away because the men were davening mincha (afternoon prayer) in the room at the top of the stairwell, which doubles as a small synagogue, so I had 15 minutes to kill on the roof. I took a few more photos.

View over the courtyard, towards Ramot.

View of the roof from the front of the building, facing Golda Meir Blvd.

Looking down into the courtyard.

Another shot towards Ramot, over the parking lot.