Windows Winter 2006 - Jerusalem Foundation

Coexistence: Education
Between
Violence
and
Hope
On the Seam
Much has been said and written
about the contribution of art
to public opinion and how it
influences individuals’ thoughts,
but nowhere is this more tangible than at
the Museum on the Seam for
Understanding, Dialogue and Coexistence
in Jerusalem.
Established in 1999 with the generous
support of the von Holtzbrinck family
of Germany via the Jerusalem
Foundation, and through the initiative
of Museum director and curator Raphie
Etgar, the Museum’s very location
highlights its message: The Museum
is appropriately located in the historic
Turjeman Post building, which was
once the last Israeli outpost before the
Mandelbaum gate - the only Israeli-
Jordanian border crossing until the 1967
Six Day War, and a symbol and reminder
of Jerusalem as a divided city.
Today, the Museum is still located on the
seam, no longer between countries, but
now between the old city and the new,
between east and west, between affluent
and disadvantaged, between religious and
secular neighborhoods, between Arabs
and Jews. It is a former military outpost
converted to a center for the advancement
of peace and understanding, its facade
still scarred with bullet marks that serve
as a permanent testimony to the cost of
violent conflict and distrust.
Inside, the Museum’s art displays also
deal with themes of dialogue and
coexistence, exploring diverse ways for
bridging the gaps between seemingly
incongruent populations and using art as
a means to help foster understanding of
and respect for the “other”. As Etgar notes,
“If people can learn to see the ‘other’ as
they see themselves, we have a chance
for peaceful coexistence.”
“Bullet marks serve as
a permanent
testimony to the cost
of violent conflict”
The Museum sees conflict as an issue
common to humanity as a whole and
believes that we can all learn to see ourselves
in the conflicts of others. To this end the
Museum hosts works of artists from both
Israel and abroad. A recent exhibition,
for example, depicted the poignant and
moving photographs of Anja Niedringhaus
who worked from 1993-2000 as a
photojournalist in war zones around the
world, a woman in an exclusively male
domain. The current exhibition, Dead
End, is the first in a series of changing
exhibitions planned by the Museum. The
exhibition calls on visitors to examine
their own path and not to stand idly by.
Indeed, Dead End portrays a difficult
reality that has turned violence into the
language of daily life; a language which
threatens the existence of human society
everywhere, not just in the Middle East.
The Museum also initiated and produced
an unusual and thought provoking giant
outdoor art exhibition entitled Coexistence
that is currently touring the world. The
exhibition is composed of visual
images of coexistence created by
artists from around the world. The
Museum held an international
competition and a prestigious
international jury selected the best
works to form the nucleus of the
exhibition. As Coexistence travels,
local competitions are held in host
cities and the most intriguing works
are added to the exhibition during its
journey.
In 2004, nearly 15,000 people from around
the world visited the Museum. The visitors
are those who are invited to answer the
questions and to re-examine their opinions,
beliefs and positions regarding the reality
in which we live. As one Birthright
participant said following her tour of the
Museum, “This was really enlightening;
it made me look at myself all over again
and re-think almost everything!”
Donor:
von Holtzbrinck Family, Germany
10 Windows on Jerusalem Winter 2006