Yesterday I visited two exhibitions just off Bialik street in Tel Aviv. It is a beautiful area and many of the residences and structures have under gone or are currently being restored. It has a peaceful atmosphere, and at the end of Bialik street there is a square where the second original municipality building stands. Originally built as a hotel, the building has wide balconies, and one can imagine the speeches given there to the crowds of zealous Jewish state settlers. I set out to go to an exhibition called "Architecture is frozen music" at Liebling Haus on 29 Idelson St., but before arriving there I passed the Tel Aviv Bauhaus Foundation. I admit to often playing concerts at and passing by the Felicia Blumenthal peach colored building, but I somehow never noticed the small white Bauhaus opposite it. I entered it and found a small exhibition on The Bauhaus school of arts, crafts, architecture and design. The school was originally founded in the wake of WWI by architect Walter Gropius (1883-1969) in Weimar, Germany. Most of the objects on display look very modern, almost IKEA like, but they date back to the 1930's. They belong to a New York family and are on loan to the museum. On one of the walls are quite daring architectural designs for housing on the Carmel mountains in Haifa, but unfortunately at the time the plans were completely refused and were never used.
A feeling of courage and adventure certainly describes the students and artists of the Bauhaus, and this feeling continued when I arrived at the Liebling Haus. A splendid entrance full of plants almost in every direction welcomed us, and we entered the main living room area. There were a few exhibitions taking place in various rooms, and I noticed a small coffee shop and a workshop in the vicinity. It all looked so pastoral that I had to remind myself that I was indeed in TLV!
Below is a photo of a masked Bauhaus student from 1929. The photo looks to me very futuristic. Under it are plans from 1960's for buildings in Kikar Atarim - they remind me of the YOU buildings built in recent years near the Halacha bridge.
But what really shook me was a quote by Erich Mendelsohn from 1940: "The problem that confronts the Jew in Palestine is...how to become a cell of the future Semite commonwealth...Symbolizing the union between the most modern civilization and the most antique culture."
Just on the news today: The Israel Ministry of Education wants to remove maps of Israel from classrooms of schools in Tel Aviv. The maps were very recently hung by the Tel Aviv municipality after a decision was made to display maps that clearly show the green line. But this decision was overruled by the ministry of education which seems to prefer "less" clarity than "the reality". Where can one find today a mentioning of the Semites in Israel? Jews originally returned to settle in Israel with the best intentions of coexistence and mutual respect, but when observing our teaching today we couldn't be further away from that point. I wonder how many children from settlements outside the green line are aware of the line or told about it? Or is there no need to?
From the little I have read about Mendelsohn, he was an internationally renowned Jewish-German Architect responsible for the designs of many important buildings throughout Israel. Among others he was awarded the Guggenheim Fellowships in 1943. As a scholar with great regard for the humanities, I dare think that Mendelsohn would be distraught to see the state of our education system in Israel in 2022 with regards to subjects in the humanities, among many other matters.
And what about the exhibition on Architecture and Music? It was quite a disappointment. The subject seemed of great interest to me, and the exhibition didn't come close to meeting my expectations. But luckily thanks to it I saw two interesting exhibits - both of which are also free of charge to visitors.
