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by Meydad Eliyahu

The Schneller Order Case: Site-specific Art in Jerusalem as a Practice of Dialogue

In these times of war and instability that we are facing, in Israel and the Middle East since 7th October 2023, it's hard to write about the region we live in. Yet, I share here a case of artists' intervention, from a few years ago, in one of Jerusalem's iconic sites, the Schneller Compound, which may bring hope for an alternative reality.

In 2019, I was invited to create and curate an artistic intervention in the Schneller historic compound, one of the most legendary sites in Jerusalem, as part of the city's Open House festival, a festival which is based on creating opportunities for the public to visit and learn about the history of sites that are usually closed to the public.

Founded as an orphanage for Syrian refugees in 1860 by Ludwig Schneller and his wife Magdalena, German-Swiss Lutheran missionaries, the place was built on the foundations of the 1856 Schneller House, one of the first European settlements outside of Jerusalem old city walls.


Schneller compound main building, the courtyard. Photo: Shai Halevi

 

In the next decades, the orphanage, directed by the Schneller family and its descendants, grew and added lands and properties. By the beginning of the 20th century the compound was a local “empire” with a roof-tile factory, a carpentry workshop, a print workshop, a bakery, schools, and in the heart of it all, workshops led by master craftsmen from Germany who came to the orphanage. These workshops which included thirteen different art and crafts specialties, amongst them shoemaking, tailoring, carpentry, stone carving, weaving, blacksmithing, book binding, pottery and more, attracted Jerusalem's elite students, bringing to it Muslim, Jewish and Christian students alike.

Due to the compound's large scale of 600 dunam and its expanded facilities, it was taken over by the Turkish, German and Austrian militaries in the First World War. During the Second World War, when all German citizens in the country were deported, the British military took over the premises.

Later, in 1948, after the British abandoned the compound, Israeli military took over and eventually the compound was nationalized by the state under the Absentee Property Law to serve as an army base and a clinic for over sixty years. The space’s elegant European interiors were used for mundane, administrative purposes. But when the army left the building in 2008 in order to allow the Jerusalem Municipality to build on the compound’s lands, new luxurious buildings were planned, besides commissioning the preservation work of the eight main historical buildings.

It's important to mention that originally, the Schneller compound was geographically a lone settlement on a hill. In 2019, the situation was dramatically different when it came to be situated in the heart of one of the most radical ultra-orthodox Jewish Hasidic communities' neighborhoods. As a Christian missionary institute, Schneller was charged with symbols and remains of murals and religious European architecture.

The plan to transform the central building in the compound into a museum and a visitors’ center by the Kehilot Israel Orthodox Jewish Institute was initiated with the restoration works undertaken later in 2019.[1] It was around this time of the restoration work, that I received the invitation to create a temporary, site-specific artwork in the Schneller Compound. As an artist and curator, the invitation to create the project was a rare opportunity to work between institutional and independent approaches, to move between spaces and stages of authority, and to preserve a multi-cultural life in the otherwise socially wounded city of Jerusalem.

Both Idan Avidani, the project producer whom I met when in 2011 at the Social Justice Protest in Israel[2], and I felt it was a once in a life time opportunity to open Schneller to the public through art intervention that permitted us to rethink and recreate the place.[3] The process of selecting artists came next and it was clear to me that we would work with Jerusalem-based artist friends who have an understanding and a passion for the historical structures and the experience of working in tough conditions pertaining to abandoned sites.

The selected ensemble of Itai Ron Gilboa, Michal Harada, Noa Arad Yairi, Nomi Bruckmann and Kobi Vogman, all work in a variety of mediums and materials and have different trainings and backgrounds, and were at different stages of their artistic careers.

The artists created a new site-specific intervention, and in addition, some other works inspired by Schneller were selected and installed eventually on-site.

Historical photos from the 1970s by artist Aviv Itzhaky, were shown for the first time alongside works by other artists Ktura and Rotem Manor, and Shlomo Serry, who had researched the place as part of the 2016 exhibition The Schneller Case. This exhibition was curated by Tami Manor-Friedam and shown in the Jerusalem Artists House, inviting different artists to create works inspired by the Schneller compound. Since the site was partly destroyed, having been abandoned for many years, we took a decision to recreate the facilities of the space like benches for visitors from wood and metal that we found on-site.  



Visitors in the main exhibition space – the historical church. Photo: Shai Halevi.



General view of the exhibition; Ktura Manor and Rotem Manor's video art (in the center).



Visitors in front of Kobi Vogman's works. Photo: Shai Halevi.



Visitors at the main exhibition space; a sculpture by Noa Arad Yairi (in the center). Photo: Shai Halevi.

 

Our artistic research began with reading and understanding the Schneller compound’s layered history. As in the case of the Sala-Manca collective[4] model, used in the Hearart Shulaym site-specific art events, a historical file was opened. The file was based on historical research by architect Gil Gordon, allowing the artists to have an accessible online source of historic cases about the site during their artistic process, and an opportunity to find cases and narratives that they might choose to relate to in their own artworks. A version of the historical file was also curated into the exhibition by the writer as an additional informative historic exhibition on site.

Considering this, within the context of the tension between different religious sectors in Jerusalem and the secular creators'steam that we were working with in an ultra-orthodox Jewish neighborhood, we had to create trust and understanding regarding our intentions and work with residents of the area. The same was true for the Kehilot Israel Institute who hosted our project in the Schneller main building.

The first stage, in order to build trust, was to share artists’ sketches and drawings, and kinds of interventions that were being planned through them. These allowed us to create transparency, and was important since an orthodox Jewish religious organization was hosting us. The visual idea of the artworks was used as an informal agreement to help us keep a common understanding.

Therefore, the sensibility created around the project was not only to the site heritage but also to find ways to communicate with the local communities; it was a way to open the gates to its neighboring compound. We, the organizers and artists, took a decision to communicate with the visitors and neighbors as much as possible, both in the days before the opening, as well as during the days of the exhibition. By the unique clothing that we wore, of blue workers shirts with handmade golden logos of our project, we could be recognized immediately as the exhibition team.

A series of guided tours with the artists and researchers was an additional aspect of opening the Schneller compound publicly. At one point – we, the organizers and the artists – suspected that we were being pawned in a bigger political game of creating a new reality in the urban landscape and that the exhibition was the first attempt of establishing the new museum by Kehilot Israel Institute. We saw that none of the supporters’ logos were set on the different publications and invitations, so that the exhibition won't be associate with the Open House festival or the Kehilot Israel Institute directly.

On the day of the exhibition opening there was tension in the air, especially when a group of teenage visitors came running in to the exhibition space, examining the artworks as fast as they could. But unexpectedly, it was a sign that the Schneller neighbors were slowly beginning to approve the visit as acceptable in terms of restrictions around religious and public behavior.


A look at Meydad Eliyahu's painted stained glass. Photo: Shai Halevi.



A look at Michal Harada's installation. Photo: Shai Halevi.



Itai Ron Gilboa's installation in the main building courtyard. Photo: Shai Halevi

 

Within three days of the project The Schneller Order opening, hundreds of visitors from the orthodox communities around Schneller, as well as several others, visited the project while maintaining a decorum and respect to the site, each having a dialogue with one another regarding Schneller, the history, and the art.

One of the participatory aspects of the exhibition was creating a public archive as part of the historic informative exhibition, memories from Schneller tracing back more than 50 years, were collected.[5]

It was not the first time that a site-specific art intervention took place at a historical site in Jerusalem. Since the late 1990s and early 2000s, artist collectives from Jerusalem like Zik[6] and Salamanca[7], had created art events in historical sites. Later on, in the first decade of 2000, younger artists collectives like Muslala[8] and Empty House[9] were founded. They established a new kind of artst run institute in the city, which have constant dialogue with the history of their urban spaces. One of them is HaMiffal Art Center[10], in which the writer was the curator and co-founder of the gallery.

It's hard to say if the layered urban characteristics of Jerusalem with its unique historical spaces, the independent character of the city art scene, or the lack of exhibition spaces thirty years ago, pushed artists to create a tradition of dialogue with the place. Gidon Ofrat, an art historian and the main researcher on the arts that had developed in Jerusalem, points to a turning point in the mid 2000s[11] where the founding of three institutional platforms changed the art scene in the city into a more institutional direction. They were the Manofim contemporary art festival[12], the Jerusalem Season of Culture Festival[13], and the Jerusalem Biennale[14].

These temporary annual or biennial art platforms filled an existing vacuum of more flexible and experimental and institutional approach in the Jerusalem art scene which is based mainly on museum and art centers. There is no doubt that with these initiatives, the growth of number of platforms and productions budgets, more artists will be enabled to take part in the cultural scene in Jerusalem. However, at the same time, much of the independent spirit of creation has lost its presence, power and influence and more and more creators became part of the institutes in one way or another, with less development of new independent initiatives.

From my own personal experience, I can share that the artistic climate of working site-specifically is both rewarding and challenging for artists today.  The Schneller Order was no different. It created a bond between the artists, the audience, and the site. The dust, the crumbling walls, and the lack of basic working conditions on site required new challenging modes of action and tools to create the art work. It threw open opportunities for feedback and opened up discussions, much more often than what was possible in a studio, offering a more organic and holistic creative evolution.

The artists and organizers in a site-specific temporary art event like The Schneller Order were, without deliberate intention, educating the public. It threw open the doors for discussing its history, understanding hidden layers of its memories, which constituted the place, doing exactly what a site-specific work intends to do.

Besides, when art and culture are today often seen to serve and to promote political and economic interests, site specific artworks in historical sites offers a short-term opportunity, an effective alternative space for conversation and dialogue.


Meydad Eliyahu (b.1983, Mesilat Zion, Israel) is an artist, curator, and educator who lives and works in Jerusalem. Among the collectives and art initiatives that Eliyahu has co-founded in Jerusalem are the Kra drawing and poetry collective, Katamona-library and gallery in the public space. In the years 2020-23, Eliyahu was the co-founder and curator of Hamiffal Art Center Gallery and residency program. He curated in various additional institutes as the Jerusalem Artists House, The Jerusalem Print Workshop, Barbur Gallery, Jerusalem and at the Jewish Culture Festival, Krakow, Poland.


Notes

[1] You can read more about the plans here: Museum about Jews planned for Jerusalem compound built by Protestant missionary | The Times of Israel

[2] “The 2011 Israeli social justice protests  were a series of demonstrations in Israel beginning in July 2011 involving thousands of protesters from a variety of socio-economic and religious backgrounds opposing the continuing rise in the cost of living (particularly housing) and the deterioration of public services such as health and education.” Wikipedia, last modified 1 May 2024, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Israeli_social_justice_protests.

[3] After being locked up for many years, and never being really open to the public, the Schneller compound brought a curiosity in people as to what its interiors were like, so also the use of the structure through the years. The first visits on site revealed spaces which were half destroyed and in the process of restoration, some that were dramatically changed over the years and others unscathed. Under the heavy layers of dust that covered every corner, there was a surreal ambience created from various objects and remnants of the past.

[4] Lea Mauas & Diego Rotman are the artists behind Salamanca collective which curated HEARAT SHULAYM, a series of site-specific art events in Jerusalem from 2001 to 2007. From 2013 their art and research center Mamuta is based in Jerusalem Hanssen House historic compound. For more information here: https://mamuta.org/

[5] More about The Schneller Order exhibition you can see here  3-d scan of the main exhibition: https://my.matterport.com/show/?m=qW4QqauyQKQ. A short video documentary about the project: The Schneller Order -Three days of site-specific art | מסדר שנלר - שלושה ימים של אמנות תלוית מקום - YouTube

[6] Zik collective of artists was founded in Jerusalem in 1985, and since then, mainly in the 1990s and 2000s, they created interdisciplinary outdoor and indoor art happenings. More information here: https://jerusalemfoundation.org/old-project/zik-group/

[7] See footnote no. 5 https://mamuta.org/

[8] Muslala creative collective was founded in Musrrara neighborhood in 2009, and since 2016 the collective is based in Klal center and activated few more centers in the Jerusalem. More details here: https://muslala.org/en/

[9] Empty Hose Artist collective created from 2011 to 2014 huge temporary art event in Jerusalem historical sites. In 2016 members of the collective founded HaMiffal art center. See more here: http://www.emptyhouse.co.il/

[10] Founded in 2016, by members of the Empty House artists collective, among them the writer, HaMiffal is an art and community center based in the former Lorenzo-Seraphim house in the heart of Jerusalem. More details here: המפעל - מרכז אמנות תרבות ובילוי בירושלים | HaMiffal - Jerusalem

[11] G. Ofrat, Jerusalem-Tel Aviv: Art in Urban Conflict (Ofer Lewin foundation press: 2016).

[12] Manofim contemporary art festival started as an annual initiative by The Jerusalem Foundation and Art Cube Artists' Studios, Jerusalem in 2008. More details here: https://manofim.org/en/

[13] Founded in 2010, the Jerusalem Season of culture started as a culture festival and later rebranded itself as Mekudeshet. Currently it's based at Abu Tor neighborhood. For more details: Facebook

[14] The Jerusalem Biennale founded by Rami Ozeri in 2013, the biennale shows exhibition by both Israelis and international artists. For more here: https://jerusalembiennale.org/


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