Revisiting Villa Khury

Ilana Salama Ortar

Revisiting Villa Khury

In 1995, artist Ilana Salama Ortar started the project »Villa Khury/the Prophets’ Tower« on the erasure of Villa Khury (1948) in Haifa from public memory, and its substitution by the modernist Prophets’ Tower office building (1979). Through artistic interactions, the project aimed to make the past re-emerge and generate dialogue by engaging different citizens. The blog is an updated storyboard of the original project, using it as an archive and involving digital space to open debate.

Revisiting Villa Khury #4 / Exhibition Documentation

The Prophets’ Tower: Haifa. 1995-2019

by Ilana Salama Ortar — Nov 29, 2019 / 11:10

Revisiting VillaRevisiting Villa Khury / the Prophets’ Tower: Haifa. 1995-2019 It is twenty-five years since I first conceived my project on erasure from public memory of the destroyed Villa Khury (1948) and its substitution by the modernist Prophets’ Tower commercial center, erected on the site of this epi-symbol of Haifa’s Arab heritage in 1979. Back in 1995, my project laid bare the Israeli tabula rasa approach: eliminating remnants of pre-1948 Palestine via deliberate architectural and town-planning policies. The fortified

Revisiting Villa Khury #3

Wadi Nis-Nas

by Ilana Salama Ortar — May 14, 2018 / 09:11

After introducing the term »civic performance art« in the last blog entry, Ilana Salama Ortar now focuses on her project Villa Khury / Prophet’s Tower, Wadi Nis-Nas, which serves as one possible example for the way how art can engage in social and political conflicts to encourage the exchange between people from different religious and cultural backgrounds. The project aimed not only to show different perspectives on the present, but also implement the past into the present by showing a

Revisiting Villa Khury #2

Civic Performance Art

by Ilana Salama Ortar — Apr 18, 2018 / 09:19

What role does art play in a state of emergency? What art forms are required to be able to engage with the situation? Ilana Salama Ortar invented the term »Civic Performance Art« as an artistic reaction and strategy to make erased memories, events, and identities visible within the geopolitical and socially heterogeneous landscape of the conflict – with the aim to open civic understanding between people. Living in a territory that is under constant threat of geopolitical conflict (two communities

Revisiting Villa Khury/Prophets' Tower#1

The First Encounter

by Ilana Salama Ortar — Mar 21, 2018 / 08:07

The blog »Revisiting Villa Khury« invites the reader to enter into dialogue with the author. If you wish to react, comment, discuss or share your thoughts and stories related to the entries please write an E-Mail to: ilanasalama@gmail.com In the initial contribution of her blog, artist Ilana Salama Ortar describes her first encounter with The Prophet’s Tower erected on the same site of this epi-symbol of Haifa’s Arab heritage – Villa -Khury – in 1995. The former Villa Khury that was transformed into