NEW CITY BAT YAM
02
'New City Bat-Yam' is a project that took
place in October, 2010, in the city of Bat-Yam.
In this project we create a public, free school for city inhabitants to learn from and teach each other.
Bat-Yam
800
Participants
40
Lessons
27.9.10 -
30.9.10
"What is the public interest ?", Tamar Zandberg
Classes take place anywhere in the city.
The open classes, workshops and lectures were carried out in different locations around the city, in any given space that was found suitable for the purpose of teaching: public spaces, private apartments, commercial areas and public institutions.
The classes covered a large range of subjects: meditation on the beach, bike repairs in a private back yard, meetings with city seniors, urban planning in public space, different art lessons and so on.
Constructing the project as well as bringing it to fruition sparked new relationships between people from different communities in the city and between residents of different neighborhoods.
Computer classes for beginners (Russian), Philip Levine.
“New City” is an ongoing research project in architecture and education. The project has been developed in the last few years as a suggestion for a new kind of connection between the city and education. “New City” takes fundamental communication resources that surround us - family, community, skilled experts and online information sources - and arranges them in a new order as living tools for education and learning.
The city is the living environment which brings together the conceptual encounters between humans in a society populated with different groups and ages. As such, it is a natural platform for the new city to be based on - as a space of teaching and learning, opposed to a commercial space for consumption and exchange of goods only. The learning sessions may be coincidental or planned in advance - in the teacher's house, on the street, in the park or in one of the city’s sites.
The new city, filled with curious, joyful children, is then sprinkled with learning centers of different kinds. These centers interlink the individual to the city, society and community in new ways.
The exposure to the contents and activities carries a significant value for both the city and the pupil. Given the right foundation and infrastructure, the community is able to arrange itself around various subjects of learning, ranging from organic urban farming to classes of poetry and literature. The institutionalized form of school is relocated to other learning sites - greenhouses, carpentry shops, bakeries, banks, city hall and street corners. The city itself also becomes a broad and fertile ground for learning; one can learn history from historical sites, economics in the city’s markets, art from public sculptures, and countless other options. In the new city, the responsibility is placed firmly back in the hands of parents and children. Children are committed to learning for the love of it and parents are active partners for their education and development.
“New City” enables people to have authentic, direct encounters with each other and to share their ideas and experiences within the city. All are invited to join and take part in the project, to wander the city, to teach and to learn.
What do you like to teach? Call for residents to participate.
Sample Class > "New City" Bat-Yam > Art in Plaster
Shay Schneider
Art in plaster
Ben-Gurion School
27.09.10
In 2010, Ben Gurion School in Bat Yam had no street sign and in the office of the school director, Yael, there was a photo of David Ben-Gurion doing a head-stand on a Tel Aviv beach. In a dialogue between us, we agreed that it was necessary to ‘copy’ the image to an exterior wall of the school, to generate interest and controversy just as Ben Gurion did himself. The work took place over two days, with the active participation of viewers and audiences.
Shai Schneider studied sculpture, drawing and painting at Beit Berl College. From 2009, he has exhibited in group shows and solo exhibitions in galleries and museums across Israel. He combines elements and techniques from the field of construction in site-specific works intended for the people living and working in those sites.
Education is Life.
GALLERY
PARTICIPANTS
“New City” Bat Yam, October, 2010
Participants: Dalia Elshaich, Mor Krol, Mohi Ra'ad, David Moshe, Avi Kalchi, Na'ama Riva, Ya'akov Ziv, Mika Cohen, Hana Walpert Ben-Aziz, Zeli Segal, Ya'akov Nul, Sifrit Tzadik, Nissan Almog, Shy Shnider, Naomi Morgenshtern, Ravit Hileli, Anat Biger, Rinat Bilu, Elik Almog, Philip Levin, Ilan Nahum, Shli Dotan, Rabbi Moshe, Dov Hern, Yossef Bardanshvily, Irit Itzhak, Yossi Abarbanel, Tamar Zandberg.
Curators: Eran Eizenhamer and Yonatan H. Mishal.
Assistant Producer: Na’ama Riva. Graphic Designer: Noa Segal. Translator and Editor: Kineret Lauria.