Staging Urbanism

 

The intersection of Art, Space, and the Public.

 

Faculty of Architexture and Town Planning, Technion, Haifa, Israel

Advisors: Prof. Tal Alon Mozes and Dr. Meirav Aharon-guttman,

Ph.D. Graduation date: Feb. 2019. PHD Research.

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A socio-spatial research that explores the reciprocal relationship between art, urban space and the public., It suggests that this three-headed intersection, forms a conceptual framework for deciphering the unique urbanism of the city in which they takes place. The research expends the theoretical discourse regarding this relationship beyond the common perspective of art as an urban renewal strategy to position it within the theoretical discourse on urbanism. Through a discussion, that ranges between macro and micro perspectives and between art’s ability to reinforce or subvert the socio-spatial structures of the city, this research presents the unique characteristics of Acre as an example for a peripheral mixed city in the Middle East.

 

On the one hand, the research demonstrates how the city’s socio-spatial structures, stemming from the continual Israeli-Palestine conflict, are replicated in the city’s artistic activity. This insight is analysed first through a macro perspective of the five theatre institutions, showing how each institution functions as a closed sphere, which addresses only a small part of the population, and therefore fails to challenge the urban socio-spatial power relations. Click the image for a ink to full text