Azad Nanakeli returned to his Kurdish home Erbil to find all of the wells contaminated with waste and chemicals. AU is one among many art pieces on display at Iraq’s first pavilion at the Venice Biennale. Fewer canvases are overflowing with pristine landscape scenes as unsustainable building programs throughout the Middle East encroach upon this […]
A starchitect from Japan? As Israel’s oldest and leading arts academy, shouldn’t Bezalel be a locavore when it comes to hiring architects? The Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, established in Jerusalem in 1906 as an institution that would help form a new visual language for the Jewish people, is now synonymous with Israeli art. […]
We already know what plastic bottle trees look like, how will 10 newspaper trees look? For Christmas last year, Israeli artist Hadas Itzcovitch gifted her city of Haifa a tree made from 5480 upcycled plastic bottles (pictured above). Constructed immediately after the disastrous Carmel region fires broke out and destroyed so many trees, Itzcovitch’s tree […]
Instead of standard apples and honey, put some creative green thought into your Rosh Hashanah gifts this year. The Jewish New Year, or Rosh Hashanah 2011 is quickly approaching next week on September 28, and for many Jewish people this is a time of gift-giving in the new Jewish calendar year 5772. Gift giving is […]
Naked Israelis to the rescue. Mission: Save the Dead Sea. Hugging trees, saving whales, and starting recycling campaigns for environmentalists. Now, eco-activists from a range of organizations –– including Green Prophet –– are suggesting that people bare all, and go naked for the environment. Witnessed by the Naked Dead Sea photography event this weekend at […]
“Let the world see the openness of Israel,” wrote one participant. Fortunately, mostly positive press dominates the Naked Sea photoshoot, which took place on private property along the shores of the salty lake. Prior to the Spencer Tunick photo shoot at the Dead Sea this Saturday, international coverage of the famed artists latest installation was […]
Spencer Tunick’s naked shoot at the Dead Sea in Israel: yes, some women even got covered in Dead Sea mud. Cloaked in secrecy, they wouldn’t know the location until they got into the bus. While politics in the Middle East seems to overshadow environmental issues, some passionate Israelis decided to be a part of history, […]
Every year artists are invited to the Asilah Arts Festival to contribute colorful murals to this Moroccan Town’s white walls – keeping the town clean and well-funded. If you are among those who associate art with the rail-thin, woebegone people who produce it and not much else, then you might be surprised to learn about […]
PET bottles hark back to their glass bottle predecessors using traditional glass blowing techniques. Plastic bottles have pretty nasty reputations for being bad for human health and the environment. Very few people are arguing that plastic bottles (and especially bottled water) are a good thing in the long run. Some companies, such as Israeli fashion […]
From small-scale butterflies to large horses, Reuven Fields’ scrap metal sculptures breathe life into discarded pieces. It takes a lot of energy to mine metals from the earth, and significantly less energy to recycle metals into something new. But if you can upcycle used metal scraps into something else (such as an upcycled aluminum can […]
Gulf conservation groups have teamed up with National Geographic Al Arabiya to showcase 100 stunning images of Arabian species The Gulf countries of the Middle East may be more famous for their outlandish construction projects, endless deserts and malls than their biodiversity but one art exhibition is hoping to change all that. A large coalition […]
A Ukranian woman and an Israeli man (a couple in love) pose for green love in digital times, in Old Jaffa overlooking Tel Aviv. I’ve been singing Lovers In A Dangerous Time by the Canadian singer Bruce Cockburn over the last week or so. A perfect song, an anthem for my trip around Jaffa yesterday […]
This is more than a building with a ragged mountain backdrop. This architecture creates the ultimate in sensory education for Jordan’s film students. The Red Sea Institute of Cinematic Arts in Aqaba, Jordan taps into natural light, sounds, and shadows to create a sensorily vivid learning experience for film students. Albeit minimalist and respectful of […]
Exhibition in Israel brings together sustainable “contemporary cavemen” (and designers). Post Fossil, a current exhibition at the Design Museum in Holon, Israel, asks the question: how to create in a post-fossil-fueled world? As the exhibition description states, “Time has come for extreme change. Society is ready to break away from last century for good. To […]
Israeli celebrities pose for coal-clad glamor shots in order to protest the construction of a new coal-burning electric plant in Ashkelon. Celebrities can often use their star power for good, such as drawing attention to a worthy cause. About a year ago, Lebanese celebrities made a statement about transportation by biking down a green carpet […]
The Green Abu Dhabi Art Show will soon be using one of the world’s universal languages – art – to spread the message of environmentalism. The color green will have a different artistic meaning at the Green Abu Dhabi Art Show starting this Wednesday (October 13th). Instead of referring to the artists’ color palettes, it […]
Science journalist Babak Tafreshi creates night photography club. While many people concern themselves with what gas fields “belong” to them, or who really has rights to the Nile River, Babak Tafreshi gazes at the night sky – a wholly more unified place. This perspective has led the young Science Journalist to reflect on the foolishness […]
Glass art installation in Abu Dhabi generates inspiration and energy in one fell swoop Studied Impact in Abu Dhabi came to our attention when they publicized a power plant they designed that doubles as a residence. The firm comprises a dynamic couple, architect and artist, who merge their environmental concern with creativity in very interesting […]
Members of Vertigo dance troupe in Israel have set up a dance studio in old chicken coops on Kibbutz Netiv HaLamed Hey. In most places it’s a 1958 Hitchcock movie, or a word to describe a dizzy sort of feeling, but in Israel, Vertigo is a world-renowned dance troupe that was founded in Jerusalem about […]
Celebrate an alternative and dance-themed Shavuot at Vertigo Dance Company’s Eco-Arts Village. [image via: avinatan] If you’re a vegetarian (or a vegawarian), Shavuot may be one of your favorite holidays. During Shavuot you traditionally eat dairy (and lots of it), so the main meal is a vegetarian. But if you’re lactose intolerant, that’s no fun […]
An Israeli bank tries to sell “green mortgages” with installation exhibit on busy boulevard. As part of their campaign to sell “green mortgages” (in other words, mortgages for homes built with environmentally friendly construction or for financing the installation of solar home energy systems), Bank Hapoalim has sponsored an exhibition of futuristic green homes along […]
Islamic wall art and greeting cards, with religious intonations in line with green values in Islam. Sakina Design‘s logo is green not only because the company creates Islamic design and green is an important color for Islam. Their logo is green because they are an environmentally conscious business… for partially religious reasons. The husband and […]
Premature babies must gain a certain amount of weight before they can leave hospital. Listening to Mozart could help, finds a new Middle East research study. Studies show that listening to music composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in the 18th century has a positive effect on the brain of developing babies. Now a new study […]
Dancing on water and the black water of “oil” Trout looks at a society’s transformation. Inbal Pinto and Avshalom Pollak’s latest dance piece, Trout, which will be performed at the Suzanne Dellal Centre in Tel Aviv for one week only (December 5 – 12) reveals yet another aspect of the creative pair’s ongoing relationship to […]
Making arks and art out of trash kids collect. This “Noah’s Ark” sculpture above is part of an environmental community project run by Haggit Rich of SafsaPesel in Israel. In her workshops, groups make usable sculptures for kindergartens, schools and parks. Once Rich and the children decide on a project, they collect materials such old […]