Jerusalem Design Week took place at Hansen House in Jerusalem under the theme “Runaway Circus”. Among the exhibitions was a series of “escape rooms” designed by students and graduates from various academic institutions.

Three Shenkar graduates presented their escape room at Design Week: Ofer Asaf (graduate of the master’s degree in design for engineers and the Department of Polymer Materials Engineering), and Tair Almor and Iddo Charny (graduates of the Department of Industrial Design). Their project was an installation called “A-Sharanu”: an artificial nature preserve that is also a temporary monument or temple to a forest that has disappeared. The work is based on Ofer Asaf’s graduate project, which he created during his master’s degree in design, and which was supervised by professor Alex Padwa and Merav Perez.

The coronavirus pandemic forced us into social isolation – from both our human friends and our old friends the trees. Now that the pandemic is over, where are the trees?

Until the 19th century, the area between the Yarkon River and the slopes of the Northern Carmel mountains was covered by a vast oak forest. The forested area was known in Hebrew as “the Sharon” – a word derived from the Akkadian “A-Sharanu”, translated literally as “dense forest”. The deforestation of the area began during the reign of Ibrahim Pasha in the 19th century, when oaks were felled for use in heating and construction. Later, during World War I, more oaks were razed to fuel train engines. During the period of Jewish settlement in the area, the orchards planted over the loam hills have prevented any possible rehabilitation of the forest.

Since then, vague fragments of memory from that ancient forest have taken the form of groves and trees scattered around the Sharon region. Their presence is a reminder of destruction and exploitation but also of responsibility and hope – an ambivalence characterizing the human-nature relationship in our era.

Presented at Jerusalem Design Week, A-Sharanu is an artificial nature preserve that is also a temporary monument or temple. A-Sharanu brings the destruction of the local forest back into public discourse, raising questions about the tension between the natural and the artificial, preservation and progress.

A-Sharanu is an artificial nature preserve, composed of skeletal oak branches placed in glass vials. The vials are scattered over loam soil, and their presence in the space is accompanied by the voices of the surviving trees. Visitors can listen to the voices of the leaves, which have been translated into sound using an algorithm derived from their unique chemical fingerprints. 

Artistic guidance from Shenkar: Professor Yael Moria, dean of the Faculty of Design.

Jerusalem Design Week opened at Hansen House (Gdalyahu Alon Street 14, Jerusalem) on Thursday, July 1st, and closed a week later on July 8th.

צילומים: עופר אסף