Jerusalem-USA: Jerusalem, Vermont 2

25 August 2009

Jerusalem, Vermont 2

Named Jerusalem because it is at the same altitute as the Holy City in Israel

When I read on Ralph de la Portilla’s Facebook wall that he was going to an Arts Festival in Burlington, Vermont, and visiting his sister who lives there, I wrote back: “Ralph, it would be great if you could drive from Burlington to Jerusalem, Vermont, and photograph it for my blogart site http://jerusalem-usa.blogspot.com/.” He agreed. Two immigrants from Venezuela, a mother and daughter, accompanied him on his drive up into the mountains to reach Jerusalem.

When they arrived at Jerusalem (part of South Starksboro), Ralph spoke to a couple who live on Harlow Drive at the junction of Jerusalem Road who explained that it was named Jerusalem because it is at the same altitude above sea level as the Holy City in Israel. There was an abandoned boat resting in the yard.

Jerusalem, Vermont, consists of Jerusalem Road and two roads that intersect it (Harlow Drive and Russell Young Road). These three roads are lined with houses, the Jerusalem Corners Country Store, a Chevron station, a bed and breakfast, a few abandoned buildings, a cemetery, and a one-room schoolhouse built in 1874. Ralph wrote: “The young lady attending the country store said that her father went to school at the one-room schoolhouse down the street where Jerusalem Road meets Vermont Route 17. The large side door of schoolhouse is actually a volunteer fire station!”

About the photographer: Ralph de la Portilla is a native Miamian who earned his BFA degree in theater at New World School of the Arts in Miami in 1992 during the years I was dean of visual arts there.

See Jerusalem, Vermont 04 June 2009 posting for images of Russell Young Bed and Breakfast matched with images of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, Israel.

Mel Alexenberg

As an artist, my conceptual, environmental, and digital artworks have been seen by millions and are represented in the collections of more than forty museums worldwide. As an educator in USA, I am former art professor at Columbia University, head of the art department at Pratt Institute, dean at New World School of the Arts in Miami, and reseach fellow at MIT's Center for Advanced Visual Studies. In Israel, I taught at Bar-Ilan, Ariel and Tel Aviv universities and at Emunah College and Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design. As a writer, my most recent books are: 'Through a Bible Lens: Biblical Insights for Smartphone Photography and Social Media,' 'Photograph God: Creating a Spiritual Blog of Your Life,' 'The Future of Art in a Postdigital Age: From Hellenistic to Hebraic Consciousness,' 'Educating Artists for the Future: Learning at the Intersections of Art, Science, Technology, and Culture' and 'Dialogic Art in a Digital World: Judaism and Contemporary Art' (in Hebrew). I live in Ra'anana, Israel, with my wife artist Miriam Benjamin. website: www.melalexenberg.com

Jerusalem-USA

From Jerusalem in Israel to JerUSAlems in USA

'This city of Jerusalem I have set in the midst of nations, with other countries round about her.' (Ezekiel 5:5)

JerUSAlem-USA is a participatory art project that links the twenty Jerusalems in the United States with the original Jerusalem in Israel. There are Jerusalems in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Maryland, Michigan, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Utah, and Vermont.

The name of the American Jerusalems was inspired by the Bible where we read about King David establishing Jerusalem as the capital of the unified state of the Israelite nation more than 3,000 years ago. Today, Jerusalem is the vibrant capital of the modern State of Israel.

ON PARTICIPATORY ART

JerUSAlem-USA is a participatory artwork in which the artist invites the people in USA join with him in creating a collaborative work of art. Unlike the solitary role of the visual artist in his studio, the role of the artist in a networked world is shifting to becoming more like the role of playwright/producer/director in theater and film, composer/conductor in music and choreographer in dance.

In her book The Reenchantment of Art, Suzi Gablik proposes, “a new paradigm of participation in which art will begin to redefine itself in terms social relatedness…encouraging the emergence of a more participatory, social interactive framework for art, and supporting the transition from art-for-art’s-sake assumptions of late modernism.”

As the artist of ‘JerUSAlem-USA,” I create the conceptual framework, craft the score/script, and form a team of collaborators who together under my baton bring into being an aesthetic work of participatory art.

The significance of participatory art in our networked world is explored in depth in Mel Alexenberg's books Through a Bible Lens: Biblical Insights for Smartphone Photography and Social Media (Elm Hill/HarperCollins), and The Future of Art in a Postdigital Age: From Hellenistic to Hebraic Consciousness and Educating Artists for the Future: Learning at the Intersections of Art, Science, Technology and Culture (both published by Intellect Books/University of Chicago Press).