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72 Hours in Jerusalem

72 Hours in Jerusalem

To most people, Jerusalem is known as a travel destination because of the many holy sites located there. The Western Wall, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the Dome of the Rock and other well-known historical sites are the biggest draws however there is also a thriving contemporary art scene in Jerusalem that is too often overlooked. We’ve compiled this 72 hour guide for those looking to explore another side of the holy city. Visit these insider haunts in real life with Oh So Arty guide and founder of Contemporary Art in Jerusalem Jenna Romano on an art tour.

Jenna Romano (right) with artist Sivan Pais in front of her work

Jenna Romano (right) with artist Sivan Pais in front of her work

The start to any good getaway is finding the right accommodations. If you’re in search of a more modern space check out Jerusalem’s latest boutique hotel Villa Brown. While staying at Villa Brown treat yourself to cocktails at the fashionable underground Cave Bar that was previously a water cistern in the 19th century. Jerusalem is full of chic boutique hotels and one of our current favorites is The American Colony Hotel which is located near the city center. It has a rich history with previous guests including Lawrence of Arabia, Winston Churchill and Bob Dylan. A stone’s throw from the walls of the Old City is the luxurious Mamilla Hotel which boasts an indoor swimming pool, a relaxing spa and a rooftop restaurant with breath-taking views of Jerusalem.

The American Colony Hotel

The American Colony Hotel

Nearby the Mamilla hotel is the cosmopolitan Alrov Mamilla Avenue which is lined with shops. This open air street mall has a lot of great retail options that are enjoyed by both tourists and locals. For an authentic shopping experience we also recommend the old city bazaar. The bazaar in the Arab Quarter has a really unique feel and sells objects equally special. Make sure you’re prepared to barter when shopping in these markets! Shatz Street is one of Jenna’s favorite destinations for shopping. It is located close to the city center and has a mix of European and Middle Eastern influence. We recommend visiting on Fridays when there is a outdoor design market and enjoying a coffee at Cafe Bezalel.

While the Old City is a wealth of history worth exploring it is also often congested with tourists. We prefer to explore off the beaten track in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Musrara. This is currently one of Jenna’s favorite neighborhoods in part because of its diverse demographic, she said the, “residents continue to be linchpins to the more diverse cultural dialogue in Jerusalem.” This unique cultural tapestry can be seen in the beautiful architecture of Musrara which still maintains original Arabic tiles, high ceilings and huge courtyards.

Jenna leading an art tour in Jerusalem

Jenna leading an art tour in Jerusalem

Just outside of Nachlaot is the cutting edge non-profit art space Barbur Gallery founded by a group of Bezalel Art School graduates in 2005. If you are travelling to Jerusalem it’s worth checking out the gallery for their monthly exhibition programs and frequent events such as screenings, workshops and lectures.If you’re interested in learning more about the gallery scene make sure to join local tours with Jenna who can provide insider access to studios, artists spaces and more.

A work by Robert Indiana in the sculpture garden at The Israel Museum

A work by Robert Indiana in the sculpture garden at The Israel Museum

You cannot fully experience the artistic side of Jerusalem without a visit to the largest cultural institution in Israel, The Israel Museum which was founded in 1965 and has unparalleled collections of art and archaeology. In addition to historic artifacts like the Dead Sea Scrolls the museum also hosts frequent exhibitions of modern and contemporary art including shows such as Ai Wei Wei and Zoya Cherkassky. One of the museum’s highlights is the stunning sculpture garden designed by famous Japanese sculptor Isamu Noguchi which features the work of international artists like Sol Lewitt, Donald Judd and Pablo Piccaso. After a long day of touring Jenna recommends grabbing some hummus at Hummus Lina and a drink at the chic Zuta Cocktail Bar.

Zuta cocktail bar

Zuta cocktail bar

In between visiting these arty destinations you can be sure to stay satiated with all the amazing culinary options available to you. The best destination to get a true taste of Jerusalem is the famous Mahane Yehuda Market, Jerusalem’s massive outdoor food market with all the best local fare. Jenna recommends venturing a few steps beyond the beaten path onto HaEshkol Street for the open market and a more authentic experience. She said, “Between HaEshkol St. and Beit Yaakov St., and every corner in between, this small area contains local gems—a variety of delicious street food, gourmet restaurants, dessert options and hip bars.”

Food off the market. Photo by Mushkie Haskelevich

Food off the market. Photo by Mushkie Haskelevich

Jenna’s insider tip is to visit Gan HaPaamon (Liberty Bell Park) that is often overlooked by tourists. While you’re enjoying the greenery look for the ten sculptures hidden throughout the park. You will find works by local and international artists such as Henry Moore, Igael Tumarkin, and Israel HaDany.

The best way to conclude your stay in Jerusalem is with an evening at the Jerusalem Artists’ House. It is located in a historic stone building that was formerly the home of the Bezalel Academy for Arts and Design. Since 1965 the Jerusalem Artists’ House has hosted exhibitions of both Israeli and international artists and other activities. Once you’ve had your fill of local and international artwork visit the on-site restaurant, Mona Restaurant. Explore it all with us on an Oh So Arty tour!

The Jerusalem Artist’s House and Mona Restaurant

The Jerusalem Artist’s House and Mona Restaurant

March Art Guide - Jerusalem

March Art Guide - Jerusalem

Visiting Jerusalem in March? You will find no lack of thought-provoking and diverse exhibitions to choose from among the local galleries and museums as we get ready for Spring in the holy city. Continue reading to discover three shows not be missed in Jerusalem and click here to learn more about our experiences in the Jerusalem art scene!


Exhibition: Manifesto

Artist: Julian Rosefelt

Venue:The Israel Museum, Ruppin Blvd.13.

Dates: Until November 2nd, 2019

About the exhibition: What is a Manifesto? It can defined as a declaration of a belief, usually combined with a call for action. In Julian Rosenfeld’s multi-screen installation, the artist revisits some of the most important artistic manifestos of the 20th century using a contemporary lense and a superstar performer, Cate Blanchett. Blanchett recites monologues which are based on the foundational texts of various art movements like Dada, Surrealism, etc., embodying different characters in a diversity of settings.

Manifesto Israel Museum Image by Elie Posner

Manifesto Israel Museum
Image by Elie Posner

Exhibition: B-Side A Heroine

Artist: Various, curated by Cornelia Renz.

Venue: New Gallery Teddy Stadium, Gate 22

Dates: Until March 18

The charged group exhibition B-Side A Heroine features the works of twelve Israeli and German female artists who reshape the feminist narrative in their art works. The female figures depicted in these works are powerful, complex and aggressive women, embodying the ‘B-Side’ to the idealistic heroine that we are used to seeing in our ideas of the ‘real women’. Spanning video, performance, painting and site-specific installations,the exhibition offers a moving alternative point of view.

Bside A Heroine, Nezaket Ekici, “Short But Painful”, video performance 2017-2018.  Image by Shai Halevi

Bside A Heroine, Nezaket Ekici, “Short But Painful”, video performance 2017-2018.
Image by Shai Halevi

Exhibition: Legitimacy of Landscape

Artist: Yaakov Israel

Venue: Museum for Islamic Art, HaPalmach St. 2

Dates: Until April 27

Culminating 16 years of the artist’s work, Yaakov Israel presents The Legitimacy of Landscape, a photography exhibition that presents socio-political landscapes of Israel and its territories. Yaakov Israel’s large scale photographs are striking, focused and hyper-realistic, opening windows towards a view that is often forgotten in Israel and providing visitors with an experience that can be likened to standing in the place of the photographer himself. Israel used a technique similar to that used by landscape photography in the 19th century, simultaneously paying homage to the history of photography. Not only politically important, The Legitimacy of Landscape is breathtaking and literally opens one eyes to new points of view and the vitality of the camera.

Yaakov Israel from the Legitimacy of Lanscape.jpg

Learn more about Oh So Arty in Jerusalem here or book a tour here!

January Art Guide - Jerusalem

January Art Guide - Jerusalem

Starting the new year with some really interesting, eclectic and educational new exhibitions in Jerusalem! Don’t miss these three shows which span a wide variety of mediums, artists and ideas. Experience the Jerusalem art scene on an Oh So Arty tour.

I.

Exhibition: Placeless: Following Jacqueline Kahanoff

Artist: Group Show

Venue: Musrara New Gallery, HaAyin Het St. 9

Dates: Until February 24th

Part of Musrara’s Photopoetics event which spans three exhibitions connecting visual arts with prolific Israeli literary works, Placeless: Following Jacqueline Kahanoff, follows the writing and thought of Jacqueline Kahanoff, focusing on the search for identity in the Mediterranean expanse, while looking at notions of Eastern and Western, antagonism versus fluidity and hybridity, belonging and not belonging. A writer and essayist, Kahanoff sought to define multiculturalism as a world view and a way of living, long before the postmodern discourse. Alongside Kahanoff’s texts, the artists who were invited to participate in the exhibition explore, each in his or her own way, the possibility of presenting a personal voice and the ability to capture memory and cultural identity.

Image: Dafna Shalom, “Press Plants (Book of Exodus), photograph, 2018.

Image: Dafna Shalom, “Press Plants (Book of Exodus), photograph, 2018.

II.

Exhibition: Victory Over The Sun: Russian Avant Garde and Beyond

Artist: Group Show

Venue: Israel Museum, Ruppin Blvd. 12

Dates: Until July 2019.

The first comprehensive exhibition on the subject in Israel, Victory Over The Sun will explore avant-garde trends in Russian art during the 20th century. Beginning with Kazimir Malevich’s radical revolution in art prior to the year 1920, the exhibition emphasizes his Suprematist period and its significant influence on generations of prominent artists up to the present day. This is followed by an exploration of Nonconformist Art that emerged after Stalin's death, and the exhibition’s epilogue addresses the legacy of each of these movements in the works of contemporary artists, highlighting the continuity of the avant-garde tradition.

Image: Pavel Pepperstein, El Lizzitzky’s Autostrada in the Alps in 2401, watercolor on paper, 2017.

Image: Pavel Pepperstein, El Lizzitzky’s Autostrada in the Alps in 2401, watercolor on paper, 2017.

III.

Exhibition: Carry That Weight

Artist: Group Show

Venue: Jerusalem Artists’ House

Dates: Until March 9th.

The exhibition Carry that Weight explores the image of a youth carrying an animal on his shoulders, regarding the image as something which passes from hand to hand, like a commodity or a currency that crosses worlds, cultures, and periods, and changes meanings and contents. The works of the 21 participating Israeli artists extend from the 1950s to the present and introduce a lively dialogue with the image, bifurcating into diverse narratives. The works range from the shepherd figure to father-son relations, through allusions to the Sacrifice of Isaac portraying death and bereavement, as well as different representations of masculinity -- other works allude to feminine aspects, as well as to different types of burdens and the implications of the carried load on the body.

Image: Galia Pasternak, Plenty, Love, Rachel, oil on canvas, pastels and ink on paper, 2013

Image: Galia Pasternak, Plenty, Love, Rachel, oil on canvas, pastels and ink on paper, 2013

Learn more about Oh So Arty in Jerusalem here or book a tour here!

October Art Guide - Jerusalem

October Art Guide - Jerusalem

October brings with it many new exhibitions and the last chance to see some great ones that are already on view in Jerusalem! Check out our Jerusalem insider, Jenna Romano's recommendations of what to see right now.

I.

Exhibition: Lifetime

Artist: Christian Boltanski

Venue: The Israel Museum

Dates: Until November 3rd

Israel Museum Lifetime  | Lifetime draws on Christian Boltanski’s oeuvre spanning thirty years, but the artist regards this exhibition as one artwork, a complete story composed of successive chapters: his early altar memorials to unknown people; large-scale installations addressing the subject of fate; and recent video works filmed in primal landscapes and charged with the power of myth. The journey through the exhibition proposes an itinerary that begins in darkness but leads to light, solace, and perhaps even the possibility of a new beginning.

Eyes, 2013, Printed fabrics, light bulbs, © Boltanski Christian.jpg


II.

Exhibition: The Jerusalem Show IX

Artists: Various Artists

Venue: The Al’Mamal Foundation for Contemporary Art

Dates: Until October 31

The Jerusalem is an initiative of The Al’Mamal Foundation for Contemporary Art, organized in the old city, the event encompasses art exhibitions, performances, workshops, talks and film screenings. This year’s theme, Jerusalem Actual and Possible prompts curators and artists to use research in order to explore the history and present of Palestinian art in Jerusalem - mining collections, archives and institutions accessible from the city that will questions Jerusalem’s where, how and when.

The Jerusalem Show .jpg


III.

Exhibition: Manofim Contemporary Art Festival

Artist: Various Artists

Venue: Various Venues

Dates: October 23-27

For the tenth year, the Manofim festival brings together all of Jerusalem’s art world for one night. Notable events for this week include: a night of exhibition openings around the city (Manofim hires shuttles to take visitors through all neighborhoods of Jerusalem!), artist appointments where visitors spend 45 minutes one-on-one with local artists inside their studios (registration required), and a full day art conference (registration required). The festival’s main exhibition is titled Properties, and will be held in several buildings throughout the Talbiyeh neighborhood of Jerusalem - both private home and public buildings - where the exhibitions will introduce questions about the reexamination of each multi-faceted space whose residents may have come to see as mundane and banal.

Manofim.jpg

For more information on Oh So Arty in Jerusalem please click here.

February Art Guide - Jerusalem

February Art Guide - Jerusalem

Recommendations of what to see in the Jerusalem art scene this month by our local guide, Jenna Romano. Discover even more on a private tour.

I.

Exhibition: Form the Light, And Create Darkness
Artist: Israel Rabinovitz
Venue: Jerusalem Artists’ House
Dates: February 3 - April 7 2018


I have not yet been, but for anyone who is living in or visiting Israel, I think it’s important to learn about and challenge the ethos of Israeli Zionist culture. Using raw materials - ‘souvenirs’ made from olive wood, ancient loca fragments, rusty relics, etc. - Rabinovitz introduces questions about locale and localism, about the symbolic meanings of real and fabricated archaeology and about the validity of Israeli rituals in social and cultural contexts.  

IMAGE Israel Rabinovitz, "No Title", 2013, mixed media. 

IMAGE Israel Rabinovitz, "No Title", 2013, mixed media. 

II.

Exhibition: Feminine Aggressiveness: A Work in Progress
Artist: Lecture by Shir Aloni Arari
Venue: Art Cube Artists Studios
Date: February 12,  2018. 


There is what seems to be a perennial dissonance between the words ‘female’ and ‘empowered’. Often looked upon as unnatural, females who exhibit external aggressiveness are perceived as extreme and ‘masculine’ - but there is a trending reformulation of the complex representations of female empowerment. This lecture will look at examples from pop culture and contemporary art, touching of questions of gender power relations, maternal ambivalence, education and initiation, aggressive and creative impulses.

 IMAGE: South, Sharon Polianke, etching on metal plate.

 IMAGE: South, Sharon Polianke, etching on metal plate.

III.

Exhibition: On The Corner of HaNeviim and Shivtei Israel
Artist: Sharon Polianke
Venue: Jerusalem Print Workshop
Dates: On view until February 28, 2018.


This exhibition is really an ode to the art of printmaking. Sharon Polianke, a masterful printmaker currently living in Tel Aviv, turns the print workshop into a map and archaeological site that pays tribute to the location of the gallery itself. Using a variety of printing techniques, Polianke exhibits work that evoke themes of history and memory, but also allude the the techniques themselves and the artists own love for the medium - ultimately linking the collective and historical with the mental and the personal. 

IMAGE Attack of the 50 Foot Woman, Theatrical release poster, by Reynold Brown


IMAGE Attack of the 50 Foot Woman, Theatrical release poster, by Reynold Brown