International Puppet Theater Festival

The 23rd International Puppet Theater Festival , the largest ever to be held in Israel, featuring tens of leading puppeteers from Europe and Israel in a spectacular artistic celebration is being held between August 10-14, 2014 at the Jerusalem Train Theatre and additional cultural centers around Jerusalem including the First Station, the Khan Theatre and the Liberty Bell Garden. Many of the events are free of charge.

The festival showcases 44 different performances, including a variety of events for children and adults, with 12 premieres, six shows from Israel and abroad (France, Spain, Russia, the Netherlands and Slovenia), four adult cabaret shows including musical segments with a theatrical vibe, and over 100 intriguing performances, by tens of leading puppeteers from Europe and Israel.

The festival combines the best of artists and puppeteers from around the world, who will present the innovative and modern trends in their field, such as: integrating new media in the performances, unique shadow theater, movement as expression, imagery and object theater  animation as part of the theater and more. It presents a variety of theatrical techniques by the best of Israeli and international artists. Among the artists participating this year: Neville Tranter, the grand-master of dialogue puppets, performing in the best festivals worldwide, Polina Borisova, a promising young artist from France using puppet theater, masks and an innovative visual language, and Viktor Antonov, grand-master of marionette art, presenting fantastic mechanisms and puppet skills for children- as well as additional artists.


International Arts and Crafts Fair


  Courtesy Israel Ministry of Tourism

Tens of thousands of tourists, visitors and locals are once again expected to flock to the annual International Arts and Crafts Fair in Jerusalem, taking place from August 11-23, 2014 at the foot of the Old City walls. The colorful fair is one of Jerusalem's cultural and tourist highlights, with international art exhibitors from dozens of countries joining 200 Israeli artists and artisans in an open-air extravaganza that included an international food fair, attractions for children, creative workshops, theater, dance and nightly live music.

Artists and artisans will exhibit and sell paintings, ceramics, metalwork, jewelry, textiles and weaving, Judaica, woodwork and more, and by artists from Israel and - in the International Pavilion - from the Far East, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East.  Each evening, visitors can enjoy musical performances by Israel’s top singers on the main stage in Sultan's Pool. In addition, there are other live music and dance performances taking place every evening.


Big Bambú - "5,000 Arms to Hold You"



Courtesy Israel Ministry of Tourism

This summer, American artists and identical twins Doug and Mike Starn transform the landscape of the Israel Museum’s Billy Rose Art Garden with a monumental installation of bamboo and rope, towering 16 meters (52.5 feet) high and covering an area of more than 700 square meters (7,500 square feet). Summer visitors can also experience the work at night as it becomes illuminated with lights on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings.

The artists chose to call their Jerusalem installation "5,000 Arms to Hold You", and it is being activated throughout the summer as visitors are invited to experience the work from within and without, ascending to its uppermost peaks and participating in cultural programming inspired by and performed within and around it. On view in its entirety through October 2014, the tower element that comprises the highest point of "5,000 Arms to Hold You" will remain as a permanent sculptural installation in the Museum’s Garden.

Big Bambú, as the piece is also known, encourages visitors to explore their perception of the world around them from different vantage points throughout its interior. Its title refers to the web of bamboo that embraces visitors and is representative of the myriad connections that contribute to all individuals’ continual states of becoming.

This is the first time that the Starn brothers have been commissioned to develop a work in their signature medium of bamboo in a setting without architectural constraint. The ninth work in the Starns’ Big Bambú series, "5,000 Arms to Hold You" marks the largest and most complex sculptural installation undertaken by the artists to date. Its architecture builds upon the artists’ ongoing investigation of the interconnectedness of life, which serves as a foundational principal and guiding philosophy for their unique approach to making art.