In Which We Have A Strange Tour of Jerusalem

[debka_notion]

Yesterday was one of our "experiential learning" program days- we have those on some Thursdays, although apparently the next 3 or 4 weeks we have it in a row.  This week's program was a tour of Jerusalem with a guide who is an anarchist wedding photographer and artist.  His main points were how modern architecture is ruining Jerusalem's beauty, and how he and his friends are making their points through the use of graffiti.  Apparently you can't build a building that fits with Jerusalem without arched windows- and the mark of a good building is that it has exciting and varied windows.  I certainly don't disagree that in many ways older buildings can be more aesthetically pleasing than modern ones (heck, my apartment is in pretty darn ugly building).  However, I also understand that people need places to live and places in which to work, and aesthetics do cost. 

What really angered me (well, the first thing that angered me, besides how this gentleman made the same points with the same words, over and over again with nothing new interested) was that he kept putting his point in terms of "making love to the city", which while might have had a nice shock value once, became sort of obscene and disturbing over time.  Furthermore, taking it a bit farther, if you're talking about loving a city, then isn't talking only about its exteriors not really love?  He kept talking about buildings as being a bride's jewelry, and put it in terms of "what happens if you give a bride cheap jewelry", which frustrated me from a feminist perspective- as if women only care about jewelry, and they think that the point of getting married is to get fancy stuff.  I know it was only a metaphor- but the metaphor gives you a sense of the underlying assumptions someone has, sometimes. 

The whole thing just felt very superficial and all about appearances.  Our guide talked about how putting up pretty buildings would mean that everyone would get to enjoy them- even the people who weren't rich enough to live in them.  And I imagine that that has some validity.  However, it fails to think about the fact that money that goes to building snazzy buildings also can't go towards making the lives of people better.  It felt a little like he was advocating giving Jerusalem, the city he claims to love so much, lace curtains to hide the empty homes behind them (thanks go to my high school American Studies program for this metaphor- it's something we learned about what Irish immigrants to the USA would do when they came over, because they often couldn't afford to buy furniture).  

I'm not trying to claim that aesthetics have no value- I'd disagree with that also.  However, it can't be the only value, and this tour just felt so one-sided that nothing else about the realities of this city got any play time, and those are things that I'd really like to hear about and learn a little about. 

Comments

[gimmelgirl.livejournal.com]

I find this interesting because lately in Jerusalem the trend is to building giant luxury residents for wealthy americans to live in for a couple months a year. They then sit vacant, creating a ghost town and pricing regular Jerusalemites out of the neighborhood. It's the worst kind of gentrification out there. Some of the buildings are pretty, but over the top. I hate them and what they stand for - wealthy American vacationers.

[debka-notion.livejournal.com]

Apparently this guy thought they were ok, except that they were ugly. The idea of owning an apartment somewhere and not living in it or renting it out sounds pretty absurd to me- irresponsible, even if nothing worse- and given the economic effects that you and others tell me about (I don't know enough about it to figure anything out on my own on the topic), well, I can agree that it's pretty despicable.

[(Anonymous)]

Paul & I enjoy the concept of an artistic anarchist wedding photographer. Having met with a whole bunch of wedding photographers lately, maybe we'd all be better off with one who is anarchistic rather than trite & conventional. And I'd like to see this dude screw a whole bunch of buildings.
Alice

[qianian.livejournal.com]

Having seen hordes of tourists during my time in San Francisco, my impression is most tourists (from all over the world) haven't a clue or interest in the significant people, politics, and histories of their hosts. I would be really interested to see more tours like Danu, which focus not on the hotel-contracting industry but on genuine interest in and respect toward the culture of a place.