The top of Mount Scopus offers an idyllic picturesque view of Jerusalem: from the outskirts of its new neighborhoods in the west to the Dead Sea in the east, through the famous historical sites in the Old City – Jerusalem looks like a postcard, a heavenly and dreamy city. At the same time, this city also holds a tangled web of historical, social, religious, and political complexities that shadow its residents and admirers. It seems that Jerusalem has always existed simultaneously on two levels: Jerusalem Above and Jerusalem Below.

Every year, Manofim Festival initiates an art project in a unique site in Jerusalem,wishing to turn the spotlight on the seamlines that traverse it. On the Festival’s ninth year, we wanted to step aside from the heart of the storms that blow through the city and look at it from a different perspective. The Jerusalem Center of Brigham Young University on Mount Scopus, which opened its gates to us, is the ideal site for this goal. Its harmoniously symmetrical terraced building, and the well kempt gardens around it, are a green and calm enclave that seems to hover above its environs, and at the same time merge with it. The visitor is invited to let his gaze wander through each gate and window that frame the panoramic landscape and through the artworks featured in the exhibition – to look from one mountain to another, cross the line between Jerusalem Above and Jerusalem Below, ascend along spiritual steps, look directly at the charged city, or even further down, to the bowels of the earth.

Curators: Rinat Edelstein, Lee He Shulov, and Tamar Manor Friedman

Associate curator and production manager: Netta Assaf

Artists: Nelly Agassi, Maya Attoun, Nivi Alroy, Oren Eliav, Sharon Poliakine, Hadas Satt, Peleg Dishon, Reuven Zehavi, Daniel Kiczales, Maya Muchawsky Parnas, Haim Parnas, Haimi Fenichel, Gabi Kricheli, David Behar Perahia, Raanan Harlap, Hadassa Goldvicht