The Jerusalem Season of Culture is delighted to present (again):

BALABASTA

Culture in the Market

Three Sundays in August

Made in Mahane Yehuda

August 5, August 12, August 19

Between 5:00pm-11:00pm

Entrance is free!

Settler reggae, Hebrew-Arabic-gibberish rap, sculptures made of products from the shuk, market-specific video screenings, Indian songs, and celebrations that go on into the night on Sunday in Mahane Yehuda—the best, busiest and tastiest market in the country.

Balabasta returns once again to the Mahane Yehuda, turning the shuk into an exciting happening of culture and creativity. The first "Balabasta" hit the alleyways three years ago, integrating more than 100 sculptors, musicians, performers, actors and other artists into Jerusalem's most colorful commercial center. The events evolved in dialogue with the market's vendors, local residents, community center and the municipality, and turned "Balabasta" into one of the symbols of the market's renewal. Tens of thousands of visitors flocked to the market each week to enjoy a wide range of cultural activities in the alleyways, on the roof tops, and between the market stalls. It brought together a unique mix of artists, cucumbers, actors, meat, dancers, tomatoes, singers, nuts, screenings and parsley….

What will you hear there? Reggae by settlers who have returned to the faith, Hebrew-Arabic-gibberish rap, Amharic poetry, Anglo Saxon blues, Klezmer, shofar blowers and more……What will you see? That depends on what there is on offer that day: in previous years, we saw sculptures made out of produce crates, portraits designed from jelly candies and lentils, actors behind stalls, dancers on the roof tops, and more….this year's celebrations will get a boost from the a series of site-specific artistic projects, including: a video art documentation of the market and its unique personalities by director Bizi Goldberg (Sundance winner for the Rule of Law), light installations, roof top performances, and many more surprises. The event is produced in collaboration with the Marker Merchants' Committee.

So what is in Balabasta this year?

Music:

"The Sounds of the Shuk"—the voices, instruments, melodies, and musicians who made the market dance and sing over the last two years of Balabasta events are coming together on one album. Finally, you can take a little piece of Mahane Yehuda with you everywhere you go in an eclectic collection of multiple languages, a range of instruments, and a selection of musical genres from all over the world.

photographer Snir Kazir

A special production for Balabasta 2012.

Bizi Goldberg: A screenwriter, director and producer (his last film, "The Rule of Law" was selected as the best film at the Sundance Festival), Bizi has spent the last two years researching Mahane Yehuda, running photography workshops in the market, and exhibiting in a galleries in the surrounding neighborhood of Nachlaot. Last year, Bizi created an exhibition for Balabasta, entitled, Can't Live with You or without You, a video installation featuring portraits of Machane Yehuda merchants and comments written in their own handwriting. The work which, was shown on large screens throughout the market, was a sensation. This year, Goldberg takes it up a notch, including a larger group of merchants, using more sophisticated photography and highlighting techniques. He calls the work, Under the Market—a tapestry of the shuk's hidden voices. Visitors will be treated to amazing, close-up footage screened in slow-motion, which turns daily activities in the market (arranging merchandise, "unloading" chickens, baking bread….) into a work of art.

Yoram Amir: Photographer, revolutionary, activist, former chairman of the Merchants' Committee, and owner of the Tower and Story Museum and the Shodedai Yam gallery, Amir has been researching the market for the last thirty years though photographs, portraits, and historical film footage. This year, he discovered a worrisome statistic: "In 1990, there were 80 tomato stalls in the market. Today, there are only 30." Amir will concentrate his work in the Georgian section of the shuk, which he will turn into a large exhibition of window frames that he has been collecting for years from abandoned, historical buildings, and on which he exhibits historical portraits, old films and contemporary photographs. The exhibition will document the market's contribution to the city.

Higher and higher: One of our goals is to get people to look up, at the buildings that surround the market and not just at the stalls themselves. Over the last two years, we created a large stage on one of market roof top and a range of other roof top exhibits to complement the market's skyline. This year, the rooftop activity will be upgraded with light installations, video screenings and special construction that will be displayed on the buildings in the market area.

Artistic Director, Balabasta: Kobi Frig, Ido Levitt