Brussels: an exhibition on architecture in Tel Aviv will finally take place

If the cancellation of the exhibition had been maintained (the La Cambre - which has very close links with Bir Zeit University and the Al Kalima College in Bethlehem - still supports the ban), would have constituted the first major political and cultural boycott of the State of Israel in Europe. And it would have happened in Brussels, the capital of Europe, the seat of the European Union institutions.

"BRUSSELS (EJP)---An exhibition on modernistic architecture in Tel Aviv, initially cancelled because of the wish of one of the partners not to take part anymore because of the Gaza events and of the involvement of Israel’s embassy, will be rescheduled later this year.

"Taking into account the still uncertain character of the position of our partner and to safeguard the presence of Brussels in the calendar of the exhibition, we decided to present the exhibition at La Cambre's Architectural Space in Brussels between March 31t and on May 31, 2009," CIVA, the International Center for the City, Architecture and Landscape (CIVA), announced in a statement.

"To formally guarantee the independence of this presentation, it will be organized at the sole initiative of CIVA, apart from any other partnership."

Sponsored by UNESCO and the embassy of Israel in Belgium, the exhibition "The white City, the modern movement in Tel-Aviv" was initially due to take place from February 20th to May 17th in Brussels, in the framework of the centenary of the Israeli city.

But the La Cambre architecture school in Brussels announced earlier this month its withdrawal of the organization of the exhibition featuring modernistic architecture built during the years 1930’s in Tel Aviv.

CIVA took then the decision to cancel the exhibition and to set up a debate on the "complex relations between architecture and politics."

The cancellation drew indignant reactions in the Jewish community which denounced the "political and cultural boycott of Israel.""

Source: article by Sharon Rubinstein in TJP

- Cultural boycott of Israel: Tel Aviv architecture exhibition cancelled in Brussels
Visit the exhibition website: Tel Aviv White City
See also: Tel Aviv, the white city