Kikar Levana (White Square)

Dani Karavan

1977–1988

Image

Concrete sculpture featuring a pyramid, water channel, tower with wind flutes, and a dome with olive tree in center set in a field. — *Kikar Levana* is an environmental sculpture in Tel Aviv, located on a hill in Edith Wolfson Park. Commissioned to commemorate the builders of the city, its simple geometrical shapes and white concrete pay particular homage to the many Bauhaus buildings (and their architects) that have led to Tel Aviv sometimes being called “The White City.” Among the builders honored by the sculpture is Karavan’s own father, who was the city’s landscape architect for many decades. Integral to the design is the surrounding environment, including wind, sun, birdsong, sand, and an olive tree. Aspects of this structure can be seen in his Passages, Homage to Walter Benjamin.

Credits

Photo by Avi Hay. Courtesy of the artist.

Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 10.

Passages, Homage to Walter Benjamin

Passages is a memorial in Portbou, Spain, created by Karavan to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the death of cultural critic and philosopher Walter Benjamin. Benjamin committed suicide in Portbou…

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Psalm

Veritas sequitur . . . In the small beauty of the forest The wild deer bedding down— That they are there! Their eyes Effortless, the soft lips Nuzzle and the alien small teeth Tear at the grass T…

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Ceramic handle with impression of stylized two-winged figure and Hebrew inscription.

Lamelekh Seal Impression with Winged Sun Disk

Many of the seal impressions, with the inscription lamelekh “(Belonging, or pertaining) to the king,” followed by the name of a city, feature a two-winged figure, probably a winged sun disk…

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Creator Bio

The son of the chief landscape architect of Tel Aviv, Dani Karavan began designing site-specific environmental sculptures in Israel in the early 1960s. In 1976, he represented Israel at the Venice Biennale with a work from his series, Environments for Peace. Since then, he has created large-scale environmental sculptures around the world. Among his most notable projects are Passages, Homage to Walter Benjamin (Portbou, Spain, 1990–1994) and The Way of Peace (between Israel and Egypt, 1996–2000). Karavan earned the Israel Prize (1977) and Japan’s Praemium Imperiale Art Prize (1998).