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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Painting featuring human figure next to candelabra.

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In the 1980s, during the AIDS epidemic, Bleckner began creating artworks that explored death, loss, and sadness. His dark and moody canvases included objects, such as urns, vases, and chandeliers…

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Sculpture of a man standing over a boy lying on his back.

Segal’s sculptural representation of the Akedah, the biblical story of Abraham’s near-sacrifice of his son Isaac, raised eyebrows when it was first exhibited. His irreverent depiction of Abraham as a…

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Creator Bio

Dani Karavan

1930–2021

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).