BGU Launches Campus Sculpture Project
BGU Launches Campus Sculpture Project
June 25, 2014
Leadership, Awards & Events, Press Releases
Anyone planning on visiting BGU’s Marcus Family Campus is sure to notice a spectacular sight; several sculptures have brought new life and majesty to the campus.
So far, two sculptures, designed and built by Ofra Zimbalista, have been constructed, but they are just the first in a series of 11 sculptures meant to immerse on-lookers in a history of Israeli sculpture over the last three decades.
One of Zimbalista’s sculptures serves as a welcome to the University. It stands in front of the Zalman Aranne Central Library and is titled “The Choir.” It depicts five people holding songbooks and communicating in sign language. The characters sign the words, “love”, “home”, and “straight and narrow”.
The other sculpture is of a scientist who is scaling the walls of the W.A. Minkoff Senate Hall, while three other figures ascend the Cukier, Goldstein-Goren Building for Humanities and Sciences carrying musical instruments. The scientist is only one step away from reaching the top.
The project is an initiative of BGU’s president, Prof. Rivka Carmi, and Prof. Haim Maor from the Department of the Arts, who serves as art advisor to the University. BGU sent a call for designs to sculptors all across Israel.
Numerous proposals were presented to a panel of seven judges who selected Zimbalista and nine other well recognized sculptors to decorate the campus.
They include: Sigalit Landau, Ya’acov Dorchin, the late Buki Schwartz, David Payne, Bernie Fink, Ilan Averbuch, Zvika Kantor, and Sasha Serber.
Upon completion of the project at the Marcus Family Campus, BGU plans to begin a similar art adventure on its new North Campus.
ABOUT AMERICANS FOR BEN-GURION UNIVERSITY
By supporting a world-class academic institution that not only nurtures the Negev, but also shares its expertise locally and globally, Americans for Ben-Gurion University engages a community of Americans who are committed to improving the world. David Ben-Gurion envisioned that Israel’s future would be forged in the Negev. The cutting-edge research carried out at Ben-Gurion University drives that vision by sustaining a desert Silicon Valley, with the “Stanford of the Negev” at its center. The Americans for Ben-Gurion University movement supports a 21st century unifying vision for Israel by rallying around BGU’s remarkable work and role as an apolitical beacon of light in the Negev desert.
About Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev embraces the endless potential we have as individuals and as a commonality to adapt and to thrive in changing environments. Inspired by our location in the desert, we aim to discover, to create, and to develop solutions to dynamic challenges, to pose questions that have yet to be asked, and to push beyond the boundaries of the commonly accepted and possible.
We are proud to be a central force for inclusion, diversity and innovation in Israel, and we strive to extend the Negev’s potential and our entrepreneurial spirit throughout the world. For example, the multi-disciplinary School for Sustainability and Climate Change at BGU leverages over 50 years of expertise on living and thriving in the desert into scalable solutions for people everywhere.
BGU at a glance:
20,000 students | 800 senior faculty | 3 campuses | 6 faculties: humanities & social sciences, health sciences, engineering sciences, natural sciences, business & management, and desert research.
For all press inquiries, please contact:
James Fattal, J Cubed Communications
516.289.1496
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