_Ran Chai Bar-Zvi (DEU/ISR), Expat
#A personal Berlin #Israel-Germany #Tourism #'Reise nach Jerusalem'

01.09.13 at 17:00, entrance to the American embassy, Pariser Platz 2, 10117

1 hr, in English
Maximum group size: 25 people

An expatriate (sometimes shortened to expat) is a person temporarily or permanently residing in a country and culture other than that of the person's upbringing. The word comes from the Latin terms ex (”out of”) and patria (”country, fatherland”). As I often go through my daily life in Berlin, I find myself comparing the city with its people, traffic, and culture to my home land; and being one of almost 1,000,000 foreigners in Berlin, I'm sure that many people share the same feeling of living somewhere and experiencing almost every part of it through another place. This dissonance is my (and every other foreigner’s) way to “translate” the city. My Berlin is actually a mixture of the "real" Berlin and my hometown, which is - and probably always will be - my permanent reference point. In my tour I would like to take the audience through an imaginary Berlin. I would like to introduce them to Berlin's sites and tell them about the Israeli site it reminds me of or that I associate it with. For example: the Dead Sea, the “defense” wall, or my grandma's place. The audience will also take part in the “Israeli experience" in Berlin and do typical things which tourists in Israel do (after all, audience members are tourists in “my” Israel) like writing wishes to God and sticking them into the Western Wall, etc. One of the questions I would like to ask in this project is: “Will I ever be able to experience are truly reside in the true Berlin?” When we move to a new place do we really start a blank page in our life, and how bound are we to our past, one that we in many way did not even choose?

See also his interview in our B_log

my name is Ran (24), im originaly from Jerusalem, i came to berlin two years ago in order to study here and i am now finishing my
second semester in the Weißensee school of art, studing stage and costume design. in my work i often tend to 'mix' to ideas, materials and so, and see what is happening in that gap between the two