ha'atelier

I had to write of ha'atelier, a stunning transnational, non-territorial platform for philosophy and art.

Last night, I met the initiator and director of ha'atelier, Almut Sh. Bruckstein .

A little about their vision: ha’atelier embodies the vision of a new "academy" of the arts and sciences free of territorial and facultative limitations and guided by the creativity of the visual and performing arts.

We design our projects in co-operation with an international "nomadic" faculty of scholars, writers, and artists. The structure of ha’atelier takes on the form of a kaleidoscopic topography of encyclopedic themes. Its faculty embodies and disembodies itself project-related in various places in the world.

A special focus of our work lies in the renaissance of Jewish and Islamic cosmopolitan traditions inside and outside Europe. In staging a joined Judeo-Islamic cosmopolitan program for the arts and sciences in the heart of Europe, we launch an exceptional cultural and political program, envisioning an end to violence in dealing with religious and cultural sources.

ha’atelier advances alternatives to the political exploitation of cultural and religious sources increasingly defined by a large-scale military conflict between "the West" and countries of the "Islamic World".

With its transnational and non-territorial program, emphasizing cosmopolitan ventures rooted in Jewish and Islamic sources, ha’atelier blazes new trails in Europe’s cultural and academic landscape.

Building upon the connecting powers of human creativity and imagination, ha’atelier represents more than a forum for the "dialogue" of cultures. Its non-polarizing venues to a variety of sources in philosophy, art and science extends an invitation to civil society to join forces with an international avantgarde of artists and scholars who are engaged in a critical re-approach of their own respective collective sources.