Tel Aviv’s ‘Flower Carpet’
By Nathan Burstein
The city of Tel Aviv received flowers for its birthday — half a million blooms, to be exact.
A gift from the city of Brussels, the 500,000 dahlias were flown from the Belgian capital September 16 as part of ongoing festivities to mark Tel Aviv’s 100th anniversary, a celebration that kicked off in early April and is set to continue in the coming months.
Unveiled by Freddy Thielemans, mayor of Brussels, and by Bénédicte Frankinet, Belgium’s ambassador to Israel, Tel Aviv’s temporary “flower carpet” was arranged by 100 volunteers over the course of seven hours, an effort overseen by a team of Belgian experts flown in with the flowers. Designed by Israeli artist Adi Yekutieli, the installation took inspiration from tiles and murals discovered in the homes of several of Tel Aviv’s founding families.
Covering slightly more than a third of an acre, the dahlias were grown especially for the Tel Aviv celebration and were displayed in Rabin Square, long a home to political rallies and other major events in the city’s social and cultural life. Delayed by a day because of complications with the flowers’ transport, the dahlia carpet was accompanied by a special audiovisual presentation and was scheduled to remain on display through the night of September 17.
Part of Tel Aviv’s ongoing Month of Art program, the Belgian flower carpet follows a series of other local and international events paying tribute to Tel Aviv’s first century. New York, Vienna, Copenhagen and other cities hosted public “Tel Aviv beach parties” during the summer months.
Last July, an estimated 100,000 Israelis attended an outdoor production of “La Traviata,” performed by Milan’s La Scala opera company, in Tel Aviv’s Hayarkon Park.
Contact Nathan Burstein at feedback@forward.com
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I sew the flower carprt in Tel Aviv , it was wanderful.
The yellow color was to much.
And even so please do it again in the next year.
Thank you Belgium
Sorry Miryam to rain on your parade, but the people of Belgium are not too happy about this "gift" paid for by their taxes and feel that exchanging carpet bombing for fower carpet is not too kosher in their book. Bet you it won't happen next year unless Palestine has gained its freedom
Marcel The people of Belgium didn't pay a single cent for that "so called gift". It was entirely paid by the israeli side that thought the idea of a flower carpet is beautifull and relied on the belgian experts to help them put it together. If the Palestinian tried to bring a little beauty to their mind in place of hatred maybe we could get somewhere.
I am living in Brussels and I am very happy with the flowercarpet, only the loosers like the local Hezbolla and Hamasadepts are crying. They are receiving EU-money to spread their hate about the only democracy in the regio. By the way the flowers were begonia's and not daliah's. Begonias are free, they do not sell the flowers. The Palestines do not cultivate begonia's but suicidebombers GGJ Brussels
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