"Angel of Cultures" in Israel-Palestine
Already since 2009, JIK has worked closely with the artist couple Carmen Dietrich and Gregor Merten, who have developed the peace symbol "Angel of Cultures" as a connecting sign between the 3 Abrahamic world religions and which has so far in many cities of Europe and also in the Middle East, been realised and spread e.g. as a ground inlay.
For the artists, the 3 not fully visible symbols of these 3 religions – Christian Cross, Star of David and Islamic Crescent – are hereby representative for all cultures and religions. (See this in this regard and the according to their homepage.) The angel plays an important, mediating as well as protective role in the monotheistic religions and is, according to the artists, a clear sign against right-wing extremism, anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, fundamentalism and the concomitant exclusion of entire population groups.
JIK has therefore used this symbol of intercultural understanding on all trips in many projects and has also presented it as a gift to many members of the various religions.
On 6.10.2014, this symbol was installed as a large external wall installation at the Arab-Jewish Community Centre in Jaffa with the support of JIK and the Bethe Foundation, in spite of the great tensions between Jews and Muslims in Israel.
In the same year, together with the artist couple – with the substantial participation of a member of the Board of the Association – we began to form the Land Art project, which was developed by them from stones of the surrounding area on the grounds of the peace project Tent of Nations of Daoud Nassar near Bethlehem. In February 2015, this work was continued by the artist Gregor Merten and two members of JIK, so that the entire form of the angel is now clearly discernable and can be further completed by international visitors and young people with stones brought along with them from all over the world or with stones from the region.
The artists would like to build bridges between the members of the various religions and provide a sign of hope for a peaceful solution in the region. Therefore, it is envisaged that interreligious encounters and prayers should thereby also later take place in a temporary Abraham tent. This project was also financed by JIK with the support of the Bethe Foundation.
