White Eagle Flying Camel: The Polish Pavilion at the Levant Fair

The evening will present the film The Eagle and the Flying Camel by Artur Tanikowski, about Levant Fair and the unique story of the Polish pavilion.

The screening will be followed by a lecture by Michael Jacobson on Polish architects who were active in the country. Moderator: Jeremy Hoffman.

Established in Tel Aviv in the 1920s, The Levant Fair became by the 1930s a fine example of abundance, prosperity, regional stability, and free commerce between East and West, the old and new world, the countries of origin and the Yishuv. The purpose of the fair, whose logo featured a flying camel, was to strengthen the international commercial and economic links with the Middle East, especially with the Jewish population living under the British Mandate.

In 1932 many of the fair pavilions adapted a modernist style – apart from the Polish pavilion which was designed in the form of a Zakopane forest cabin. Poland in the interwar period was seeking recognition on the international arena and looked for ways to express its identity via cultural and artistic means. The country, whose symbol is a white eagle, forged its unique style: on the one hand the pavilion designers used elements from Polish folk and national culture, on the other, they manifested their awareness to existing trends by presenting a modern, international version of Poland, showing the country’s process of modernization.

In the evening we will get a better understanding of the way in which the Jewish population under the British Mandate and the new Polish state sought to establish their international standing through one fair that developed in the Levant.

The event is in collaboration with the Polish Institute, the NIAiU Institute for Architecture, and the Polish Ministry for Culture and National Heritage.

Program:

19:30: gathering and refreshments

20:00: screening of The Eagle and the Flying Camel (Hebrew; 27 min)

20:30: short talks by Artur Tanikowski, and Michael Jacobson