Discovering new things in common

 

Illustration, teaching, migration – the German-Israeli Future Forum promotes innovative intercultural exchange.

 

Merav Salomon was curious and sceptical about whether cooperation between German and Israeli illustrators would work. “I had misgivings about the sort of momentum it would develop – given our shared history,” says the Head of Illustration Studies at Jerusalem’s Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design. And, she points out, illustrators tend to be loners anyway. Today, Salomon views the project as a complete success: “Art has brought us all together. We have discovered how much we have in common despite the language and cultural barriers!”

For more than a year, twelve illustrators from Germany and Israel in worked 
in pairs on the exhibition project “The 
Foreign and the Familiar”. From September 2014 onwards, the works will be on show at the Burg Wissem Picture Book Museum in Troisdorf, North Rhine-Westphalia, a museum specialising in illus­trations and artist books. “The collaboration has led to lasting friendships,” says 
Museum Director Maria Linsmann-Dege.

 

“We see a great deal of creativity, intensity and enthusiasm in the projects”

 

The German-Israeli Future Forum Foundation (DIZF), which was set up in 2007, offers young adults from both countries the opportunity to work together cre­atively. A wide variety of projects are supported: design students developing ideas on community building, PhD students exchanging ideas about their research on diversity, or fashion designers sharing ideas about sustainable design.

“We see a great deal of creativity, intensity and enthusiasm in the projects, but also profound conflicts that are dealt with openly,” explains Andreas Eberhardt, the German-Israeli Future Forum Foundation’s Executive Director. “Many Germans only associate Israel with the Middle East conflict, and many Israelis only associate Germany with the Nazi era.” In his view, the first thing we need to do is overcome this kind of stereotyped thinking. The Board of Trustees has designated five priority areas for support: Democracy and Value Building, Diversity and Integration, Identity and Sense of Belonging, Social Change/Social Justice and Civil Society/Civic Engagement. “Both Germany and Israel have particularly 
vibrant and innovative civil societies,” says Eberhardt. That’s why the German-Israeli Future Forum frequently works to­gether with non-governmental organisations and helps them to network.

 

Every year, the DIFZ’s Berlin office receives as many as 250 applications for funding, from which it selects up to three major projects and a number of smaller ones. Two new lighthouse projects are due to be launched shortly: social workers from Israel and Germany will exchange views on their work with young people from their respective Arab and Turkish communities; and engineering students from Ravensburg and Haifa plan to 
jointly design a new type of wheel rim for racing cars.

 

“Our focus is on the next 50 years of German-Israeli relations”

 

The idea for the Future Forum dates back to 2005, the year in which Germany and Israel celebrated the 40th anniversary of the establishment of bilateral relations. The two countries’ then heads of state proposed setting up the foundation. To mark the 50th anniversary in 2015, the German-Israeli Future Forum plans to conduct workshops, publicity measures and other events in Berlin und Jerusalem, as well as holding project meetings in numerous German and Israeli cities. The programme’s motto will be “2065 – Living Future”, announces Executive Director Andreas Eberhardt: “Our focus is on the next 50 years of German-Israeli relations.”