Startup: Jerusalem Art Map

Jerusalem Art Map, a platform that enables digital users to experience the urban cultural scene in Jerusalem. We are bringing over 90% of Jerusalem’s art and culture-centered businesses such as galleries, museums, and artists, under one digital platform.

Smadar Tsook – Founder and CEO

Smadar Tsook is a cultural producer and activist working in Jerusalem.  In recent years, she has been developing virtual art spaces on the Internet and creating websites for artworks and interactive interfaces for galleries. She developed the Jerusalem Art Map in cooperation with The Jerusalem Foundation. The virtual map hosts various art exhibits and events, including a 3D digital art exhibition curated on the city map. Current visitors to the map enjoy access to Jerusalem’s finest galleries and can follow the changing exhibitions. Smadar has a BA in Screen-Based Arts and an MA in Policy & Theory of the Arts from the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design.

You can listen here to the short story, “On Exactitude in Science” by Jorge Luis Borges, that Smadar references in the video.

Venue: HaMiffal

Hamiffal‭ (‬“The Factory”) is an art community that turned an abandoned 19th century building in the heart of Jerusalem into an art and cultural center. We run a gallery, workshops, a cafe-bar and vegetarian kitchen, an art store presenting local artists, and a multifunctional presentation venue for theatre, dance, concerts, discussions and screenings. HaMiffal provides a much-needed, open cross-sectorial platform for the meeting and exchange of ideas across multiple identities in Jerusalem and beyond. HaMiffal embodies the belief that art holds transformative potential and is committed to a Jerusalem where public not only consumes, but also creates culture. Through facilitating new ways of making art and culture, HaMiffal aims to make Jerusalem’s inherent cultural innovation become a leading force of its future.

HaMiffal is currently running a Jerusalem Art Benefit Sale beginning May 5th, 2021. The sale is an innovative model that builds economic sustainability for the arts, and provides a platform for bottom-up, civic support of Jerusalem’s artists and creators.

Neta Meisels – Co-Founder and General Director

Neta Meisels is an art director and cultural entrepreneur based in Jerusalem. In 2011 he co-founded the Empty House artists collective and has since been leading city-specific artists-led initiatives. In 2016 he co-founded HaMiffal art center and is it’s current General Director. Neta holds a master’s degree in philosophy from the Hebrew University.

For a list of companies like Jerusalem Art Map working in the ArtTech sector, click here.

Click here for a list of more Jerusalem-based companies on Start-Up Nation Central’s Finder.

Concept and Production: Brief.

Animation: Tamar Odenheimer & Yam Matarasso

Partners: Start-Up Nation Central, Scale Up Velocity, Jerusalem Foundation, The Jerusalem Development Authority, Ministry of Jerusalem and Heritage, Jerusalem Municipality