Talking to Strangers on the Bus

Nurit Dreamer

Nurit is a director and performer. During the artist residency, she traveled around Jerusalem by bus, but instead of curling up in her seat, she put her cellphone away in her bag, looked up, mustered the courage and started conversations.

A Jerusalem city bus is one of the only places where such different populations can share a common space. At these intersections, an ultra-Orthodox girl and a Palestinian woman can sit on the same bench.

The bus encounters summoned complex and extraordinary dialogues. Disagreements and the different worldviews were often apparent, but the gaps were free of anger or hostility and characterized by an excitement to discover similarities and a desire to share ideas.

These dialogues disrupt the order on the bus. Not with noise and defiance but through familiarity and unmediated encounter. The new conversation partners open the possibility to look at Jerusalem in a new way.

Nurit invites you to participate in the action Talking to Strangers on the Bus

This is an invitation to go an urban adventure in the most mundane and public place – the bus, and disrupt the order through intimacy and dialogue. To reshape the bus ride and turn it from a nondescript in-between space to a time of adventure and closeness.

On September 7, we will go to “Talk to Strangers on the Bus” in Jerusalem. We will ride different lines traversing the city, travel to destinations we have never been to, and map Jerusalem through conversations, dialogues and intimacy.

On September 6 we will hold a preliminary meeting “Conversation as a Radical Act,” in which we will learn and think together about conversation and intimacy as an action, as activism, and as an artistic act and prepare for the activity taking place the following day.

To all projects – Routine 2.0 – Artist Residency