BENEATH THE SURFACE: THE PUBLIC BOMB SHELTER AS A MICROCOSM OF ISRAELI SOCIETY, AND THE POTENTIAL STORIES HIDDEN BETWEEN ITS CONCRETE WALLS.
Public bomb shelters in Israel are more than protective infrastructure; they are shared social spaces where people from diverse and often conflicting backgrounds are brought together during moments of emergency. These encounters can generate solidarity and cooperation, but also reveal tensions that reflect broader social divisions.
This project explores how such dynamics can be examined and reimagined through speculative stage directions. Drawing on observations, conversations, and stories collected from shelter users, the writing does not seek to document reality but to imagine alternative possibilities of being together.
Through a series of imagined shelter scenarios, the project considers how writing can shape movement, interaction, and spatial perception. Positioned between documentation and speculation, the stage directions function as both an artistic and research method, inviting audiences to reconsider everyday experiences of sheltering and reflect on the possibilities and challenges of coexistence within a deeply polarized society.
