The Dead Sea is sadly disappearing and needs our attention. Help us preserve its memory and bring it back to life by sharing your favorite pictures. We are looking for photos that show the essence and beauty of the Dead Sea, and the joy and life it brings to those who visit it. We are also looking for images that illustrate the dramatic landscape changes and environmental challenges facing the Dead Sea as it loses over a meter of water a year and is being overrun by sinkholes. The top 40 images will be printed and included in an exhibition planned for September 16th at the Dead Sea in collaboration with the Dead Sea Museum.
The Dead Sea Photo Competition is launching on April 22 (Earth Day) and close on May 21. Prizes will be awarded in the value of $6,000. Here is a preview link [1]. Stay tuned for more details.
The idea that the Dead Sea needs documenting came from Noam Bedein & Ari Leon Fruchter. Noam is a photojournalist who built the media center in Sderot and has been capturing the Dead Sea through time-lapse photography for the past four years. Ari Leon Fruchter is an ex-fashion designer turned entrepreneur and art collector whose family are among the founders of the Israel Museum. Together they are laying the foundations for the Dead Sea Museum and submissions from the contest will be part of a permanent virtual museum and an exhibition.
“This April would have marked four years since I began documenting the Dead Sea with time-lapse photography, as never seen before,” says Bedein. “I have led and promoted hundreds of eco-boat tours on the Dead Sea, exposed millions throughout the world, showing both the dramatic changes as well as the magic and beauty of our World Wonder. Unfortunately, the coronavirus crisis has prevented me from returning and documenting the on-going changes of the Dead Sea. With over two billion people currently sitting at home hoping and praying for a brighter and healthier future, many of us are taking this period of time to self-reflect as we slow down our daily routines. In this period, it is our time to show our appreciation to our surrounding nature and the environment that has, many times, been forgotten. “
“It makes me sad to see the Dead Sea disappearing,” says Fruchter, “so what we want to do is preserve what we have today for future generations to cherish. My journey with the Dead Sea began nine years ago when I brought the artist Spencer Tunick to Israel,” says Fruchter. “The resulting art installation included 1,200 participants floating naked at the Dead Sea and was covered widely in the mass media helping to draw attention to the environmental issues it is facing. My latest dream is to build a physical Museum at the Dead Sea, but with the coronavirus crises, I have turned these efforts towards developing a virtual museum of art with the help of the technology companies Ikonspace, Kunstamatrix, & Neuman Hayner Architects. The International Dead Sea Photo Competition is a great way to allow the public to be a part of this initiative.”
The International Dead Sea Photo Competition will be taking submissions for 30 days starting on Earth Day and hosted on GuruShots. Judges for the competition include Spencer Tunick, Roie Galitz, Casey Kelbough, & Keren Bar Gil. Winners will be announced on September 16 at a press conference and exhibition at the Dead Sea receiving $6K in cash and prizes.
The Dead Sea Revival Project is the only nonprofit, nonpartisan organization focused solely on historically documenting the Dead Sea. It has been recognized by NASA, who catalogs the Dead Sea decline from space satellites; and featured in magazines like National Geographic and on American TV and news programs for its environmental work.
The Dead Sea Museum is a new type of Platform for Art Exhibitions in Virtual Reality. Through commissioned digital artworks, the project aims to open new ways for contemporary artists to create and showcase original digital artworks to bring attention to an ongoing yet reversible ecological disaster.
GuruShots is a platform that gamifies photography for photo enthusiasts around the world. With a user base of 6M, it runs hundreds of photo challenges a month and produces exhibitions in galleries and art fairs across the globe. “Launching a photo challenge for the Dead Sea is a natural fit for our platform, says Gilon Miller, by partnering with the Dead Sea Revival Project we have a unique opportunity to help the environment and spread awareness through photography. Anyone who cares about the Dead Sea can participate.”
For any question, please contact Noam Bedein, noam@deadsearevival.org [4], tel. +972 54-559-8977