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Paper short abstract

This research examines the creation of FeelBeit, a Palestinian–Israeli cultural institution in Jerusalem. Through ethnographic fieldwork and drawing on the theory of prefigurative politics, I trace how the institution works to imagine and enact a shared future through art and culture.

Paper long abstract

This research examines the reformation and emergence of FeelBeit, a Palestinian–Israeli cultural institution in Jerusalem. Alongside the city’s conservative cultural sites—its theatres, museums, and religious spaces—Jerusalem is also known for festivals and site-specific performances. In 2019, a long-running Israeli festival opened a club named FeelBeit (a wordplay across Arabic, English, and Hebrew meaning “inside the home” or “feel at home”). What began as a pop-up festival venue gradually evolved into an autonomous cultural institution that seeks to cultivate a pluralistic space and experiment with forms of Palestinian–Israeli cultural coexistence.

“Everything we present is rooted in love for the diverse people of this place. We are driven by a conviction that when all else breaks down, art and music must break through” (FeelBeit, n.d.).

Grounded in the theory of prefigurative politics, which emphasizes collective practices as sites for enacting alternative futures (Gordon, 2018; Jeffrey & Dyson, 2021), the paper draws on in-depth interviews, participant observation, and textual analysis. It traces the artistic and administrative dilemmas involved in curating and sustaining a Palestinian–Israeli cultural home, focusing on discrepancies in power relations, management roles, budgeting practices, language use, and the articulation of the institution’s vision.

The paper asks how a Palestinian–Israeli cultural institution seeks to envision the future through artistic practice. What defines a shared—or contested—space in a settler-colonial context? And how do Palestinians and Jewish-Israelis attempt to create, negotiate, and contain a common artistic language under conditions of structural inequality?