Almacén Cultural Centre opened its doors in August and has since become one of the coolest locations in Jaffa, bubbling over with inspiring ideas and people. It is, in fact, more than a cultural center; it is a gallery, a meeting point and a space to create, to connect and to interact with the community. A place, according to Almacén’s creators Malu Zayon and Yaniv Lachman, “to dream”.
Zayon and Lachman plan to bring in artists from all over the world to collaborate with local artists, starting with Israel’s closest neighbors: Lebanon, Egypt and Syria.
Almacén comes from the Arabic word ‘al-makhzan’ (meaning 'storage space'). The word was adopted by the Spanish, and later by Modern Hebrew. Accordingly, the cultural center functions as a multi-disciplinary storage space, hosting various activities: exhibitions, music shows, workshops, lectures and more.
In January, Almacén hosted “Tame Your Beasts", an exhibition of works by well-known graffiti artist, DIOZ. Huge murals, riotous colors and wild beasts made for a thrilling spectacle. In February, several workshops will take place, including Super 8mm and DIY processing in whisky (Feb 3 from 10:00-14:00), which will be hosted by Hila Abraham, a film archivist, curator and digitalization project manager at the Israel Film Archive in the Jerusalem Cinematheque, who specializes in motion picture film preservation. Additionally, there will also be a world dance workshop featuring contemporary flamenco dance and live Cuban music (Feb 22), Saturday morning art workshops for kids, yoga classes every Tuesday and Saturday, Arabic, Spanish and Hebrew classes and Thursday evening chef dinners.
Visit Almacén at 1 Hapninim St, Jaffa, Tel Aviv (facebook.com/AlmacenJaffa)