From the diary of the Pilgrimage on the Seam Foundation’s Third Commissioner:
October 15, 2046
Our mission is again in jeopardy. Not since the destruction of the first monument in 2012 and the boycott in 2027 when Grandfather stood resolute, have we witnessed such a challenge to our mandate. The world wants this vision completed as outlined in 2008 and to which the Commission has held steadfast. As Commissioner I now face similar challenges as Father and Grandfather to my responsibility to impel this jury to choose between the two controversial finalists. The deadlock is paralyzing, and while it is not my task to make the final decision, it will be my job to shepherd its execution, an ironic phrasing for this Commission’s final act.
Pilgrimage on the Seam envisions a series of quadrennial international competitions held through the year 2048 to design ten public art installations (“Monuments”) with optional and accompanying interpretive programming at designated sites within the “Seam Zone”. That land currently surrounds three sides of Jerusalem and lies amorphously between the Green Line, the Jerusalem Municipal Boundary including annexed East Jerusalem, and the Separation Barrier. Each Monument becomes the focal point and identifying character of a “Pilgrimage” site. Because of its contemporaneous nature, each project and site records, interprets and honors the current history of the struggle for a peaceful, just and sustainable Jerusalem. Over the duration of the project, the entire assemblage of Monuments, sites and programming becomes the infrastructure for the Pilgrimage on the Seam route. This proposal consists of the descriptions of the Pilgrimage Foundation and its Commission formed to define, manage and administer the Competitions, the criteria for the Marker and Monuments, and selected entries from the Diaries of the third and final Commissioner documenting the history and personal struggles of the Commission to execute the ten competitions. The digital submission, Pilgrimage on the Seam presents the comprehensive proposal as an interactive Flash file.
