Ursulimum a new video installation by Ran Slavin [text in progress] Ursulimum [text in progress] Down...Down... into a cave of unconsciousness, hidden beneath an ancient city, a secret is about to be revealed. Urusalimum. A buried history is recovered, in the near future under the old city of Jerusalem. A young astronaut discovers an unknown past, pre bible, underneath the holiest location for Judaism an Muslims alike, the Temple of the Dome. Tunnels of underground interiors unfold as the boy sifts through vast architectural shrines built by the unknown. He visits grand and bizarre interiors that suggest hybrids of temples, machine, architecture. Alien spaces that seem to have undergone mutation, relics of an unknown culture. Urusalimum is the first reference to Jerusalem in ancient egyptian records, in 1330 BCE. The oldest part of the city was settled in the 4th millennium BCE, making Urusalimum one of the oldest cities in the world. During its long history it has been destroyed twice, besieged 23 times, attacked 52 times, captured and recaptured 44 times. When emperors conquered the city, they built new streets on top of the old ones without ruining the former. Layers and levels of undiscovered quarters still remain buried to this day. The small visitor-astronaut, possibly a modern day Seraph has found a breach and now travels deep underground into the magnetic fields and archi patterns 200 meters under The Temple Mount and the Well Of Souls in Jerusalem. This newly discovered Otzar, possibly The Third Temple reenactment seems endless and resembles the Large Hadron Collider. Vast layers of huge underground interiors and tunnels unfold as the visitor sifts through the grand labyrinth. Newly formed hybrids of nano temples and magnetic machines, illusive hovering lights, mutated and endless interiors, future phenomena and nano relics, abandoned. Media: HD video View a link/Trailer: http://ranslavin.com/URUSALIMUM_trailer-desktop.mov With footage taken on location at the old city of Jerusalem, Slavin transforms through kaleidoscopic examinations an undiscovered past, in the future. References and research in progress: In Jewish mysticism the Chamber of Guf (also Guph or even Gup) Hebrew for "body", also called the Otzar (Hebrew for "treasury"), is the Hall of Souls, located in the Seventh Heaven[citation needed]. Every human soul is held to emanate from the Guf. A possible (though not a literal) reading of the Talmud, Yevamot 62a, is that the Messiah will not come until the Guf is emptied of all its souls. The mystic significance of the Guf is that each person is important and has a unique role which only they, with their unique soul, can fulfill. Even a newborn baby brings the Messiah closer simply by being born. In keeping with other Jewish legends that envision souls as bird-like, the Guf is sometimes described as a columbarium, or birdhouse[citation needed]. Folklore says sparrows can see the soul's descent and this explains their joyous chirping. The peculiar idiom of describing the treasury of souls as a "body" may be connected to the mythic tradition of Adam Kadmon, the primordial man. Adam Kadmon, God's "original intention" for humanity, was a supernal being, androgynous and macro-cosmic (co-equal in size with the universe). When this Adam sinned, humanity was demoted to the flesh and blood, bifurcated and mortal creatures we are now. According to Kabbalah, every human soul is just a fragment (or fragments) cycling out of the great "world-soul" of Adam Kadmon. Hence, every human soul comes from the guf [of Adam Kadmon]. Within the Tanakh, there is a passage used to teach that the spirit within humans did not pre-exist, but was created within each person in the womb: Sound: According to pre-Islamic folklore,[who?] the Well of Souls was a place where the voices of the dead could be heard along with the sounds of the Rivers of Paradise;[citation needed] the cave is now known to have no exit apart from those leading to the surface of the Foundation Stone, and the sounds may be considered[who?] to be a resonance effect similar to hearing the sea from seashells. The Well is sometimes conflated[who?] with Guf,[citation needed] a location inJewish mythology where the souls of the not-yet-born are stored, though Guf is usually considered to be more a heavenly location than an earthly one. The Third Temple, (or Ezekiel's Temple or the third Beit HaMikdash), is a temple architecturally described in the book of Ezekiel. It is noted by Ezekiel as an eternal edifice and permanent dwelling place of the God of Israel on the temple mount in Jerusalem. The third temple is also portrayed as a religious notion and desire in Judaism rooted and expressed in many of Judaism's prayers for the return and rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem that had once stood as the First and Second Temples that were destroyed by the ancient Babylonians and the Romans. But what will emerge from this immersion? Incredibly we may discover new dimensions of space-time through the intoxication and infusion of Judaism, christianity and muslim cultures, electromagnetic radiation (more quaintly known as visible light), new structures of culture imprints that allude to an immersion of past, present and future human aspirations. Or perhaps merely but not only, a tool for thinking. :Har haBáyith), also known in the Bible as Mount Moriah (some also identify it with the biblical Mount Zion) and by Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary (Bait-ul-Muqaddas) (Arabic , ַהר ַה ַּב ִית :The Temple Mount (Hebrew] .al-haram al-qudsī ash-sharīf), is a religious site in the Old City of Jerusalem ,ﺍﳊﺮﻡ ﺍﻟﻘﺪﺳﻲ ﺍﻟﺸﺮﻳﻒ Judaism regards the Temple Mount as the place where God chose the Divine Presence to rest (Isa 8:18); it was from here the world expanded into its present form and where God gathered the dust used to create the first man, Adam.{According to the sages of the Talmud[13]} The site is the location of Abraham's binding of Isaac, and of two Jewish Temples. According to the Bible the site should function as the center of all national life - government, judicial and, of course, religious center (Deut 12:5-26; 14:23-25; 15:20; 16:2-16; 17:8-10; 26: 2; 31: 11; Isa 2: 2-5; Oba 1:21; Psa 48) . During the Second Temple Period it functioned also as an economical center. From that location the word of God will come out to all nations, and that is the site where all prayers are focused. According to Jewish tradition and scripture,{2 Chronicles 3:1-2} the first temple was built by Solomon the son of David in 957 BCE and destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BCE. The second was constructed under the auspices of Zerubbabel in 516 BCE and destroyed by the Roman Empire in 70 CE. Jewish tradition maintains it is here the Third and final Temple will also be built. The location is the holiest site in Judaism and is the place Jews turn towards during prayer. Due to its extreme sanctity, many Jews will not walk on the Mount itself, to avoid unintentionally entering the area where the Holy of Holies stood, since according to Rabbinical law, some aspect of the Divine Presence is still present at the site.[2] It was from the Holy of Holies that the High Priest communicated directly with God. Among Sunni Muslims, the Mount is widely considered to be the third holiest site in Islam. Revered as the Noble Sanctuary(Bait-ul-Muqaddas) and the location of Muhammad's journey to Jerusalem and ascent to heaven, the site is also associated with Jewish biblical prophets who are also venerated in Islam.[citation needed] After the Muslim conquest of Jerusalem in 637 CE, Umayyad Caliphs commissioned the construction of the al-Aqsa Mosque and Dome of the Rock on the site.[3] The Dome was completed in 692 CE, making it one of the oldest extant Islamic structures in the world, after the Kaabah. The Al Aqsa Mosque rests on the far southern side of the Mount, facing Mecca. The Dome of the Rock currently sits in the middle, occupying or close to the area where the Bible mandates the Holy Temple be rebuilt.[4] In light of the dual claims of both Judaism and Islam, it is one of the most contested religious sites in the world. Controlled by Israel since 1967, both Israel and the Palestinian Authority claim sovereignty over the site, which remains a major focal point of the Arab-Israeli conflict.[5] Israel has turned over management of the site to an Islamic council, known as the Muslim Waqf. In an attempt to keep the status quo, the Israeli government enforces a controversial ban on prayer by non-Muslim visitors.] The third temple is also portrayed as a religious notion and desire in Judaism rooted and expressed in many of Judaism's prayers for the return and rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem that had once stood as the First and Second Temples that were destroyed by the ancient Babylonians and the Romans. חלקיק ההיגס ובית שלישי translit.: Kipat Hasela) is an important Islamic shrine and Jerusalem landmark located on the Temple Mount in ,כיפת הסלע :translit.: Masjid Qubbat As-Sakhrah, Hebrew ,ﻣﺴﺠﺪ ﻗﺒﺔ ﺍﻟﺼﺨﺮﺓ :The Dome of the Rock (Arabic the Old City of Jerusalem. The structure, the oldest extant example of early Islamic architecture, was completed in 691 CE at the order of Arabian Umayyad Caliph, Abd al-Malik. The site's significance stems from religious traditions regarding the rock, known as the Foundation Stone, at its heart.