The CalArts Pool Fisheye Snapshot

Dorit Cypis ’77

Dorit Cypis ’77 says, “My urban installation for social engagement, Welcome the Stranger, was open at City Arts Festival in Lublin, Poland, from Sept. 13 through Oct. 12. It celebrated the Old Well, the only remaining of [the]12 wells [that had been] located in what was once Lublin’s Jewish neighborhood. By placing ‘water stations’ across Old Lublin on a path connecting with the Old Well, we honor the underground streams and rivers connecting Lublin to other cities and countries. Each station holds a water pail and frames words spoken by someone struggling with refugee status. On glass panes in the niches of the Old Well [are inscribed] words by exiled writer Edmond Jabes, who celebrated self-reflection and inspired generosity of spirit. Daily, passersby heard sound coming from the Old Well, voices struggling to express, to remember, to be heard. What does the foreigner ask us to understand?”