At the opening of the Manofim contemporary art festival on Tuesday night, four performers stood in the shade of the Alexander Calder sculpture overlooking the Jerusalem Forest.

They are “Vacuum Service,” a performance group that uses choreography in artistic spaces that require attention.

The four performers swept the littered plaza around the red steel sculpture, which weighs about 65 tons and was erected in 1977 on Mount Herzl to contrast with the hilly landscape across the valley.

Now surrounded by a busy intersection, parallel to the red line of the light rail system, the sculpture is covered with graffiti. The performance is meant to draw attention to this work of art.

It’s part of the Manofim Festival, currently in its 18th year, running July 14-18, and offering a deeper look at what Jerusalem creatives are working on in artwork and performances in art, music and stage.

Artists Lee Hai Shulov and Rinat Edelstein developed Manofim 18 years ago, working together with dozens of galleries, cultural institutions and hundreds of artists across disciplines.

The Hebrew word manofim means construction cranes, which dot the skyline and symbolize the artists’ desire to lift Jerusalem’s art scene to see different views of the city.

A focal point of the festival is the Art Cube Artists’ Studios in Talpiot, where the........

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