The exhibition "The City and I" examines the history of six different buildings located throughout Haifa, as perceived by a number of intellectuals and cultural figures who were born in Haifa or lived in the city during significant moments in their lives. These buildings are described in terms of their form, aesthetic qualities, and functional, everyday uses, as well as in terms of their symbolic resonances. These resonances are related to their presence in the urban sphere and their external appearance, as well as of their cultural and social associations. Buildings, as these accounts reveal, are not merely physical spaces; they tell stories and create narratives.
The buildings included this exhibition are located in various parts of the city and are associated with different moments in the course of the twentieth century. Some have been abandoned, while others are still in use - transformed, in some instances, to the point that their former selves continue to exist only in the realm of memory. These buildings - including the Haifa Theater, Rothschild House, the Nevi'im Tower, and the Kolbo newspaper building - represent, for the individuals who have contributed to this exhibition, formative periods and significant aspects of their own lives.