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Artist gets his teeth into TA bombing site

City’s abandoned Dolphinarium building, the scene of a 2001 suicide bombing, has been turned into a set of wind-up choppers

By ToI Staff 19 June 2015, 6:16 am 1

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The Dolphinarium in Tel Aviv, with a new paint job by street artist Dede (Courtesy Facebook)

An abandoned Israeli landmark on the Tel Aviv coast was transformed into a piece of modern art by street artist Dede.

The derelict Dolphinarium building, located not too far north of the Jaffa port, has long served as an inviting canvas for local graffiti artists. But perhaps none was as ambitious as Dede, who has turned the structure into a giant set of wind-up teeth.

“Without any doubt the biggest art challenge I have ever had,” he wrote on his Facebook page recently. “This piece was hard to achieve. Stormy nights, high rollers from the ground… But it had to be done, I have had this vision for almost a year now.”

The Dolphinarium was built in the 1980s and for several years served — as its name suggests — as a dolphin aquarium. But low revenue caused it to close in 1985, and it was later transformed into a discotheque.

It achieved infamy in June 2001 when a Palestinian suicide bomber attacked the nightclub, killing 21 teenagers and injuring 132 people. The club closed in 2002.