North Africa Contemporary Arts

Compilation - visual inspiration

2011-07-05T08:59:00.000-07:00

creative proces

Compilation - Drawing from north Africa

2011-07-05T08:56:00.000-07:00

Photography - Sunset in North Africa

2011-07-05T08:48:00.000-07:00

Photography - North African people

2011-07-05T08:42:00.000-07:00

A compilation from Deviantart that I done since 3 years. I share it today, I hope that u enjoy it :

Visual arts from North Africa in Saatchi Gallery

2011-07-05T08:35:00.000-07:00

Compilation of artworks about Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria the slide show it's here :

http://www.saatchionline.com/slideshow/collection/owner/93455/collection/10231

Visual for hopes

2011-04-30T06:10:00.000-07:00

Video publicated in Tunisia with poetry after the Yasmin revolution, enjoy.

After Effects Created Light Streaks

2009-09-19T18:45:00.001-07:00

This is a brief "video" of light streaks created in After Effects. This was practice for me, so they are far from perfect. For example, the camera. It moves a little too much. Also, ignore the little "X" in the background.

Light Graffiti Tutorial

2009-09-19T18:04:00.001-07:00

Light Graffiti Tutorial(how to use light source )

mohamad boozoubaa

2009-09-19T16:43:00.000-07:00

morocco

2009-09-16T19:31:00.001-07:00

Arabic Motion Tests

2009-09-16T19:29:00.001-07:00

The Best of Khalid

2009-09-16T19:28:00.001-07:00

Landscape and Architecture (HD) - 24 - Morocco / West Sahara

2009-09-11T05:30:00.001-07:00

Morocco

Population - 31,993,000
Area - 172,414 sq mi (446,550 sq km)
Ethnicity -60% Berber, 30% Arab, ~10% Spanish, Algerian etc.
Official Language - Moroccan Arabic and Berber

Continent - Africa
-West of Algeria
-South of Spain
-North of Mauritania

Political Status - 3rd World

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morocco

Interesting thing about Morocco is that aside from the merchants that sell goods there and have an agriculture along the Atlantic Ocean, it also has a strip of land known as the 'West Sahara'. This area that lies to the south has no government there whatsoever. It's a free for all land there. It doesn't mean that it's any fun there though. Some of the worst desert climate resides there and so much sand that it actually generates dust plumbs that sweep off coast. The second song hosts West Sahara. The clips in the first song are from Morocco, not the Sahara.

HASSAN HAJJAJ - Photos North Africa

2009-09-01T19:42:00.000-07:00

In his work, Hassan Hajjaj playfully applies the nu-technologies to redefine he imagery that pervaded his childhood, from match boxes and paint cans to 'Coca-Cola' ads.

From the Fez to the camel, he takes on the European stereotypes of North African world and turns them into a visual celebration. His large canvasses sit comfortably in the post modern European art world. Restaurateur Mourad Mazouz, Fashion entrepreneur Joseph, Blur (who incidentally used Hassan's graphics for their official website) singer Damon Albarn and the Morrocan Consulate in London have all acquired some of Hassan's pieces.

Hassan Hajjaj has discovered that nobody had documented the street level graphic art of his native land. It set him off on a mission to elevate and educate people to the funky visual art of the souk with a twist. Having arrived in London from Larache in Morroco in his teens, he grew up amid the emerging club culture of London, UK, absorbing the music and styles of the reggae, hip hop and world music. Hassan his visual sensibilities as he entered the world of art and fashion. After running clubs and managing up and coming bands, he decided in 1984 to forge a solid relationship with the New York scene and subsequently the same year launched his own clothing & accessories label RAP.

A restless spirit, Hassan has chosen his imagery intuitively and ingeniously. The concepts he employs are seductively witty and playful while having a serious edge. Clearly a child of the pop art generation - his working methods encompass so man techniques and fields - he engages personally & intensively in the time consuming process of designing and producing furniture (tables, lamps, stools, poufs), clothes (from customised patrol attendants overalls to babouches, from funky-ed djellabahs to hats), photography (the youth of the medina a never ending source of inspiration, as well as photo-reportages commissioned by several magazines) and , last but not least, painting and printed canvas (always in a limited numbered edition). The concept remains the same, only the medium changes. All is expertly crafted and the dishes out colourful humour.

http://www.hassan-hajjaj.com/

Mediterranean Portuguese Spanish ARABIAN MAGIC CALEIDOSCOPE geometric repetitive tiles Azulejo

2009-08-30T23:58:00.003-07:00

Moroccan zellige mosaic from Indonesia

2009-08-30T23:58:00.001-07:00

Zillij Arts - Mosaic patterns

2009-08-30T19:52:00.001-07:00

Introducing SolarSonic and the mobile video-broadcasting RV

2009-08-30T19:12:00.001-07:00

Nour Eddine El Ghoumari

2009-08-29T23:18:00.003-07:00

The photos exhibited on my site are part of a short journey of my life between Morocco and Egypt. Two countries I love and miss tremendously.

The photos represent a reflection of me, the unseen man behind the camera.

In most of my Portraits, the viewers would notice, that I often isolate my subjects from the rest of the crowed. I also prefer to photograph people in their natural environment. The young the poor and the old are my true inspiration.

When I shoot a portrait, I try to be as honest as possible to my subjects and convey all details of their cloths and faces as well as the direction of light. I always try to remember the surrounding smells and sounds when I am in printing in the darkroom. Consciously or subconsciously, I remain an advocate of the authenticity in photography, honouring the uniqueness of the face, singled out from the crowd by my camera, and, however arrogant it may sound, by my will.

From my photos, I hope the viewers will be able to read my feelings…as I sought to convey my emotions via my subjects’ wrinkly faces and the gestures of their hands.

In a local market, my imagination comes alive in the air filled with the fragrance of mint tea. As I turn around I see bright palettes of sacks of spices, their colours glow in the sun rays which penetrate through a hole in the tent of an old bearded market seller.

Each of these faces, like a divine guide through the history and culture of my people, to those who seek to understand them. For me, wrinkles on the face of an elderly woman who sells parsley and coriander nearby our house are a code to her past and a signs into her present and future. By the expression of her face and even by the way she folds her arms we can find out this lady’s cultural ethics and her religious devotion.

I always have a deep psychological connection between me and many of my subjects. When I am about to take a photograph of a person, I would often ask myself before pressing the shutter button whether I am ready to let this person inter the life within each frame of the film and subsequently inter my life.

The people portrayed by me become my protégés. I care about them, protect them from possible criticism. I often wonder whether my subjects are still alive; have enough food, and whether they are warm in the cold winters. I often stare at the finished photographs for hours and wonder if my subjects might be embarrassed by my glances and those of thousands of viewers that see them. I ask myself if they would condemn me for interfering with their private lives. Opening it up to the outer world?

tank.tv Interviews Zineb Sedira

2009-08-29T23:18:00.001-07:00

Younès Rahmoun

2009-08-29T22:59:00.001-07:00

he work of Younès Rahmoun is not born of a reaction against globalization through "nativism" or identity withdrawal [repli identitaire] [1]. It is far more the expression of a "presence in the world" and of an appropriation of the media, technological, or linguistic tools, accessible where he is, as of now. Depending on the cultural references of the reader of this commentary, it may seem absurd to "justify" the tools that the artist uses. But there is an idea going around artistic circles according to which the use of new technologies represents an act of resistance versus identity withdrawal in Islamic countries and Islamic extremism.

Younès Rahmoun's works are an extension of his as determined as peaceful gestures. Fascinated by Sufi thought and practice, Younès Rahmoun adopts repetition, incantation, insistence, concentration, finishing, un-finishing, presence and co-presence in his practice. Some of the drawings are related to architectural and mathematical practice; this, in its turn, can easily be associated to universal spatial and ornamental practices in which Byzantine and Andalusian artist-craftsmen excelled.

In 2001, the piece "Subha" (Rosary) marks the beginning of a consciously spiritual approach. Form variations (Nakhla), constructions (millstones in the Rif mountains), and objects (glass frames and paper objects) have enabled him to develop a sharp sense for sculptural materials and drawn objects. "L'objet désorienté" ("The disoriented object") [2] was Younès Rahmoun's first exhibition outside of Morocco. It is from that point on that he began to build up his oeuvre.

Wahid (One), hyper-material prolongation of the immaterial

Younès Rahmoun works within a context in which bodily representation is conventionally "prohibited". A video image does not have the same definition of prohibition as painting. For one, this is due to the fact that video did not exist at the time when these "laws" were formulated. For the other, a video image is only a testimony, an illustration, and not a creation in the sense that it could rival God's creation (religious power doesn't consider video as a creation and in fact makes use of it in its sermon…).

In order to realize the "Wahid" performance, the artist is physically present in the exhibition space and acts in real time. He places himself in the centre of the space, in front of the public, facing towards Mecca (to the East), sitting cross-legged on a square of black cloth, dressed in a black djellaba with a hood over his head and face. In the perfect silence of the space, he begins the incantation of the word "Wahid" 99 times, generally for precisely 99 seconds. His experience of the "here-now" state cannot faithfully be described since the "documentation" will always only be a translation. If not experienced at the actual time, the encounter with the immaterial work bears testimony only, is only a hyper-material document finely transcribed by neurons acting in order to electronically reclaim memory of the experience.

The video takes over the relay from the gesture. Its use here is more symbolical than technical. Video is a tool that enables the amplification of the artist's gesture and the multiplication of his presence. The film – trace of the artist's presence after the performance is over – is produced from a fixed point and frames the hands with fingers moving to the count of the voice's rhythm. The video is characterized by an effect of symmetry, on both the visual and sound levels. With this first video piece, the artist interrogates the memory of the performance, a kind of sculpture that is endeavoring to meet up with time through meditation.

The history of "Wahid" begins in Paris during a residency in 2001 when Younès Rahmoun gets interested in new technologies, video, and sound… Initial experiments surrounding the "Wahid" performance consisted in sound recordings. Even if they have not been shown, they represent the "technical" prerequisites for the use of video image and of its power of "reproducibility".

In the era of the "diverse", multiple and multicultural, Younès Rahmoun interrogates the unique, the Self, the absolute reference. So doing, he is alien or "original", depending on the context.

"Wahid means one, the only, the unique. For me, 'One' also means Allah (God). In Islam, God has 99 names; the Muslim rosary has 99 grains. My position in this performance however refers rather to Buddhism (Zen). The repetition of this "multi-sense" word in this sitting position of universal connotation carries a message of peace and tolerance. The video performance symbolizes the opening to other world cultures and religions." [3] (Younès Rahmoun)

In 2005, Younès Rahmoun decides to reconstruct a space for work and meditation inspired from the "ghorfa" (little room below the staircase which is the artist's studio) and to put it at the disposal of the public. In "Al-ana / Hona" (Now / Here) [4] the artist will create one or several living spaces, identical to his "ghorfa" in the family house in Tétouan, to anyone who wishes to experience "Space for Work, Exhibition, and Meditation".

Beyond formal and spiritual questions, the artist proposes the experience of the work and invites the public into a "recreated" intimate space. In this identical reproduction of his workspace (ghorfa), we may also perceive the care for symmetry that is so present in the Arab arts and sciences. Younès Rahmoun claims this practice, donating his imaginary and exchanging his workspace for a time of encounter with the other.

Camera basic Keyframes After Effects Part 1

2009-08-06T07:11:00.001-07:00

Baisc help for After effects. i hopeso that will be usefull for u my friend.

Over one hundred artists exhibit work in Algiers

2009-08-05T08:51:00.000-07:00

PANAF 2009 featured 130 artists from all over Africa, who exhibited the best of their work in Algiers, to the delight of art aficionados.

Art lovers were treated to six different art exhibitions in Algiers during the second Pan-African Festival, which ends Monday (July 20th).

Three major exhibitions, entitled African Design, African Women, and Contemporary Arts were staged at the Safex exhibition centre in the capital.

Work by Moroccan artist Rachid L'Mouddene was on display at the African Design exhibition. Morocco was not officially taking part in Panaf 2009.

Algerian artist Mohamed Yahiaoui (Yamo) displayed an intriguing piece made up of sparkling lights floating in a dark space.

"You can interpret this work any way you like," said Yamo. "It isn't easy to give emotions a material form… People have to go away and feel calm," the Tunis-based artist added.

"Designers are seeking to denounce consumer society by recovering waste and giving it more dignified artistic forms. It's about a spirit of consumerism that has polluted traditional African culture", said Zoubir Hellal, the commissioner of the Design section.

Hellal told Magharebia that he invited 28 designers to participate in the exhibition, which features jewellery, gold items, and clothing.

In the Contemporary Arts exhibition, artists offered "revised views" of life and fashion.

One of the most successful works was that of Tunisian artist Faten Roussi, who attacked polygamy in a piece consisting of four dolls, "the first of whom is divorced, the second is abandoned, the third is a widow, and the fourth is unfailingly charming".

The African Women exhibit involved 23 artists from 11 African countries.

Cities were a major theme in the female artists' work. A young Algerian artist, Amina Menia, presented a large work made of galvanised grey steel tubes. "I wanted to present a piece with an unexpected twist. You get to the end of it and you don't know whether the exhibition is finished or whether it's a building site."

The picture exhibition at the MAMA brought together the work of six Algerian photographers and 24 other African artists under the theme "Reflections of Africa".

It comprised over a hundred black-and-white and colour photographs of various styles and genres, the theme being Africa, its history, and its heritage.

Comic strips were also on display at the Safex centre. Strips belonging to the big names in Algerian comic art from the 1970s, such as Maz and Slim, were on display alongside those of young African cartoonists such as Georges Mabota of Mozambique and Moussa Adji and Adjim Dannegar of Chad.

"We have never before seen so many works of art of such high quality here in Algiers. Even in Algerian museums, you cannot find such a large number of works," said Mouloud, an engineer.

Ryma, a student of fine arts, said it was an opportunity to discover what is happening elsewhere in the world of contemporary art. "People sometimes focus on Europe and America. I was pleasantly surprised by the African artists."

Overall, the art exhibitions involved a total of 130 artists and five commissioners.

Algerian Minister of Culture Khalida Toumi promised in a speech given before media representatives that a plastic arts exhibition will be held every two years.

Signs traces calligraphy. (exhibition of North African calligraphic art)(Mosaic)

2009-07-30T20:13:00.000-07:00

An outstanding exhibition of the work of five contemporary artists from North Africa Signs Traces Calligraphy was staged at London's Barbican Centre last month as part of the Africa '95 exhibition being held in the British capital.

The work of Egyptian born Ahmed Moustafa, Libya's Ali Omar Ermes, Rachid Koraichi of Algeria, Tunisian Nja Mahdaoui and Mehdi Qotbi of Morocco, attracted a wide range of international visitors during its run in London.

Collectif 212

2009-07-24T21:07:00.000-07:00

Two main currents can be observed in contemporary Moroccan art: one is born out of continuity, with traditional art as its starting point, while the other, clearly innovative, seeks its expression in the radicalism of a personal creative adventure

The exhibition of Collectif 212 in the Casa Árabe de Madrid (Arabic House) did not aim to provide a comprehensive overview of the art of Morocco, a country with an extremely complex history. This decision was based on personal engagement and complicity. I left it up to my memory to select the pictures. Of course, mine is a Western-molded memory, but I strove to forget the mirroring of a Europe that is blinded by the holy hallucination that ubiquitously dominates its art trapped in narcissism. It is a gaze also contaminated by the present-day acceleration of communication and by a haughty ethnocentrism. I’m sure I will find agreement that a visual vocabulary is developing in Morocco that is directly tied to the production of the youngest generation of Western artists and that gives the impression that there is already fundamentally a single visual language all over the world. The paths of communication between the continents have shortened in unprecedented manner, and interdependence continues to increase. Western art is opening itself to the refreshing external impulses because the works coming from elsewhere have a very special attraction.

Collectif 212 contributes identity and personality to the art of our day. The names of the members of the group are appearing more and more frequently in the international art scene, because their works are being included in major exhibitions and biennials. In this group, which can serve others as a model and reference point, all benefit from this fruitful connection. Viewing the works of the individual artists, one notes that the latest forms of expression cannot be attributed equally and in every case to all, and that mutual influences are not always obvious. Although no particularly tendency predominates in the group, there are correlations that can in no way be regarded solely as generational coincidences. The group members all exhibit, among other things, the “expressive minimalism” described by Bernard Collet. They developed it when forming their critical consciousness and have expressed it in various statements. Collectif 212 is open for all artistic manifestations. One of its aims is to join forces to bring Moroccan art out of a period of limitations and mediocrity primarily caused by a pessimism resulting from the social, political, and economic situation. These are representatives of a new generation of Moroccan artists who are advancing, questioning, and entering into dialog with their culture. When viewing their works, one is immediately struck by those created with contrasting media, techniques, and forms of expression and tied to the ability to convey a kind of energy that is connected directly with life today and projected into the future: the artistic creation of a special, unique form of life that places itself in relation to other individual ways of living – that of the viewer – as well as to what one regards as collective and social life.

Beyond the members’ artistic ambition, Collectif 212 wants to be a movement with ethical anchoring and activity oriented toward shaking up creativity in Morocco, activity that takes new and promising directions. The artistic rank of the participants passes every test; and even more important is that these artists are co-actors on the highest level in a process of change in Morocco. One of their most important messages is that an artistic renewal is always possible when it takes place as the collective effort of those who are ready to share their experience and set off in new directions.

Hichem Driss - Through the Coasts

2009-07-24T21:06:00.002-07:00

When questioned about his work "Through the Coasts", Hichem Driss is quite reserved. He will give us technical information and provide an explanation as to why in this case he chose to work with a simple apparatus from the early days of photography. He mentions that this series was realised on the Mediterranean coast of rocks and that, to realise the piece, he built a pinhole camera for Polaroid 4 x 5 inch film. Driss likes to experiment: he first used a pinhole camera in 1999 with the idea that he wanted to exploit the possibility of taking photographs with both his eyes and his mind. The pinhole camera enables him to catch what the human eye would never be able to see. Without lens, the image is softer and presents a distorted perspective. Everything that moves can disappear from the photos for lack of time to impregnate the photosensitive surface; on the coast, only the rocks will be well defined for their stillness within the wilderness of the sky and sea. Driss says that the technical blur enables us to wipe out any spatial or temporal landmarks in order to propose the notion of immortality and timelessness.

Any further interpretation of "Through the Coasts" is up to the viewer; it is up to us to take these beautiful and compelling images for straightforward nature studies or to run a line of associations from their allegorical values to current events.

Due to its geographical situation, Tunisia has always served as a natural passage between Africa and Europe. Already around 800 BC, Phoenicians from Tyre recognized the strategic value of the Mediterranean coastline, founding the city of Carthage (now Tunis) that was rapidly to develop into an important trading seaport. Carthage was destroyed twice but rose again from the ashes and is today one of the world's greatest archaeological and architectural treasures. Its power waned with the Roman Empire, but its ruins still inspire a sense of the magnificence of the past.

In recent years the gloriously mythical coasts of Tunisia that are traditionally highly valued by tourism have made the headlines for quite a different phenomenon, itself however also linked to the geographical situation. Lack of any future prospects, unemployment, poverty, and sheer desperation has been inciting people to leave the African continent with the wish to reach the European Eldorado of their dreams. The Tunisian coastline is the major point of departure for ships taking these clandestine passengers towards the coasts of Europe or specifically to destinations on the Italian shores. Visa restrictions lead to illegal emigration attempts, unscrupulous trafficking of people, and a tragic death toll at sea.

The photos of Hichem Driss show that the imposing beauty of nature is inherent with dramatic danger. The irregular wide-angle images document the strong wind and rough sea and emphasize the spectacular appearance but abysmal threat of nature. The small formats underline a kind of intimacy: even though this nature is void of any trace of human or animal life, the images have obviously been taken by someone who had to face these natural powers. Anyone can make a pinhole camera and the resulting print fits in any pocket. These photos could be read as revealing the emigrants’ feelings before leaving the African continent for a dangerous and illegal voyage.

This is what I see in the series of photos "Through the Coasts". But the images are open to various interpretations. Driss avoids direct provocation or open criticism. He simply shows the ambivalence between a magical atmosphere and brutal reality. It is the choice of subject only that can suggest political involvement. Similarly, Driss has also realised other poetical contributions documenting scenes from Tunisia in which tradition and modern ethics clash.

Rachid Koraïchi: The Path of Roses

2009-07-24T21:06:00.001-07:00

In June 2001, we went to the press conference of the exhibition "Authentic/Ex-centric" curated by Salah Hassan and Olu Oguibe in the context of the 49th Venice Biennale. We got there too early and Rachid Koraïchi was in the still empty room, putting a last hand to his installation "The Path of Roses". He slowly kneeled down in front of each ceramic basin to scatter rose petals into the water as if it were a liturgical act.
We did not exactly know the meaning of the steel sculptures and gold thread embroideries on silk, embodying - in the true sense of the word - calligraphy. We did, however, suspect something of the metaphysical dimension of the complex ensemble; the respective essay in the catalogue was a revelation. It enables a deeper understanding of Rachid Koraïchi’s work in its introduction to the multi-faceted spiritual world it comes from.
Gerhard Haupt and Pat Binder

Rachid Koraïchi: A Celestial Architecture
By Maryline Lostia

Particular and unique groups have taught us to see ourselves as particular and unique beings, believing in our own ineluctability, taking ourselves to be one and only. To remain one and only, you have to block out all others, and thus, mimetically, systems are reproduced. And the act of resistance rightly consists in not falling into the trap and in saying that to be an artist is to be several and that no one holds truth captive.
Rachid Koraïchi [1]

Writing Worship

Born in the Aurés region of Algeria in 1947, Rachid Koraïchi grew up in a Sufi family. This fact is important in understanding the sacred place he accords to writing and signs. From his earliest childhood, even before he could read, he turned his gaze to the Arabic writing present in his home on illuminated pages in old books decorated with arabesques. Full of marvel and mystery, these books were kept away from children, a fact that did not fail to arouse the boy's curiosity.

Early in the morning, before the regular school day began, the Koraïchi family would send the three-year-old boy to zawia, the traditional school for the study of the Qur'an.The teacher or taleb would ask the children to recite the Qur'anic verses that had been inscribed the evening before on a wooden palimpsest. Then the memorized text was erased from the board, which was thus prepared to receive the tracing of other letters studiously applied by the child, carefully holding between his fingers the qalam, the writing reed, so unforgiving of mistakes. This early apprenticeship, characteristic in Arab-Islamic culture, unquestionably established in the child a profound attachment to the act of writing.

This attitude that connected the act of writing to the sacred was reinforced by the religious text itself. In the passage of the Qur'an describing Creation, the world comes into being through the divine word. The Arabic letters kaf and nûn are the two signs that command Creation (these two letters, which constitute the imperative of Creation, correspond to the 'fiat' of Christian tradition). From that moment on, the power accorded to the word by religious tradition is immense. Words engender Being as well as the reality of everything that surrounds us.

In the beginning was the sign, and it is more than likely that humanity itself also began with signs. We find signs inscribed in the first rock paintings at Tassili; these are the first faltering gestures of writing. The beauty of these prehistoric works fascinated Koraïchi.

Jamel Eddine Bencheikh describes Koraïchi's work as écriture passion ('writing passion'). This 'writing passion' may be understood in several senses. First, it may be explained by the artist's interest in texts from the mystic traditions of Islam, texts whose import he will take up again in his own work. It may also be explained by the related work he did with his friends, Mohammed Dib, Bencheikh and the Palestinian poet laureate Mahmoud Darwish, but also with René Char and Michel Butor, showing that different cultures may be enriched and nourished by their mutual encounters. "ln the space of the studio, one comes to our work as in a one-to-one confrontation. But in reality, that work is irrigated by and ramified in the reflection and labor of others," [2] Koraïchi says in an interview. Over the course of his career, the characters of a personal alphabet have proliferated, investing his work with a force by which letters become signs, or by which signs come to life in the form of personages (and in such instances we may understand that the human figure is a sign among other signs, created and named, as is the case with other message-bearing letters).

The dizzying replication of letters and signs reveals the drunken play of many entangled elements; echoes rebound off one another and multiply. The artist seems to be animated by the folly of repetition. If this is so, it is because the spiritual world is as infinite as his quest. How, then, as signs that give form to desired beauty, can finite words attain and encompass this spiritual world? In his quest, Koraïchi echoes the same concerns as Sufi writers over the centuries who have wondered how words, images or signs can truly interpret the mysteries envisioned in ecstatic contemplation.

The work of Koraïchi makes us see two essential and contradictory aspects inherent in the letter and the sign. By the infinite compositions that a set of signs or letters may engender, reality is created and totality constituted. But this totality, no matter how hard we try to hold onto it by running through all the possible combinations of letters or signs, will always escape from us, because that totality is infinite and too rich, and because that totality is also multiplicity.

Materials of Memory

Arab-Islamic civilization is characterized by a love of the divine word. The sura of the Qur'an are ceaselessly chanted. The divine Word, stunning in its lyricism, is copied over and over again, embedding itself, painting itself. Calligraphic works in which letters spring to life with animal and vegetable forms cover objects of all descriptions: papyrus manuscripts, the façades of Qasabah, enameled ceramics, talismans in copper or bronze, the domes of mosques and prayer rugs. Everything becomes available as the support for the sacred word. Proud of this tradition, which has inscribed itself in him, Rachid Koraïchi distinguishes himself from other artists in his choice of material supports. Of course, he does not forget easel and canvas, but he seldom uses it. Instead of enumerating the kinds of supporting ground on which Koraïchi has applied his efforts, one would have an easier time asking which ones he has not made use of. If clouds and the sea or wind, in their immensity, have evaded him as supports on which to inscribe his marks, they have nonetheless symbolically incarnated in his works. Furthermore, Koraïchi makes use of the flight of birds to draw pathways leading to the sky, and these pathways between heaven and earth, invisible to us, have as much material reality for him as the markings of a pen.

In other works, Koraïchi takes the natural phenomenon of light and tames it. Natural light in return draws its ephemeral traces for him. In such a way, the shadows that his sculptures throw on the walls multiply his works by re-casting and re-drawing them.This alliance with the sun allows the artist to give another life to what he creates, as if, once finished, this artistic creation draws on its own vital energy to engender other works over time. For example, his personage-signs sculpted in steel are doubled by their shadows, which seem to act autonomously in laying themselves all over the ground, overlapping and intermingling, only to disappear at the end of the day to be reborn on the next. Even light and space function as invisible supports.

Renewing his aims with an ancient tradition that did not distinguish between artist and artisan, Rachid Koraïchi celebrates objects fashioned by artisans. He has often worked with people whose timeless craftsmanship he admires. Among many others, one might mention the potters of Jerba who, with their ancestral know-how, extract from the earth clay jars whose simple beauty seduces us. Koraïchi has a similar appreciation for the skill of the embroiderer Fadila Barrada of Casablanca, whose examples of worked indigo linen may be admired in this exhibition.[3] The list of objects is long: vases, shallow ceramic basins for ritual ablutions, enameled plates, wool rugs, ornamented and embroidered fabrics in silk or linen, kaftans (women's traditional dress). Revisited, all the artisan forms that Koraïchi employs in his work come to new life, as if fitted and adorned with a woven garment where the interlaced threads unfurl in exuberant lines, modeling themselves into the signs and sentences that make up his universe. In this immense variety of forms and supports, the integrity of his style confers a unique identity on his objects.

The Quraishite

Koraïchi's name predestined him to his work, since the quraishite is the individual whose inherited responsibility it is to transmit the meaning of the divine message of the Qur'an through some hermeneutic device. Koraïchi's work with signs links him to this ancestral vocation and leads him to examine individual elements of the text. In this inquiry and throughout his work, he attempts to disentangle one of the seven esoteric meanings of the sacred text. One of the hadith (a sacred word transmitted by the prophet but not written down in the Qur'an) affirms: 'The Qur'an has an exoteric and an esoteric meaning. This esoteric meaning itself has an esoteric meaning, and so on, for seven esoteric meanings.' Koraïchi focuses on the signs and symbols that have been transmitted through several civilizations, then invents other possibilities.

Such procedure might appear a little fanciful, but put into the context of a certain Arabic legend, it assumes another dimension. It is said that the Arabic alphabet was formerly composed of all the letters we are familiar with and, in addition, seven other letters that have since been lost. [4] The ensemble of letters in their entirety conferred on whoever possessed them the power to answer all questions. Tradition recounts that the lost letters fell under the table and disappeared. It is these missing letters that have withheld from us the ability to deciphering the ultimate meaning of existence. Reality, like meaning, has plural existences.

Between the lines, as it were, we note that although the quraishite's vocation is to transmit the message of the Qur'an, it is also his duty to show that this message does not exist. For instance, contrary to conventional wisdom, although tradition has forbidden the representation of figurative images in the mosques, Islamic dogma does not bar artists from the use of figuration. Islam is an aniconistic religion, not an iconoclastic one. In other words, the representation of figurative images is not prohibited; it is their adoration that is condemned. Koraïchi, who is thoroughly immersed in Muslim culture, understands this difference, and therefore denounces the twisted, contrary interpretations to which Islam has been subjected. Profoundly attached to the beauty of Qur'anic message, he reiterates and invigorates the Sufi tradition, which is the bearer of a life-enhancing message of tolerance and openness.

The Way of Correspondences

The story of the encounter between Koraïchi, a contemporary artist and Maulana Jalal ad-Din Rumi, a thirteenth century mystic and founder of the order of whirling dervishes, is one of a culmination of many long journeys, rich in deviations and travel companions. One might say that Koraïchi is a good artist to go 'on the road' with, a companion who makes the way more beautiful, narrowing it through a game of mirrors until one place indicates another point of departure, which is in turn enriched by a new encounter. On his way to Rumi, Koraïchi is accompanied by two other Sufi thinkers: Ibn Arabi and al-'Attar. To the former, Rachid Koraïchi has devoted a traveling exhibition entitled Letters of Clay. This exhibition commemorated the work of Ibn al-Arabi with an itinerary that begins in Damascus, where he is buried, and follows in reverse the path of his life as far as Murcia in Spain. Koraïchi has rendered homage as well to al-'Attar, author of The Conference of Birds. Koraïchi's installations in the gardens of Chaumont in 1998 and 1999 revealed the invisible routes traced by birds in flight between sky and earth.

Al-'Attar and Ibn Arabi are like Ariadne's thread, leading to a specific place and to a specific man. That man is Maulana Jalal ad-Din Rumi. The intersecting itineraries of these men share in one historical fact: at the time of a long trip with his family, seven-year-old Rumi met al-'Attar, who presented him with The Book of Secrets as a gift. Throughout his life, Rumi would greatly admire and cherish the older man, and write that the master had journeyed to the Seven Cities of Love, meaning that he eventually attained spiritual fulfillment. Did Rumi meet Ibn al-Arabi, on the other hand? Only legend would have it so, though the meeting of minds is undeniable. Ibn Arabi traveled to Qonya in the course of the year 1210. His teachings developed in the city, thanks to the most influential of his disciples, Saddredin al Qunawi. It is also at Qonya that the most reliable manuscripts of the works of Ibn al-Arabi have been preserved. Ripe with spiritual opportunities and endowed with a long-standing aesthetic tradition, located at a cross-roads where the paths of great mystics intersected, having cradled Hittite civilization and welcomed two thousand years later one of the most fervent disciples of Christ, Saint Paul, the sacred city of Qonya reached its apogee in the 13th century in an exceptional climate of exchange among diverse religious beliefs. This city stood for openness and tolerance, and it is there that Rumi settled and later founded the monastic order of whirling dervishes, the Mawlawiya.

The inexhaustible spiritual world of Rumi has enthralled Koraïchi the artist for long. The Path of Roses (Le Chemin de Roses), his first exhibition devoted to the scholar and held in Ankara in December 1999, included twenty-eight basins for ritual ablutions, ornamented with texts from Rumi and pertaining to his philosophy. Another exhibition in Morocco, entitled The Path of Roses II included linen ribbons embroidered with Rumi's words, twenty-eight steel sculptures measuring ninety-eight centimeters and ninetyeight sign-symbols measuring twenty-eight centimeters. In the installation the artist played with the intersection of shadows, their transience symbolizing the ephemeral character of life in contrast to the permanence and stability of the steel figures of Humanity forever standing in the sun. The latest installation brings together different works that Koraïchi has executed over the past two years, also in homage to the Sufi master.

Rumi and the Songs of the Mirror

Maulana Jalal ad-Din Rumi's philosophy accords an important place to poetry, music and dance. If the arts are the object of constant admiration, it is because they are the means of acceding to the divine, and afford us to the beauty of Being. To better understand this, one has to think of God as the Artist Creator par excellence. The creation of the world is the living work of the greatest artist, yet in creating the world, God did nothing other than create a mirror, as demonstrated in the hadith qudsi (sacred word) in which God says, "I was a hidden treasure, and I desired to be known. I created the world in order to be known by it." [5]

Rumi saw in the original act of the Creator the will to communicate His transcendence. According to him, "The artist demonstrates his talent so that we may believe in him and recognize his capacities." [6] But if the world is the mirror of epiphany in which the glory of Being is reflected, this same world is made divine because it reflects divine Beauty: "The totality of forms is only a reflection in the water of the stream: if your eyes were open, you would know that in reality all forms are He." [7] Hence, immanence and transcendence are not two separate phenomena: they are complementary aspects of the same Reality.

The Artist-Mirror

In the Rumi tradition of Sufi mysticism, the artist unveils the beauty of Creation, thereby bringing us closer to Being. The best artist, according to the master, is the one most adept at reflecting Creation. The passivity of the artistic mind as the contemplator of beauty is illustrated by a parable that Rumi tells in his work, Mathnawi: in order to pick the best artists a sultan set up a contest between the Chinese and the Greeks, giving each an opposite wall to decorate. A curtain separated them.The Chinese deployed all their graphic talents, while the Greeks tirelessly shined their wall day after day. Once the curtain was raised, it was the reflection of the Chinese frescoes on the polished wall of the Greeks that aroused the most admiration. The Greeks, for Rumi, were the authentic artists; the purity of the mirror evoked the purity of their hearts, which had the capacity to receive innumerable images. As for the artist, so for the saint, for according to Rumi "the perfect saint preserves within himself the infinite form without form of the Invisible as reflected in the mirror of his own heart." [8]

The artist, then, is the mirror reflecting transcendence: through his reflections we are permitted to contemplate the Beauty of Being. This contemplation is precious. Through it, our eyes become accustomed to the image of a higher Beauty, a Beauty otherwise inaccessible because its inherent purity is too great for our eyes. The artist becomes the mediator between this divine essence and us.

This concept of artistic creation as a mediating presence could only be seductive to the quraishite, the interpreter and scribe. Tradition requires that Qur'anic verses and the texts of the mystics be written as if they were reflected in a mirror, so that the meaning is veiled to those who do not understand it. To access the meaning of a text therefore requires concentration and purification, for the sacred word is too precious to be easily divulged. Rachid Koraïchi is faithful to this tradition, and applies it to his renditions of Rumi's texts. Like a companion to the great mystic, Koraïchi reflects certain fragments of his poems. If for Koraïchi, artistic creation consists in the will to make oneself a mirror to the beauty and culture that surround us, there is also in him the temptation of the demiurge who gives life to his creations. In a number of works he uses the mirror effect so that if the works were folded along a central line, they could be super-imposed with exact symmetry, just as the palm of the right hand can be super-imposed over its reflection, which is the left palm. The message of this is that every living being constitutes on its left side the reflection of its right. The artist is effaced before this re-created beauty, which, through the game of mirrors, is imbued with a life and movement of its own.

All artistic forms are a means of acceding to transcendence, a way of seizing the unity of Creation through universal sympathy. Neither the religious meditations of the Qur'an nor rational knowledge accord us privileged access to Being. In contrast, music, poetry and dance are not only testimonials to the grandeur of the Creator, but also modes of communion in which all Creation may participate.

Metaphysics of the Arts

Music, according to Rumi, is a mystical activity in tune with a sacred cosmos where all Creation celebrates the glory of God. In this way the entire Universe comes together to sing the triumphal joy of Creation: "I see the waters that gush from their springs... the branches of the trees that dance like penitents, the leaves that clap their hands like minstrels." [9] As creation celebrates its Creator, music is also a setting forth, with the musical scale [10] symbolizing the ascension of all Creation: "From the moment when you came into the world of existence, a ladder was placed in front of you so that you could escape. At first you were mineral, then you became plant; then you became animal: how would you be unaware of it? Then you were human, endowed with cognition, reason, and faith. Consider this body pulled from out of the dust: what perfection it has acquired." [11] Even mineral life participates - at the lowest rung of the ladder in the lowest note of the scale - in a song raised up toward human perfection. But this great symphony also lets itself be interpreted as the echo of the divine voice reverberating from macrocosm to microcosm.

To this fleeting art, the most beautiful because it is the most metaphysical, Rachid Koraïchi is undeniably sensitive. Even if they seem rudimentary because they sound only a single note, the ritual ablution bowls in his installations are like the shells of porcelain that charm the ear of the artist. In his creations Koraïchi gathers the breadth of notes, from the ting of the voice of porcelain, which resonates like a tuning fork, to the varied and spontaneous songs of the birds for which the artist created a garden in homage to al-'Attar. [12] If music is celebrated in Koraïchi's work, so too is poetry. Poetry is musical creation, which brings with it the creation of images. Transcendence is not spoken but celebrated in poetry or chanted in prayer: it is the musicality of the Verb. The same holds true for the act of writing, which finds form in calligraphy or in the embroidery of golden thread so as to render homage to the text. Rachid Koraïchi re-transcribes the Rumi's texts, be they from the Mystic Odes, Mathnawi, or The Book of the Inside, by repeating them to infinity, as if the poems were a prayer or an incantation to the Divine.

Inseparable from music, dance is more than any other artistic form linked to Rumi.The idea of dance as an aesthetic doorway to communion with the Divine may at first be surprising. We have become accustomed to thinking of the carnal envelope of the body as the eternal prison of the soul, weighing the soul down, distancing us from spirituality. We forget, however, that the body is part of Creation; the body is the spirit's anchor point in the world. The posture of the turning dervish, with one hand stretched toward the sky, and the other turned toward earth, suggests the central position of the human. "Consider this body pulled from the dust: what perfection it has acquired." [13] The human body thus marks its ascension above the vegetable and animal realms.The dance of the Mawlawi symbolically celebrates the whole of Creation, from the macrocosm to the microcosm. Its movement describes the solar system as a cosmic round in the middle of which every being, like a rotating planet, turns around itself, but the dance also describes the higher levels of ascension attained by Being. According to the Mawlawi, this circular dance is the secret of origin and return, a dance that invites us to return with serenity to the place we have come from. In the gentle and soothing movement of the dance, death loses its tragic form, for when the dancers throw off their black cloaks and toques, symbolizing the tomb, it is so that they may accede to the angelic order, clothed in white, in a supreme gesture of self-surpassing: "When you will have started your voyage from the human condition, you will without any doubt become an angel. When you will have finished with the earth, your dwelling will be the sky. Go beyond the level of the angel: penetrate into this ocean, so that your drop of water may become a vaster sea ..." [14] Death is beautiful and light, like a dance that, in its movement, carries us higher.

There is the same wisdom, the same jovial acceptance of all of life's motions, in Rachid Koraïchi's work. Whether his movements be the expression of desires and drives or of pain, he finds resolution in a kind of amor fati that is, in a sense, a resignation to the turmoil that dominates the course of our sensate lives. Koraïchi takes the movements of the dervishes and fixes them in steel and on the interior surfaces of ritual bowls; he takes dance and turns it into a rhythmic sequence of successive immobilities. An attentive observer will find the same kind of circular animation in his drawings also: spinning rapidly, the point- symbol of the Unity of Being-gives rise to concentric lines just like a stone tossed into water creates lines of waves on its surface. These concentric circles are like the successive strata that must be mounted in order to travel up the universal ladder of Creation. The entire installation takes up the motif of point and circles like a refrain, recalling that the world and man, in their movements along the circle of existence, owe their appearance to the manifestation of divine Being. The lines of the drawings are inscribed on a ground for which Rachid Koraïchi has chosen the color blue, thus suggesting the vaults of heaven as described by Rumi. The indigo blue used in the fabric of the linen bands embroidered echoes the famous Blue Koran in Cairo. Just as the sura of the Blue Koran are written in gold letters, here a multitude of golden threads intertwine in embroidered letters to underscore the beauty of the message passed on by Rumi.

'Complete faith is pleasure and passion'

Koraïchi and Rumi are connected by a similar mystical vision of love. The Christian distinction between concupiscent love and benevolent love - that trench dug between sensual love, ugly because it is attached to the senses, and a higher form of love - is an arbitrary division. For Rumi, pleasure is no more to be scorned than the flesh: both are parties to Creation. "Happy the soul awakened from sleep by caresses! These caresses render it joyous, the soul tastes this pleasure." [14] The separation between soul and body is not meaningful. 'Carnal' pleasure engages the entire being, and mingles with aesthetic pleasure. To be captivated by beauty is to answer to our calling:

His two gazelle-like eyes capture lions.
They bring a rain of arrows down on me.
The arch of his eyebrows and the dart of his eyelashes
Attest that it is he who is master of my life.
If I am made distraught by his wild hair,
It is because its perfume intoxicates more than amber or musk.
If my soul hides in his hair and mingles in its thickness,
It is because my soul is held captive in the chains of his tresses. [15]

When Rumi says of al-'Attar that the latter had traveled to the Seven Cities of Love, there is room to imagine that just as there exists a ladder in Creation, Love offers its own different levels: "Love is the philosopher's stone that carries out transmutations. It transforms dust into a treasure of spiritual meaning." [16]

The reader coming from occidental culture can only be struck at first glance by how, within the philosophy evoked here, love strips down the ego. If there is transmutation, it is in the form of an effacement of individuality. Love does not address itself to a particular person; it is love of the attributes present. There is no demand to be loved for oneself as an individual, because the one who loves belongs to a greater Love and renounces the self as a unique being. "Be drunk with love, for love is all that is; without love, no one has the right to enter the house of the Beloved. They say, 'What is love?' Reply: 'The renunciation of will itself.'" [17]

The one who has unveiled the mystery of love,
Is no longer, for he has disappeared in love. [18]

These notions of the negation of individuality and of timelessness recur in the steel sculptures of Koraïchi's installation for Venice. Standing straight and firm in the light, the steel forms seem to hold eternity captive. But what is inalterable is Being, or generation. There is a radical difference between the solidity of humanity represented standing in the sun, and the fragile traces of those beings that are shown moving about on the ground in the game of projected shadows, traces that are effaced as individuals replace others in succession. As Koraïchi says, "whatever the circumstances, there is continuity."

The shadows intermingle in a stratagem that keeps them out on the ground. They intertwine and meld into one another. The sun, like Love, enables the proximity and congresses. Yet the shadows infinitely fall on the ground, as if lying in death, but what does it matter, since humanity will always stand on the threshold of the present by appealing to other shadows projected by the light of the sun?

Conclusions

The alliance between mystic poet and artist blossoms into a bewitched infatuation with all the arts. If Rachid Koraïchi integrates other artistic forms into his installations, it is in order to show us the richness of such alliances. We find the same notion in Jalal ad-Din Rumi for whom the aesthetic and the metaphysical can never be separated, in the sense that art is the setting out on a journey toward the Divine. Our gaze being insufficiently pure to turn directly toward divine light, art, which is sensitive to the illuminations of the Divine, becomes an intermediary giving us a way to imagine what divine Beauty might be like.

"Life is art," Koraïchi says simply in a book devoted to him. In fact, life is never beautiful; only images are, once the mirror of art and metaphysics has transformed them. Koraïchi fully and completely embraces this lesson that reminds us of Schopenhauer. In order to make life imperishable or worth living, we need to either feel the redemptive beauty of transcendence or retain life's beautiful illusion, which, by the fascination it exerts, can rip us out of the profane world. Rachid Koraïchi himself creates the beauty that he finds essential, in order to enchant, in the space of an instant, our aesthetic sensibility. Our eyes are drawn to the signs of his universe; the music surrounds us in the mystical atmosphere appropriate to Sufi, and the sense of smell is enlisted as well in this convocation of senses: rose water poured into ablution bowls invites us to take part in another form of refinement. One instant of this aesthetic hymn, in which we escape the weight of our existence, is an instant of eternity.

Adel Abdessemed and his "God is design"

2009-07-24T21:05:00.002-07:00

The exhibition "God is design" at L'appartement 22 shows just one artwork of the same name - a video projection in the main space. Access to L'appartement 22 is via a corridor where the visitor can read the title of the show. In the space of the video projection, the public can consult the artist's books ("Question nary", "The green book", "Global"…). The sound of the video is voluntarily very powerful in order to cover the noises of the surroundings. Indeed, the exhibition space is located right in the centre of Rabat, just opposite the parliament, where demonstrators regularly assemble waving slogans demanding rights, or giving voice against the war and some other Moroccan or international political actions.

"God is design" is an animated video, a bit more than four minutes long (4'08''), created from black and white drawings of ornamental motifs capturing the symbols of the three large monotheist religions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) together with symbols from the diagram of the human cell, wrapping themselves around each other to the rhythm of inebriating music, edging on to a sonant hallucination. The video was realized in 2005, a few years after leaving New York due to the "unliveable" atmosphere set off by 9/11 (2001). The artist felt unwanted in this city because of the amalgam made by a large majority of Americans in considering that all Arabs, Muslims, and people from the Middle East, are high-power potential terrorists.

On the occasion of a meeting in Paris, Abdessemed not only speaks of art, he also expresses concern for worldwide problems: "In 2050 we will be nine billion, get prepared my friend" he throws in!

When the artist proposes a work, he doesn't treat the public like a target, but shares his experience, expresses his vision and his concept of the world. From the black screen, on which the artist projects interrelations between his works, to the Utopian project of building a space for free expression in Jerusalem, "Dazibao" (2006) seems to spread out in the mediatory space/time of the exhibition, making light or blurring any traces of the approach of the artist-philosopher. The black wall the artist uses for the weaving network of his exhibitions enables us to visualize the interconnection between the works and give them a philosophical body. From this dark and mysterious zone, works with fire, soil and other immaterial realizations emerge. The keys to understand Abdessemed's work are held in eyes liberated from formal prejudice. Art is an experience that leaves only confounded traces.

The method employed by Adel Abdessemed for his film "God is design" is admittedly based on the notion of interlace design but developed through the practice of critical philosophy. The artist foresees the future of the world and experiments with "Nuclear Poetry" in which the sublimed signs of the three monotheist religions are set in correspondence with representations of human body cells. The sound reel of the video, composed on commission by the artist Silvia Ocougne, is a poetic collision of musical phrases evoking the infinite possibilities of chance encounter.

The approach via interconnection of references used by the artist in this video is already to be found in "MohammedKarlPolpot" (1999), one of Abdessemed's emblematic works where he claims a multiple state of existence, a choice of mobility together with an alertness for the state of the world and its connecting parts.

Adel Abdessemed left Algeria in 1994 by political choice. "When there is no peace an quiet at home, you have to go somewhere else, otherwise it is the death of your soul. The essential thing is to act, to fight, and to create in order to transform the world." He is an artist who is demanding and generous. The artist draws the subjects in his work from his personal history of exile and from his relationship with the world. In touching on taboos and interdictions, he is also "acting against the laws and morals" established to the sole end of restricting life. These art investment spaces are places of life and pleasure (street, bathroom, bar…). Since he has been back in Paris, Abdessemed has his studio in Rue Lemercier. He ordered six wild boar to that address, "The seven brothers" (2006), the seventh had run away. A cat devoured a rat on this very same pavement and enabled the video "Birth of love" (2006).

Abdessemed is a committed artist who goes to the limits of the legal and illegal in order to "burst the barriers". Morals are a "sensitive zone" touched by both the artist and the philosopher. Exile is therefore of a cultural nature.

Abdessemed creates a universe that integrates references to mythology and employs technologies, thereby totally liberating religion from its cultural origins. Man is fundamentally a nomad; his behaviour is to destroy artificial frontiers. The work is also about overcoming taboos and the crushing conventions reigning in the totalitarian and exclusive systems that are the political and policed heritages not lacking in our societies.

Abdessemed is an international and manifold artist, heroic like Ulysses. Each one of his works is a resolution, on the scale of both an aesthetic experience and a political proposition.

Adel Abdessemed and his "God is design"

2009-07-24T21:05:00.001-07:00

Samta Benyahia: Architecture of the Veil

2009-07-24T21:04:00.001-07:00

The veil: symbol of modesty, privacy and femininity, but also cultural, religious and political emblem. Samta Benyahia lifts this headscarf, so charged in what some claim to be today’s clash between Islam and the West, to reveal the life of women in North Africa.

For the Paris-based Algerian-French artist, this endeavor reaches far beyond a geographic region, as she draws "from a heritage where several civilizations have appeared one after the other in North Africa: Berber, Africa, Arab, Western. All of these layers form the richness of this [region]."

For her first solo museum exhibition in the United States, Benyahia presents a site-specific installation spread across the entrance doors and encircling the inner courtyard of the Fowler Museum in Los Angeles. Inspired by the Fowler’s Andalusian-like architecture, the artist applies tulle and electrostatic film printed with mashrabiya [1] on doors and windows, and surrounds the museum’s Galleria courtyard with sixty large sequin-embroidered rosettes.

The mashrabiya, usually wooden screens used to separate women from men, "divides outside and inside, public space and private space, plays with light and heat by forming an auspicious shadow, plays with this situation that allows to observe outside without being seen, thus evoking a welcome intimacy," she explains in a telephone interview. "Fatima," the rosette-like pattern printed on these screens, is also a common women's name in North Africa. Mashrabiya were prevalent in the early 20th century, at a time when women were often kept from public view.

This refined and simplified Arab Andalusian pattern "has become the leading pattern of my work," says Benyahia. "I began using it in 1992, during Algeria’s 'black years.' Women were on the frontline and for me, it was important to integrate a female presence in the installations." Algeria’s civil war of the 1990s claimed over 150,000 lives. By then, Benyahia had moved to Paris, where she has lived since 1988. She had previously studied at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs in Paris (1974-1980) and taught at the Ecole Supérieure des Beaux Arts in Algiers (1980-1988).

"I live in both countries, I straddle both countries, I need both countries," she affirms. "Living, discovering life here [in Paris] made me question myself on identity — who I am, where I come from. It was about making this link; this passage, this coming and going between the two shores is what I try to impart through my work." This theme is evidenced in almost every aspect of Benyahia’s work, from the recurrent theme of the condition of women, to the key role adaptation to the local environment plays in her installations, to the use of archival images.

In a smaller, more intimate space at the Fowler Museum, the artist hung eight large early 20th century black-and-white photographs of Algerian women, drawn from old photographs of her family members — including herself, her aunt and her mother — and those of her friends. When viewing the photographs from the inner courtyard, one must gaze through the mashrabiya, thus reversing roles.

In addition to the Arab Andalusian architectural motifs and photographs, the visitor can also hear recordings of music, poems and chants recited in French and Arabic throughout the installation, thus creating a complete environment where the visitor is entirely submerged in Benyahia’s world. Poems can be heard by Algerian poet, playwright and novelist Kateb Yacine who, like Benyahia, was born in the Northeastern city of Constantine to a family with Berber origins. In another bridge between East and West, Benyahia worked with embroiderers from Constantine to create the large embroidered rosettes surrounding the courtyard.

Reflecting on her own postcolonial experience of displacement, the artist introduces elements of the multi-layered Algerian identity in a Western environment. "I inhabit the space that presents itself to me. The mashrabiya symbolize a way to meet, to converse, to exchange," she explains. "Whenever I have a project, I bring my plans but I like to be in the space to then adapt the project… It brings me closer to the public."

The particular arrangements here allow the mashrabiya to capture the light, at times casting shadows against the Fowler’s walls and the photographs of women. Furthermore, the Andalusian architecture of the Fowler Museum provided an auspicious space for Benyahia’s installation, allowing her to "reconstitute the space of [North African] women." She highlights that the museum’s architecture "corresponded perfectly to my concept: the square space surrounded by rooms overlooking magnificent large bay windows, an open patio open to the sky with a fountain, the transparent windows, the water, the light… which allowed me for the first time to place my work in a real context."

In the center of the inner courtyard, she has placed 40 meters (131 feet) of tulle that form a wave-like movement in a water fountain. When it rains, the tulle becomes completely submerged by water. Seen from above, its intense navy blue hue recalls the deep blue of the Mediterranean Sea. "It is an installation that lives with time because my work is also very much concerned with time as well," she says. Whether one views the installation during the day or after nightfall therefore reveals a completely different experience.

Against the background of a contemporary context where collective identities are favored, where differences are held up rather than similarities, Benyahia also seeks to counter common misconceptions and misunderstandings. "In light of the current events developing right now, I also like to present a different image of what we can think of the woman, of Arab women," she says. "There is not only violence; there is also culture… It is only this way, through my art, that I can show it." She also underscores her concern with transmitting to the public the constant expansion of her fields of reflection.

And so we are brought to explore not only gender and space, but also a measured dialogue between light and shadow, public and private, ext

Pontevedra Art Biennial 2008 - Without borders: Hispanic - Maghreb Artistic Convergences

2009-07-24T21:03:00.000-07:00

As a continuation of the ideas endeavoured to propitiate interterritorial dialogue, overcoming localist visions, which have defined the Pontevedra Art Biennial's format in recent times, this year's edition is dedicated to North Africa (particularly Morocco, Algeria and Tunesia) based on the historical links which exist between the Iberian Peninsula, and the Central Maghreb.

29 artists have been selected by the curator, Abdelkrim Ouazzan from Morocco, and his three advisors: Mohammed Djehiche for Algeria, Xosé Lens for Spain and Rachida Triki for Tunisia.

Participants:

Algeria:
Kader Attia, Rachida Azdaou, Fatima Chafaa, Amina Menia, Omar Meziani, Amina Zoubir

Morocco:
Hicham Benohoud, Mbarek Bouhchichi, Bilal Chrif, Safaa Erruas, Mounir Fatmi, Khalil El Ghrib, Jamila Lamrani, Said Messari, Younès Rahmoun, Ilias Selfati

Spain:
Pablo Gallego Picard, Amaya González Reyes, Félix Fernández, Xosé Freixanes, Abigail Lázkoz, Carme Nogueira, Carlos Rodríguez Méndez

Tunesia:
Mouna Jemal, Nadia Kaabi Linke, Halim Karabibene, Mouna Karray, Nicène Kossentini, Sana Tamzini

Artist-to-Artist International Scheme 2009 - Call for Applications

2009-07-24T21:02:00.002-07:00

Visiting Arts in partnership with The Delfina Foundation is pleased to announce Artist-to-Artist International 2009. The 2009 scheme will have a specific geographic focus by inviting artists from across the Middle East and North Africa.

The programme provides an opportunity to bring together artists to initiate dialogues across international borders, enabling pairs of artists to enter into new working relationships on an open-ended and informal basis. Professional, practising UK based artists can apply to invite an artist of their choice, from the below prioritised countries, to visit them in the UK for one week.

The selected overseas artist will spend a week with the UK artist, visit their studio, meet contacts, network and discuss ideas. The week is free from any obligation to produce a prescribed outcome with an emphasis on the development and research process rather than production.

Invited artists from the following countries only are eligible to participate in the 2009 programme:

Afghanistan, Algeria, Bahrain, Cyprus, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Morocco, Oman, Palestine Territories, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates and Yemen.

All selected participants will need to be available from the 23 - 29 March 2009

Application deadline: 9 January 2009

More information:
www.visitingarts.org.uk
Kathryn Standing
Arts Manager (Visual Arts)
kathryn.standing@visitingarts.org.uk

Abraaj Capital Art Prize 2009 Winning Projects

2009-07-24T21:02:00.001-07:00

Launched as a unique opportunity for international curators to work with artists from the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia, the Abraaj Capital Art Prize is designed to raise awareness of innovative and experimental work being created by artists working in the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia. During the official opening of Art Dubai 2009, the three winning projects of the Abraaj Capital Art Prize 2009 were unveiled:

Nazgol Ansarinia
Curator: Leyla Fakhr

Rhyme and Reason
Handwoven carpet
2.5 m x 3.5 m

The artist has transformed the traditional floral motifs of the Persian carpet into scenes of contemporary life in Iran. "As a continuous exploration of systems and patterns, the artist explores one the most stereotyped artifacts of her native Iran: the Persian carpet. Mostly perceived as precious commodity, the Persian carpet has been the most utilized object for Iranians throughout history. While we have become numbed to the repetition of floral shapes, Ansarnia prompts us to have a closer look at what is being taken for granted." (Leyla Fakhr)

Kutluğ Ataman
Curator: Cristiana Perrella

Strange Space
Recorded performance piece

According to the curatorial statement, in Strange Spaces "Ataman is filmed while crossing a sulphurous desert land with bare feet and blinded eyes. A vision inspired by classical folk and court tales typical of Mesopotamia, in which the hero, blinded by the love of the heroine, is condemned to wander in the desert trying to find her, to just burn into flames when they finally meet. The ancient narrative theme is used by Ataman as a metaphor of the encounter of modernity and tradition, of their reciprocal attraction and the trauma this attraction may cause."

Zoulikha Bouabdellah
Curator: Carol Solomon

Walk on the Sky. Pisces
Installation
36 sqm x 3 m

Mounted on an aluminum ceiling, light-emitting diodes create 76 polygonal stars varying in size and color to form the constellation of Pisces reflected on the floor made of polished stainless steel. Boubadellah was inspired by various historical sources. In an interview (Time Out Dubai, 26 Jan. 09), the artist explains the importance of the polygon star, "not just within Islamic art, but as a symbol ‘of the interaction of cultures’ – it appears not just in Muslim, but also in Christian and Jewish design."

Zineb Sedira: Floating Coffins, Saphir & MiddleSea

2009-07-24T21:01:00.001-07:00

Zineb Sedira’s latest exhibition, at the New Art Exchange in Nottingham, UK, brings together three recent works: the dual-screen HD video projection Saphir (2006), HD video projection MiddleSea (2008), and a newly-commissioned fourteen-screen sculptural video installation Floating Coffins (2009). Although very different works, their formal similarities and shared themes of migration, displacement and the sea invite comparison as a trilogy. Furthermore, this exhibition celebrates a significant new stage in Sedira’s career.

Several years ago, the majority of Sedira’s work was often labelled as either directly or indirectly autobiographical. Migration, identity and diaspora were already key themes and several works incorporated her alone or with family members. This was confirmed in her first major solo exhibition Telling Stories with Differences at the Cornerhouse (Manchester, UK) in 2004, which marked an important juncture and heralded the beginning of this new phase. Although her previous works, in fact, never focussed solely upon the autobiographical, this exhibition signals a clear rupture and cements the new direction her work has taken; for even if Franco-Algerian relations still figure as a backdrop, the sense of mystery, explicit focus on composition and aesthetics, and emphasis upon sound rather than dialogue unite these three works to create intriguing worlds that transcend local specificities and encourage universal resonances.

Set in the centre of Algiers, Saphir (2006) provides the starting point. By focussing on the landscape and terrain of the capital, the role of space and architecture there today is interrogated – creating a unique cartography that maps the continuing importance of migration and diasporas travelling between France and Algeria. Both screens focus on two silent figures: a woman described as French and of pied-noir (colonial European settler) origin, shown staying at the Hotel Safir, and a local Algerian man walking outside it and staring out to sea. The careful camerawork, sequencing and editing foreground aesthetics rather than politics, with a recurrent focus upon the colours blue and white, the distinctive rhythm generated by oscillation between motion and stasis, and a lack of dialogue or obvious narrative all instilling a powerful sense of enigma. The hotel is also shown at the heart of a transport nexus, further emphasising the themes of movement and migration and evoking a palimpsest of journeys and displacements. But this is ironic: both characters seem in a state of stasis on screen, and are framed within shots that suggest constraint; as such, a palpable tension reverberates between movement and inertia.

This dynamic resurfaces in the companion piece MiddleSea (2008) where the same male actor reappears. Set upon a boat sailing between Algeria and France – but with the direction never clearly specified – the film focuses on the journey rather than departure or destination, presenting a poetic vision of migration. The combination of deftly composed close-ups and slow-motion scenes heighten this, and the black-and-white footage connoting flashbacks further disrupts any teleology. The images’ dream-like quality underline the rejection of a documentary approach: nothing about this man’s life is revealed, and he remains silent and nameless. Furthermore, he is always shown alone: this is a personal rather than collective journey, and consequently migration becomes a solitary experience.

His isolation is mirrored by frequent shots of the vast empty sea, which is seldom off-screen and usurps him as main character. Moreover, as the title suggests, since this stretch separates France from Algeria, the theme of the in-between is stressed – repeated shots of the man walking around alone and waiting silently imply he too is in limbo. But this is a sonic as well as visual experience: the prominent soundtrack and heightened volume add further texture, and the sound collages are striking: at one stage radio wave static seems to merge with the sound of helicopters, suggesting military implications and functioning as another timely reminder of the boundaries of "Fortress Europe". Elsewhere, the hiss and crackle of a radio scanning through different frequencies – but never quite tuning in – presents communication as scrambled: amplifying the enigma but also showing how airwaves can breach land borders.

This contrasts sharply with the latest work, Floating Coffins, where what exhibition material describes as ‘the world’s largest shipping graveyard’ outside Nouadhibou in Mauritania may seem divorced from the outside world. The images here concentrate on decaying ships and in the distance show local men slowly stripping them by hand to salvage any remaining value. Despite the change in location, if one reads these three works as a trilogy, then this marks a logical progression. Here viewpoints are not single or dual but multiplied across fourteen screens of different sizes positioned on three walls. Peripheral vision can capture the three, but not all the images can be followed simultaneously: the placement and varied sizes of the screens, the assortment of images they show, and the editing and sequencing all compel the viewer to dwell instead upon particular screens in turn. The aural again remains crucial, with suspended speakers throughout the room filling the void with sound. The arrangement of the screens, connected with rhizome-like wires, suggests they form an organism in itself, whose biological rhythm is dictated by the sequenced fading in and out of images.

Indeed, unlike the earlier works, the ecological surfaces here as a major theme: this graveyard is shown as an environmental crisis above all, as well as a socio-economic and human catastrophe, with locals by extension either the mourners that tend to these "coffins" – or the living dead. Whereas Saphir and MiddleSea pivoted around the themes of travel and human migration, here departure seems impossible: the prominence afforded to these nautical carcasses decisively shifts emphasis away from attempts by the living to leave. In contrast to Saphir and MiddleSea, here nothing seems transitory: even if the ships are still afloat rather than sunken, their perpetual decaying is plainly more purgatorial than transient.

Ultimately, the Mauritanian coastline may still remain a distant world to many Western viewers, but by highlighting its role as dumping ground this powerful new work by Sedira points acutely to the stark reality of post-colonial economic and power relations.

Art Moves Africa

2009-07-24T21:00:00.000-07:00

Art Moves Africa (AMA) is an international non- for-profit organisation aiming to facilitate cultural and artistic exchanges within the African continent. AMA offers travel funds to artists, arts professionals and cultural operators living and working in Africa to travel within the African continent in order to engage in the exchange of information, the enhancement of skills, the development of informal networks and the pursuit of cooperation.

Who can apply?
Artists and cultural operators living and working in Africa.

Which sectors?
Performing and visual arts, music, cinema, literature and cultural advocacy

What type of projects?
To establish partnerships, to participate in festivals, biennials, artist residencies, productions, touring, workshops and professional development meetings.

To go where?
To travel within and between the African regions

Next deadline for applications:
1st September 2009

Application guidelines and forms:
www.artmovesafrica.org
info@artmovesafrica.org

Zoubeir Turki is the recipient of the November 7 Prize for creativity

2009-07-24T20:48:00.001-07:00

Tunis, November 8, 2008- At 85, Zoubeir Turki one of Tunisia’s most illustrious painters and since yesterday, the recipient of the prestigious November 7 Prize for creativity is an artist whose work is at the same time authentic, as it is universal. His works are characterized by a personal touch, which sets them aside from any other artistic corpus.

The Prize which was delivered to him on Friday, on the occasion of the 21 st anniversary of the November 7, 1987 Change by President Ben Ali “in recognition of his pioneering works in the field of plastic arts”, comes as a consecration of a life dedicated to art.

Deeply rooted in Tunisia’s reality, Zoubeir Turki is also a universal artist, whose work remains difficult to classify.

To a critic who labelled him “folklorist”, Zoubeir Turki is said to have replied “Full –colorist”.

Apart from his rich artistic production which has already earned the 2000 Maghrebi Prize of Culture, the painter is known in Tunisia for his immense fresco which still adorns the hall of the Tunisian radio house.

Perhaps, his most interesting works remain his colourful and humoristic portraits of Tunisian characters, as well as his extremely personal treatment of the Tunis Medina, an exercise that few painters succeed in, because of the seemingly deceptive banality of the place.

In his picturesque home/workshop in the southern suburbs of Tunis, Zoubeir Turki is enthusiastically preparing his “personal temple –museum” as he calls it, or perhaps a legacy for the future generations, even if his natural modesty would undoubtedly suffer from such a wording.

Moroccan instalation, Moroccan Furniture & Interior Design

2009-07-01T04:24:00.001-07:00

Videoartes.com

2009-06-24T10:35:00.000-07:00

Videoartes.com

youssef rami New collection of original oil paintings by Youssef rami on CULTUREINSIDE

2009-06-23T17:35:00.001-07:00

youssef rami New collection of original oil paintings by Youssef rami on CULTUREINSIDE

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2009-06-23T11:26:00.001-07:00

Euromed Heritage

2009-05-30T14:31:00.001-07:00

Promotes cultural dialogue and caring about the Mediterranean’s heritage, through preservation and raising awareness

Budget €40 million (MEDA)
Timeframe 2002-2008
Participating Countries Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Occupied Palestinian Territory, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey

Objectives

It aims at supporting the Mediterranean Partner Countries in their efforts to promote and care for their heritage. Euromed Heritage I was launched in 1998 to document Mediterranean heritage, promote high quality tourism and encourage networking between cultural bodies. It has been followed up by Euromed Heritage II and III, with a total of 15 projects to promote cultural dialogue through a more thematic approach and by placing particular emphasis on preserving cultural heritage.

What does it do?

Euromed Heritage III carried out four projects, namely Discover Islamic Art, Rehabimed, Qantara, Byzantium Early Islam, aiming at promoting the Mediterranean’s cultural heritage, increasing knowledge and the rehabilitation of its architecture. Euromed Heritage II ended in 2006.

Since its inception, the programme helped establish an inventory of historical sites and cultural institutions, as well as promoting tourism, it provided technical assistance and improved knowledge of heritage through multimedia, information dissemination, awareness programmes, and by creating a compendium of know-how, methodology and techniques. It also did training related to heritage and cultural activities.

What's next?

The phase IV, under the ENPI framework with a budget of € 17 M was launched beginning 2008. As defined by the Mediterranean partners in the strategy paper, the new programme will be centred on the appropriation of cultural heritage by the population themselves and on education and access to knowledge of cultural heritage.

The projects selected following the call for proposals will be implemented during a period of maximum 4 years.

Website http://www.euromedheritage.net/

Actions in brief
Created a network of 156 museums, cultural institutions, universities, NGOs.
Promotes cultural dialogue through 49 exhibitions and festivals, 17 workshops, Info Days, 18 short films.
Carries out 69 research programmes on preserving the Mediterranean's tangible and intangible heritage, leading to 146 publications.
Facilitates 131 training courses and 21 conferences on Architecture, Archaeology / Prehistory, Maritime Heritage, Cultural Tourism, Low and High Technology, Labels, Norms, Arts & Crafts, Music, Oral History.
Involves journalists through an annual Euromed Heritage Journalism Award.
Conceives and publishes a "Strategy for the Development of Euro-Mediterranean Cultural Heritage: Priorities from Mediterranean countries".

Since 1998 the Euromed Heritage regional programme has committed a total of 57 million euros to fund partnerships between conservation experts and heritage institutions from the countries of the Mediterranean region. Almost 400 partners from the Member States of the European Union and MEDA countries (Algeria, Palestinian Authority, Cyprus, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Malta, Morocco, Syria, Tunisia and Turkey) have benefited from the Programme during its past phases:

Euromed Heritage 4
Euromed Heritage 4 represents a further milestone in the process of recognizing 'culture' as a catalyst for mutual understanding between the people of the Mediterranean region. Today embedded in the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) and with a budget of 17 million euros, Euromed Heritage 4 (2008-2012) intends to facilitate the appropriation by people of their own national and regional cultural legacy through easier access to education and knowledge on cultural heritage.

To meet this goal, a number of projects are funded for a three-year period. Each project brings together a leading organization and various partners from both the European Union and Mediterranean Partner Countries: Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestinian Authority, Syria and Tunisia.

Euromed Heritage 4 offers to selected projects a framework for exchanges of experience, channels for disseminating best practices as well as new perspectives for the development of the cultural institutional environment at national and regional levels.

Euromed Heritage III (2004-2008)
The main goal was the increasing of Mediterranean countries’ capacities in managing and developing their cultural heritage with a special focus on intangible heritage. It was an extension of the previous phase and included four projects:

Discover Islamic Art, Rehabimed, Qantara, Byzantium Early Islam.

Euromed Heritage II (2002-2007)
The main goal was the increasing of Mediterranean countries’ capacities in managing and developing their cultural heritage with a special focus on intangible heritage.

Projects included within this phase are:

Delta, Prodecom, Filières Innovantes, La Navigation du Savoir, Mediterranean Voices, Medimuses, Temper, Patrimoines Partagés, Ikonos, Unimed Cultural Heritage II, Defence Systems in the Mediterranean Coasts.

Read the Final Evaluation on EH II (pdf 453 Kb) carried out in 2006.

Euromed Heritage I (1998-2004)
The main goal was the creation of heritage inventories and facilitation of networking between museums and other cultural institutions.

Projects included within this phase are:

Corpus, Corpus Levant, Euromediterranean Heritage Days, Expo 2000, Fêtes du Soleil, Ipamed, Maghreb Heritage Training Courses I/II, Manumed, Museomed, Islamic Art in the Mediterranean I/II, Pisa, Rias, Salambo, Unimed Audit, Unimed Herit, Unimed Symposium, Saving Cultural Heritage Exhibition, Encyclopedia of the Mediterranean.

Read the Final Evaluation on EH I carried out in 2004

de vis wordt duur betaald

2009-05-24T18:34:00.000-07:00

Remy Vlek, Netherlands, The, 2001

Producers synopsis

For the West African coast European fish vessels are more and more on the run for a big catch in the richest fish waters of the world. Giant floating fish factories are fishing big stocks of fish. The EC is supporting these activities with hundred millions of dollars. The very poor countries like Senegal and Mauritania are completely dependent on this EC money, to diminish their debts on the World Bank. The seas of Africa are overfished and the local population is not getting their share anymore. We see in this film a portray of a big Dutch fishmultinational and their supertrawlers. We see also a portray of African fishermen. Their fate is that the fish stocks are getting rare while the population is at the same time more and more dependent on fish because of desertification of the local area. Also the so called Seals Nursery multinational from Pieterburen Holland plays a strange card in this story by stimulating the Dutch fisheries and not supporting the local African environment.

Paradise - Three Journeys in This World

2009-05-24T18:33:00.000-07:00

Elina Hirvonen, Finland, 2007

Synopsis
The central figure in this film is 23-year-old Bakary from Mali, who left his family behind to build a better life in Europe. He found a job in a tomato nursery in Spain, but does not have a residence permit and therefore no right to housing. Along with some 20 partners in misfortune, he sleeps on the street. The film consists of three parts; in the first, we meet Bakary in Spain. The second part is set in Rabat, Morocco, where many Africans dream of a trip to the European continent. Many try to cross the water, but most are caught by the police and get sent back. For example, the police left Adam behind in the Sahara Desert with 55 other people. He walked back to civilisation in 25 days, a trip that many of his companions did not survive. The final episode is set in the village where Bakary was born and where his family resides, poorly but peacefully. These are shocking stories about the imagined paradise that many Africans believe Europe to be, stories that stand in sharp contrast to the great visual beauty of the film.

piece of mind

2009-05-24T16:51:00.002-07:00

Netherlands, The, 2002

Producers synopsis
PIECE OF MIND is a film about the field training of an international group of relief workers from Asia, Africa and Europe given by American psychologist Nancy Baron in the midst of a refugee camp in North Uganda. The participants, themselves victims of war and trauma, came from Tibet, Nepal, Algeria, Namibia, Burundi, Uganda, Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Cambodia, Sri Lank and The Netherlands. Some are just housewives or social workers with little education while others are well-trained psychiatrists and psychotherapists. All are highly motivated to help, inspired by their own backgrounds and hope for the future. The film makes clear that motivation alone is not enough and that a higher formal education may indeed even hamper the worker’s efforts to help. Understanding of individual cultural beliefs on the part of both victims and helpers is essential in tackling the problems of people who have lost their homes, their families, their livelihoods and even their trust in life.

Emoticons

2009-05-24T16:51:00.001-07:00

Heddy Honigmann, Netherlands, The, 2007

Synopsis

Saskia is fourteen years old. She is bullied a lot at school, which often makes her feel lonely. At home, she sits behind the computer for hours on end and plays violent video games, at which she is very good. Sanne relieves her sense of loneliness through writing and publishes her poems on the Internet. Samantha was raped at the age of 15 and draws strength from advising other girls about love and sex on Internet forums. Debbie and Inge both lost their mothers to breast cancer. They met each other on the Net and have sent each other hundreds of emails. Zineb chats with her family in Algeria and with friends who understand what it is like to wait for the minister's decision about a residence permit, after having exhausted all possible legal procedures. For all of these girls, the Internet is a safe haven where they can be themselves, keep in touch with other people, and rebuild their confidence. A virtual contact, which is often only a great deal later on followed by a 'real' meeting. Filmmaker Heddy Honigmann found these girls on the Net and made contact. Their conversations via the computer are interwoven with images of their daily lives, in which the computer plays a key role.

The Nameless War

2009-05-24T16:48:00.000-07:00

Agnieszka Lukasiak, Sweden, 2002

Synopsis

The documentary by director Agnieszka Lukasiak, who was born in Poland and lives in Sweden, is very intimate; to avoid any misunderstanding, she starts by filming herself in a mirror. She is severely sincere: she acknowledges her egocentric motives to go and shoot a film in Algeria. ‘If I faced danger and suffering, I would finally open my eyes and start to appreciate life.’ Life in Algeria turns out to be different from what she expected. In a confrontational edit, she crosscuts news images of an Algerian attack with footage of two boys who are drinking, smoking and dancing to Madonna. And then she falls in love with the Algerian boy she stays with. Unfortunately, he is the eldest son of the family; family obligations outweigh love in Algeria. She returns to Sweden, but later travels back to Algeria. She hopes her relationship can be saved, but this time she buries herself more deeply in the Algerian situation. Stubborn and curious, she films where it is not allowed and goes to places where she is not allowed to go – again and again, she hastily switches off the camera. She talks with a police officer and a survivor of an attack; she films the ‘new Algeria’ of underground dance parties, but also interviews a politician from the opposition and a few homosexuals. With a lively camera and quick successive sequences, and without sparing herself, she shows emotional confrontations in which personal and political elements are inseparable.

Invisible - Illegal in Europe

2009-05-24T16:46:00.000-07:00

Andreas Voigt, Germany, 2004

Synopsis
Millions of people live illegally in Europe. Forced by circumstances, they lead a virtually invisible life. The German documentary maker Andreas Voigt decided to follow five such people for a year. Five stories of illegals, from different parts of the world, living in five European countries. Zakari, a deserted army officer, fled from Algeria, where his life is in danger. He has been living illegally in Germany for ten years – his story was ‘not serious enough’ for a residence permit – and he still hopes one day to be able to return to a safe, democratic Algeria. Edita from Ecuador doesn’t even think about returning to her fatherland. The transsexual feels at home in Paris, where she gets a new temporary visa every three months. Malika, a Chechen, just wants a better future for her daughter. And Prince is awaiting his compulsory return to Nigeria in a Dutch cell. Oumar, finally, has just set foot on European soil – he reached the Spanish coast from Ceuta – when his dreams are shattered. The border police are waiting for him. Without commenting or making any political analysis, INVISIBLE – ILLEGAL IN EUROPE sketches five portraits of people who keep hoping for happiness, but have to submit to their heart-rending fate.

a border of mirrors

2009-05-24T16:42:00.000-07:00

Stefano Savona, Italy, 2002

Producers synopsis

Sicilian emigrants in Tunisia and Tunisian emigrants in Sicily, exchanges and flows that have generated interesting stories to tell. Stories of integration and hate between the races that are part of our one universe. Where the border between the Islamic world and the Western one is both evanescent and insurmountable. Stories told “from below”, that perfectly illustrate the concept of how globalization is both obsolete and unreachable. The daily life of a precarious life on the borderline. “We seem to have forgotten about Italian emigration to Tunisia, that began at the end of the 19th century and that continued with alternating intensity until 1960. As often happened in the case of Sicilian fishermen, this emigration resulted in double nuclear families of people with one family in Sicily and another one in Tunisia” (Stefano Savona).

hashish

2009-05-24T16:38:00.000-07:00

Daniel Gräbner, Germany, 2002

Producers synopsis
A small village high up in the mountains of Ketama, North Morocco. Since centuries the life of the people that live here is intricately tied in with the drug hashish. Hashish is a daily labor, hashish is a bartering good, hashish as business, hashish as the basis and philosophy of a social system.

clean and dream

2009-05-24T16:37:00.000-07:00

A.C. van Zweeden, Netherlands, The, 2001

Producers synopsis
This touching documentary chronicles the dreams of five cleaners who come from various parts of the globe. What do you dream about when you’re mopping floors surrounded by thousands of people who all assume that you’re there to clean up after them? All five cleaners work for the Asito Cleaning Company at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport. Among the cleaners are Rosemary Obihara, an attractive, lively Nigerian woman who cleans toilets five mornings a week. After work she goes straight to her shop where she sells African clothes. Abderrahim Haouas works full-time, he has studied Arabic language and literature in Morocco. He came to Holland hoping to do doctoral research. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out. For years, Mr. Harouas kept a diary from which he reads extracts. Fred Ntow has been a cleaner at Schiphol for ten years. He uses the money he earns to support his parents in Ghana. He has never told them that he’s a cleaner. He prefers to let them think he has a different job.

let it come down: the life of paul bowles

2009-05-24T16:36:00.000-07:00

Jennifer Baichwal, Canada, 1998

Producers synopsis
Paul Bowles, who has lived in Tangier, Morocco for over fifty years, is the quintessential iconoclast. He left the US for good in the 1940s after building an illustrious career as a composer, rejected the heroic identity requisite to expatriate American writers and buried himself in the culture of North Africa. A writer’s writer, his associations span the elite cultural circles of this century. His unorthodox marriage to writer Jane Bowles-both were gay and had significant relationships with others throughout their marriage-is legendary. Together they formed the magnet which drew an extraordinary group of writers and artists to the exotic freedoms of Morocco before independence. In this definitive film biography, the notoriously laconic and reclusive Bowles finally speaks out on the subjects he has remained silent about over the years. Lying in bed at his home in Tangier and smoking kif with an elegant black cigarette holder, he reflects on his life, his work, Jane, love and his friends with unprecedented candour. Now 87 years old, his tone is almost omniscient, as though he is surveying both life and death from some lofty interim vantage point.

Life as a Corporate Holiday

2009-05-24T16:35:00.000-07:00

Paolo Muran, Italy, 2006

Synopsis
Silvano Bignozzi and Lino Toselli have been working as salesmen of camomile tea and spirits for 30 years. They are both from Bologna, but travel all over the country to sell their goods. Not without success, because all these years they have always won the deluxe vacation the company bestows on its best salesmen. With the firm footing the bill, they have travelled to various remote corners of the globe: they went on a safari in Kenya, rode camels in Saudi Arabia and visited temples in Asia. This year, they are going to Cuba. We meet the two gentlemen through the man who has been filming them on their excursions for the past 15 years. With a twinge of irony, he comments on the footage of 15 holidays in exotic places. The phenomenon of the company excursion turns out to be strikingly uniform, no matter how different the destination is. We see how the group, which is almost exclusively male, invariably takes a bus tour on the first day, and can barely keep their eyes open the first evening as they watch a traditional show with song, dance and a lot of half-naked women. But this year, things are different, as Bignozzi and Toselli have decided to stay in Cuba longer - a whole week without travel guides and mandatory activities.

El Ejido, the Profit's Rule

2009-05-24T16:34:00.000-07:00

Jawad Rhalib, Morocco, Belgium, 2006

Producers synopsis

Spain. Almeria, coastal province of renowned Andalusia and ancient desert that has become in 20 years the largest concentrated area in the world of culture under greenhouses. The artificial kitchen garden of Europe throughout the year. "Pateras", small unadapted boats spill out hundreds of immigrants on the Spanish coasts, all of them eager to gain Europe and better life conditions. What becomes of these immigrants and their dreams of an Eldorado? They end up in clandestinity and face a world nobody is prepared for. They are trapped in their unbearable conditions of life and work made of disillusions, discouragement, anger and fear of not succeeding in their goal. Although home sick, their only path is to put up with the situation and not surrender. Keep their chin up and protect their pride for themselves and their family left behind. The film shows us their every day life of beasts of burden and points out the mechanism of an industrial system that exploits human beings and the environment.

Grossraum: Ceuta

2009-05-24T16:33:00.000-07:00

Lonnie van Brummelen, Netherlands, The, 2004

Synopsis

Ceuta is a Spanish enclave on the northern tip of the African continent; a rocky peninsula on the Strait of Gibraltar. During the Franco regime, Ceuta was the only place free to trade with Spain. After the dictatorship, its economy collapsed. With a new marketplace next to the Moroccan border, the people of Ceuta try to stimulate trade with their neighbors. While the exportation of goods is encouraged, enhanced border patrol and a barbed-wire fence are preventing illegal migration. Ceuta is part of the film triptych Grossraum, which explores the composition of the landscape along the current margins of Europe. The boundaries between Poland and Ukraine, between Spain and Morocco, and between the Greek-Cypriot and the Turkish-Cypriot parts of Cyprus are crossed by means of visual journeys. Divided landscapes are guarded by the military and photography is forbidden without the permission of the proper authorities. The film triptych is complemented with the publication of The Formal Trajectory, which expresses the often curious procedures and conflicting protocols that preceded filming.

continental tanger

2009-05-24T16:27:00.000-07:00

Daniel Calderon, Switzerland, 2002

Synopsis Producers
Door to the South or door to the North? Exposed to the open sea, at the junction of two continents, Tanger has a special cultural role to play. Europeans and Americans have captured it in their dreams of exoticism. The film recalls the never-ending artistic effervescence of Tanger with its various creative scenes. Around Morocco‘s oldest hotel, the Continental Tanger, we follow the footsteps of Bernardo Bertolucci, Orson Welles, Humprey Bogart, The Beat Poets, Paul Bowles, Jean Genet and also The Rolling Stones. Well-known local writers Mohamed Choukri and Souad Bahéchar bring us closer to the secret of their hometown. The important musical influence of the traditional gnawas upon American jazz is retold by Randy Weston. Of its mythical past, the white city has kept a strong tradition of openness and tolerance.

Faya!

2009-05-24T16:26:00.000-07:00

Mirjam Marks, Netherlands, The, Surinam, 2005

Synopsis

All over the world, children use music and dance to express their feelings: in Suriname, Burundi, Morocco, Somalia and the Netherlands. They play, learn, develop their talents and gain self-confidence. And whether they live in a project in the inner city or a row house somewhere in the provinces, what's bred in the bone will come out in the flesh. In a tidy, typically Dutch backyard, girls practise Bollywood dances; against a background of palm trees and dilapidated houses, Surinamese teenagers perform a self-composed song, a thirteen-year-old rapping "When I make music, I feel better."

Overbooked

2009-05-24T16:25:00.002-07:00

Stefano Strocchi, Italy, 2007

Producers synopsis
Sergio, a middle-aged Italian and Youssef from Morocco work in a tiny office in Turin managing the weekly bus to the Magreb. Originally just a smart business idea, the agency is now something more than that. An odd pair in the middle of a changing world, <> takes us into the chaotic, funny and sometimes tragic moments of the agency.

sacred sounds

2009-05-24T16:25:00.001-07:00

Carmine Cervi, Morocco, 2000

Producers synopsis
SACRED SOUNDS explores the idea of 'sacred' music and its use as a communication with and celebration of God, a practice shared by almost every culture and faith in the world. Through dynamic musical performances and interviews with artists and religious figures, SACRED SOUNS brings us to an understanding of faith through music. More than a dozen artists from Islamic, Christian, and Jewish traditions appear, including Noa, a renowned Israeli singer bringing her message of the Middle East peace to the Arab world; Avay-e-Douste, an Iranian female quartet improvising songs in the Radif system; the Aissawas, a religious brotherhood performing Sufi ceremonial music famous for its trance-inducing ability; and Liz McComb, an American gospel singer who transmits her passion in performances of intensity and emotion. SACRED SOUNDS takes place against the exotic backdrop of Fez, a millennium-old city of twisting alleys and covered bazaars, bright-tile mosques and crumbling palaces. Busy souks, bundle-laden donkeys, and the call to prayer that flows from the city's pervasive loud speakers contribute to a sensual, mystical experience in Morocco's centre.

Tarifa Traffic - Death in the Straits of Gibraltar

2009-05-24T16:23:00.000-07:00

Joakim Demmer, Germany, Switzerland, 2003

Synopsis
Tarifa, located on the southern-most tip of Spain. is known as a surfer’s paradise. Across the sea, only twenty kilometres away, the Moroccan coast is visible. To the sun-bleached surfers, Tarifa is an idyllic holiday spot, but a Red Cross employee is reluctant to set foot on the beach. He knows what comes across the waters by night and by dawn: numb, hypothermic, African refugees, or even a sadder sight: the bodies of the drowned souls who do not make it. We see one boat approach, terribly overloaded and rolling frightfully in the sea. Sharp cliffs along the coast break many boats apart. Most of the refugees cannot swim; they will not reach the mainland alive. And if they do, they run the serious risk of getting caught. By now, depending on the weather, the relief workers and police officers know how things will go: Tonight, they will try again. So, they methodically patrol the area. Another harrowing image of a cemetery full of numbered graves: the identities of many of the dead cannot be retrieved. The filmmaker tells the story of the doomed, but indirectly poses the question of guilt: to what extent is Europe responsible for this?

Met een zoen van de leraar

2009-05-24T16:14:00.000-07:00

Barbara den Uyl, Netherlands, The, 1994

For one year, filmmaker Barbara den Uyl returned to the Mondriaan grammar school, a secondary school in Amsterdam West where she had worked as a teacher twenty years ago. At that time the school population consisted largely of white students; today, it is for 90% made up of immigrant students. In all, the school numbers 45 nationalities, the vast majority of which is Turkish or Moroccan. Den Uyl sees her film as an examination of the everyday practice of the multi-cultural society. The daily school problems, as well as culturally instigated conflicts are presented. The film is made up of two parts. In the first part a second grade 'HAVO' (higher general secondary education) class, the group that performs worst, is followed. The principal person is a teacher and co-ordinator who tries to solve communication breakdowns and problems individually. The second part follows the older students. Here, the film focusses on a Moroccan girl who leaves school to get engaged in Morocco, but reports to school again some time later. This film will also participate in the Global Motion programme.

i see the stars at noon

2009-05-24T16:13:00.000-07:00

Saeed Taji Farouky, England, Morocco, 2005

Producers synopsis
In January 2004, in the northern Moroccan city of Tangiers, first-time documentary filmmaker Saeed Taji Farouky met a Moroccan named Abdelfattah. He was a clandestine, one of many Africans who try to cross the narrow Straits of Gibraltar and illegally enter Spain by stowing away on cargo ships or boarding inflatable rafts. <> offers a unique and revealing insight into Abdelfattah’s desperate attempt to reach Europe. At times humorous and disturbing, it intimately examines the circumstances that lead him to risk everything for an utterly uncertain future. But <> is also an exploration of the nature of documentary filmmaking and objectivity. The traditional relationship between filmmaker and subject is thrown into question when Abdelfattah asks why his life is being filmed for the benefit of European audiences, and what he deserves in return. By addressing such issues head-on, <> stands out as a highly original and deeply personal look at the dilemma of illegal immigrants.

Ours Is the Labour

2009-05-24T16:11:00.002-07:00

Jeroen van Bergeijk, Netherlands, The, 2007

Synopsis
"For us the work, from God the blessing" was the motto written on the wall of the Hooijmeijer Dutch rusk factory in Barendrecht. In the 1960s and 1970s, the factory that adhered to the Dutch Reformed Church was doing very well. So well, in fact, that it was hard to find enough labourers who were willing to commit to the tough physical work of making dough and baking rusk, the crisp bread that is a staple of the Dutch breakfast. For this reason, the company enlisted the first foreign workers from Morocco. They were all strong young men. They were placed in communal housing, working long hours to earn some extra money to provide a better future for their children. The foreigners were welcomed with open arms, and little was said at that time about integration or cultural assimilation. Filmmaker Jeroen van Bergeijk is the son of the factory manager. While the camera wanders around the abandoned buildings, we hear the former employees in voice-over, including both Moroccans and Dutchmen. They reminiscence about those first years of foreign labour in the Netherlands, when Moroccans hardly spoke a word of Dutch, but were still treated respectfully by their native Dutch colleagues. Their stories are colourfully illustrated by archive footage.

the endless caravan

2009-05-24T16:11:00.001-07:00

Ariane Mertens, Morocco, Spain, Belgium, Netherlands, The, 2004

Producers synopsis
Every summer, more than one million Moroccan economic migrants who live and work in western Europe set off by car to visit their homeland. A straight 36-hour drive brings their battered and overloaded vehicles to long queues at Spain's southern ports. After an average ten-hour wait at the border, they are let onto a ferry for the short trip to Tangier and further into Morocco. THE ENDLESS CARAVAN is a documentary road-movie which follows two young second-generation Moroccans from the West as they undertake this intensive trip with their families. Underneath the surface of our traveling protagonists lingers a deep-rooted identity crisis which confronts them every day of their lives. Both born and raised in Belgium, they face this struggle in different ways. For Ouasima (22) of Antwerp and Billal (19) of Brussels, the annual trip is a metaphor for their double-life with one foot in the West, and another in Morocco. Never before have we been able to be so close to the everyday challenges within Moroccan family life.

A Better Life

2009-05-24T16:10:00.001-07:00

Karin Junger, Netherlands, The, 2008, colour, video, 80 min

Synopsis
Karin Junger, winner of the 1988 Joris Ivens Award for Birthplace Unknown, films Moroccan fathers and sons in the Netherlands. The fathers belonged to the first generation of immigrant workers who came to Holland in the 1960s. Often without their families, which led to a long-lasting separation between fathers and children. And when the rest of the family finally followed, there was a lot of mutual misunderstanding. A father explains how a friend had persuaded him to come to the Netherlands. He intended to stay for two years and earn enough money to open a shop in Morocco. But he stayed in Holland, working at a conveyor belt for years. Another lived for years in a hothouse, and thought his employer's dog had a better life than he. The sons often considered their fathers losers, or found themselves unable to realise their fathers' dreams of good education and good jobs in their new homeland. Junger filmed in the Netherlands and Morocco, and hopes her film will induce a dialogue between sons and fathers. The leitmotif is a rap song that one protagonist's son practises, aided by professional rapper Salah Edin, in which they explain how their fathers let themselves be exploited by Dutch employers in order to offer their sons a better future.

morocco swings

2009-05-24T16:08:00.000-07:00

Barbara den Uyl, Netherlands, The, 2004

Producers synopsis
Two generations of Moroccan female vocalists meet in a masterclass in Amsterdam. The first generation is represented by Najat Aatabou, a famous star throughout the Arab world and a strikingly emancipated woman. The second generation is represented by four Dutch singers of Moroccan origins. They are young and talented, but all of them have problems gaining recognition and with their own identity. In the first instance, the confrontation with Najat Aatabou only seems to increase their struggle; yet this initial encounter is followed by a liberating happy ending. Najat Aatabou ran away from home so she could become a singer. How far is her life story repeated among young Moroccan/Dutch vocalists? How difficult is it to live between two cultures? Does music help encourage emancipation? In this swinging film, the film maker seeks answers to these questions.

One Hundred Meters Away

2009-05-24T16:07:00.000-07:00

Juan Luis De No, Spain, 2008, colour, HD, 60 min

Synopsis
It's seven o'clock in the morning in the Spanish border town of Melilla, the southernmost tip of Europe. As soon as the customs house opens, thousands of Moroccans go over the border. While the Moroccan customs officers turn a blind eye, these people bring huge bags of clothes and other merchandise from Spain to the African continent. The couriers, men and women both young and very old, are hired by traders for a pittance. Most smugglers have no choice, as there's no alternative unskilled labour in the area. The illegal importation, which is the indirect consequence of globalisation, supports around 10.000 Moroccan families in this poor border region. The work is extremely tough, and dangerous to boot. People often get beaten up, and the customs officers are rough on them as well. Filmmaker Juan Luis De No records all of this, filming them, at times with his hidden camera, on their wild scramble over the border. He follows four smugglers at work and at home, where they live in poverty. They'd like to leave Morocco forever, but their passports only allow them to travel to Melilla for a few hours, a mirage of Europe across the Strait of Gibraltar. According to Mustafa, "All 35 million of us want to leave the country."

I Love Hip Hop in Morocco

2009-05-24T16:05:00.000-07:00

Producers synopsis
A group of Moroccan Hip Hop artists dream of creating their own festival but resistance is strong and money scarce. They appeal to the American Embassy for funding and begin the unlikely journey that leads to the realization of their dream, the 'I Love Hip Hop in Morocco' festival. This film reflects the thoughts and dreams of the true future of the Arab world. These are not the images portrayed by the media; these are the real people. And their views on America, Islam, and the world in general, might surprise a few people around the globe.

Africa: M-Net Buys 450 African Movies

2009-05-02T16:57:00.000-07:00

M-Net Electronic Media Network has quietly invested in buying all rights for 450 plus African films which it sees as bringing the rights back to Africa. It will be the distributor for this unique library on its own channels, through other TV stations, in film festivals and on a new VOD streaming service it will launch. Even more radically, it is exploring the feasibility of launching a film channel in francophone Africa. Russell Southwood spoke last week to M-Net's Head of Sales and African Film Library Acquisition, Mike Dearham. DStv pioneered local content with the (largely Nollywood) Africa Magic Channel and more recently added the non-Nigerian content channel Africa Magic Plus. But the African Film Library takes this ambition up yet another notch. For M-Net has spent US$30-40,000 a film to buy all rights for 25 years and is still adding to the library.

Most recently, it was at this year's FESPACO where it bought 8 more films, including the winning entry and was the sponsor for the film market:"We're buying rights back from Europe." Dearham reckons that the library covers 80% of the top African films ever made:"There are two to three (key) fim-makers missing. Some don't own their own rights and they are scattered across 8 co-production companies and others don't believe in going for 25 years. People told us it would be impossible but it has turned out not to be."

The African Film Library turns M-Net into a film distributor as the strategy is to sell beyond its Pay-TV channels. Following DISCOP in February this year, Mike Dearham reckons that he now has relationships with 80-90% of the continent's Free-To-Air channels: films sell at US$1,000 each and it has not only all the global rights but has them in all languages so it will do different language sub-titling including initially French and Arabic. FTA TV channels in Kenya, Madagascar, Mozambique and Seychelles now all have a late night African cinema screening slot.

For DVD, it has a strong relationship with South African distributor Nu-Metro and distributes a South African Cinema brand which in due course will be followed by an African Cinema brand to be distributed globally by Nu-Metro.

Conversations with a Continent: Morocco

2009-05-01T16:48:00.000-07:00

Location: 92nd Street Y at 1395 Lexington Avenue, Warburg Hall

For a second year, participants of Conversations with a Continent are introduced to African art and culture and the contemporary realities of life in North America and Africa. Each session, devoted to a specific country, fosters a dialogue among audience members, scholars, artists, policy-makers and Africans living in the United States. Co-presented with the 92nd Street Y.

A panel discussion with Professor Habiba Boumlik, Professor Cynthia Becker and a representative from the permanent mission of Morocco in New York.

Each Session: $25/$20 for Museum for African Art members

North African art sale in Dubai

2009-05-01T16:19:00.000-07:00

Christie’s Dubai Art Sale Sponsored By Credit Suisse Includes Key Works From Artists From North Africa, The Gulf & The Levant

Christie’s April 29, 2009 auction of International Modern and Contemporary Art includes more than 150 works representing artists from around the Middle East, North Africa and Turkey, alongside a handful of works by western artists. The sale includes works from Saudi Arabian artists for the first time (separate press release available) and is sponsored by Credit Suisse, one of the leading global providers of financial products and services in Private Banking, Investment Banking, and Asset Management.

Jussi Pylkkanen, President of Christie’s Middle East and Europe, commented: “This sale is a significant sign of the continuing maturity of the art market in the region. Its strength lies in the diversity of artists represented from countries all over the Middle East, North Africa and Turkey which has grown and expanded with each of our sale seasons in Dubai. We are confident that the works included in the sale will be well received by new and existing collectors.”

Raj Sehgal, Branch Manager, Credit Suisse Dubai, said: “Credit Suisse considers the Middle East as one of its most important growth markets, having built its knowledge and understanding of the region over four decades. Through its collaboration with Christie’s, Credit Suisse brings to clients, investors and collectors in the Middle East, an opportunity to engage in a prestigious forum dealing in high value art and jewelry. The artworks on offer are a mélange of tradition and modernism.”

North Africa
North African artists represented in the sale include; Mahjoub Ben Bella (Algeria), Rachid Koraichi (Algeria), Nja Mahdaoui (Tunisia), Hassan Hajjaj (Morocco), Lalla Essaydi (Morocco) and Abdallah Benanteur (Algeria).

Egypt
A large bronze sculpture, Au bord du Nil, by Mahmoud Mokhtar (1891-1934), the much admired Egyptian sculptor and the father of modern Egyptian art, is included with an estimate of $60,000-80,000. From a private collection in Paris, the bronze measuring 63cms., depicts a woman carrying a carafe on her head, her robe draped around her to the ground and a large bangle around her upper arm. The sale also includes an important portrait of Tahia Halim, one of Egypt’s most important 20th Century artists by Hamed Nada, her contemporary and an artist of equal importance in Egypt. It was exhibited at the 1st Biennale in Alexandria in 1955 and is estimated at $100,000-150,000.

Turkey
This will be the second time that a significant group of works by Turkish artists have been included in the Dubai sales. This time 16 works are offered and they are highlighted by Selma Gûrbûz’s Kedili Doga (Nature with Cats) showing a seated woman in a black dress surrounded by cats, one draped around her shoulders (estimate: $35,000-45,000) and Erol Akyavaº’ Alma Ausente, an important early work from a private collection in the United States, estimated at $70,000-100,000.

Accented Residency - A New Regional Residency Initiative

2009-04-23T16:18:00.000-07:00

Accented aims to develop co-operations in South East Europe (SEE), and the East Mediterranean (EM), North Africa, the Gulf Countries and the United Kingdom with key institutions that focus on artistic research.

The initiative will be administered through a relationship between six institutions that include Platform Garanti CAC (Istanbul, Turkey), Vector Association (Iasi, Romania), Ashkal Alwan (Beirut, Lebanon), Townhouse Gallery (Cairo, Egypt), Delfina Foundation (London, UK) and Spike Island (Bristol, UK).

Creative Collaboration grants will be made available to artists, curators and writers from countries in SEE, EM, the Gulf and the UK. Over a course of two years 20 professionals selected will be offered six to eight-week residencies at one of the participating institutions.

The initiative is open to applicants from the following countries: Albania, Algeria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Egypt, Greece, Gulf Region, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kosovo, Lebanon, Libya, Macedonia, Morocco, Palestine, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro, Syria, Tunisia, Cyprus, Turkey and the United Kingdom.

The application must include a statement/motivation letter for the residency. Please forward the application form and your CV in six copies, along with sufficient visual material such as slides, Cds/DVDs, web addresses, images and/or printed material to the closest institution to your country (or Platform Garanti CAC) indicated as “Accented Residency” on the envelope by May 15, 2009. The application form may be downloaded from the blog address and it needs to be filled in English.

Accented Residency is part of the British Council’s Creative Collaboration programme. The overall aim of the Creative Collaborations programme is to enrich the cultural life of Europe and its surrounding country and to build trust and understanding across communities by generating dialogue and debate.

For further information please contact:

Oyku Ozsoy: oykuozs@garanti.com.tr / oykuozsoy@gmail.com

Museums Embrace Islamic Art [Art News]

2009-04-23T15:17:00.000-07:00

Museums around the world are showcasing Islamic art in an effort to promote understanding and engage immigrant communities by Sarah H. Bayliss [Art News]

In July 2005 the Louvre announced that it had received one of the largest gifts in its history. The €17 million ($26.8 million) donation from Prince al-Waleed bin Talal bin Abdulaziz al-Saud, a grandson of the founder of Saudi Arabia, supports the construction of a €62.2 million ($98.2 million), 260,000-square-foot wing for Islamic art, which will quadruple the display space for the museum’s 10,000 Islamic objects. Other contributors include the late emir of Kuwait and the sultan of Oman, who each gave €5 million ($7.9 million).

The new wing, designed by Mario Bellini and Rudy Ricciotti and scheduled to open in 2010, will have a symbolic resonance as well as a practical function. According to Prince al-Waleed, the addition, which will also display objects from the adjacent Museum of Decorative Arts, has the potential to “assist in the understanding of the true meaning of Islam, a religion of humanity, forgiveness, and acceptance of other cultures.” Among the masterpieces in the collection are a 14th-century bronze platter created for the sultan of Yemen and a tenth-century ivory box from Córdoba, Spain.

The Louvre is just one of many cultural institutions around the world that are spotlighting their Islamic holdings. Museum officials say that in an era when many people know little about Islam beyond the struggle against the Taliban and Islamic extremism, there is a pressing need to present the full richness of Islamic culture. Institutions in the West, from the Detroit Institute of Arts to the David Collection in Copenhagen, home to the largest Islamic collection in Scandinavia, are in the midst of refurbishing their Islamic galleries and updating their educational components. The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, recently launched a $35 million campaign to build an entirely new Islamic collection.

Islamic art is a sweeping category that encompasses a vast range of objects created in regions as diverse as Spain, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and North Africa since the establishment and spread of Islam in the seventh century. At the height of its influence, Islam covered a vast area of the globe over a millennium, observes Philippe de Montebello, director of the Met, which will reinstall its 12,000 Islamic objects as part of its master plan. A highlight of the renovated galleries will be the lavishly decorated Nur al-Din Room from an 18th-century house in Damascus. De Montebello emphasizes, however, that the renovation was not politically inspired.

Oasis in the Desert [Art News]

2009-04-23T15:16:00.001-07:00

Governments in the United Arab Emirates are spending billions of dollars in an ambitious, unprecedented effort to create cultural districts with world-class museums—along with a support system of creators, dealers, and collectors. But many Western art professionals wonder if this massive undertaking, launched at a dizzying scale and pace, can be successful by Sharon Waxman
The warm, emerald shallows of the Persian Gulf gently wash the shores of Saadiyat Island, and dolphins now play on the spot where the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi is about to rise in a helter-skelter cubist silhouette against the sun-blazed sky. Currently a 27-mile-square expanse of flat, white sand off the coast of Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, Saadiyat Island is poised to dramatically change the landscape of art, architecture, and museums. With four world-class museums on the drawing board and another three in the planning, the island’s $27 billion–plus cultural district is the linchpin of what may well be the most ambitious cultural agenda ever to take shape in such a limited time and space.

The Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, designed by Frank Gehry, and the Louvre Abu Dhabi, designed by Jean Nouvel—the latter expected to cost upwards of $1.3 billion—are among the first major museums that will form a new global cultural hub in the tiny countries of the Gulf. The Gehry and Nouvel museums will be joined on the coastline by a performing arts center designed by Zaha Hadid, a maritime museum by Tadao Ando, and a national museum by Norman Foster, with the first phase of the cultural district to be completed as soon as 2012.

But Abu Dhabi, the largest of the seven emirates in the UAE, is not alone in what amounts to a cultural arms race in a region rich with petro-cash, and eager to spend it on symbols of good taste and refinement. Dubai, whose ambitions and pace of development outstrip even those of Abu Dhabi, has announced plans to build several major museums, including one devoted to modern Middle Eastern art, designed by Amsterdam architect Ben van Berkel; another dedicated to the prophet Muhammad; and a universal museum, curated by three German institutions, for which the content has not yet been defined. Dubai cultural officials say the plan is to build at least eight major museums in the coming decade. And Qatar, a smaller but even richer country down the Persian Gulf from Dubai, intends to build 10 to 12 major museums in the next decade. The first major museum in that country of 800,000 opened in November in Doha. Designed by I. M. Pei, it is a soaring space devoted to Islamic art, floating in the waters of the Gulf.

“There is an explosive quality to the growth of cultural life in this region,” said Roger Mandle, executive director of the Qatar Museums Authority and a former president of the Rhode Island School of Design. “It’s like the birth of a civilization—Russia after glasnost, China after it opened up. There is a desire to enjoy the same opportunities as the rest of the world in terms of educational and cultural pursuits.”

Fez Whispers Photographic Exhibition

2009-04-23T15:14:00.000-07:00

An exhibition of the work of young Fassi photographer Omar Chennafi opens at 16h00 tomorrow, Thursday 23 April, at Cafe Clock, 7 Derb El Magana, off Tala'a Kebira, and runs for one month.

2009-04-20T07:32:00.000-07:00

The Arab Fund for Arts and Culture (AFAC)

2009-03-11T02:38:00.002-07:00

The Arab Fund for Arts and Culture (AFAC) is a private, independent Arab initiative dedicated to empowering artists and writers through strategic cultural philanthropy in the Arab world. It seeks to deliver a sustainable funding mechanism for individual artists and organizations while simultaneously facilitating cultural exchanges across the region. AFAC’s journey began in September 2004 as an initiative by Culture Resource (Al Mawred Al Thaqafy), in consultation with over forty corporations, cultural organizations, individuals, and major donors, such as the Open Society Institute, The Emirates Foundation, and the Ford Foundation, all working in the region.

AFAC is registered as a Swiss Foundation and operates in the Arab region through an office in Amman. Its grant-making activities are open to artists and writers from the Arab region in the fields of literature, film, performing and visual arts.

Background

The Arab region faces today what many would see as major questions that will define the future of the region’s peoples and their position in the world. While these questions are commonly defined within the realms of politics and economics, on a deeper level they involve intrinsically cultural concerns such as formations of self-image, expressions of identity and freedom of speech. Across the region, policy makers, thinkers, intellectuals and artists are struggling with the process of finding answers to many of these questions. Cultural expressions in the forms of literature, film, performing and visual arts are at the center of these efforts. They are essential tools for examining elements of identity, commenting on realities and communicating criticism and visionary thought with the wider public.

Opportunity

Over the past two decades, the Arab world has witnessed a slow decrease in full state control over cultural activities. The introduction of economic liberalization policies in a number of countries, coupled with the emergence of a few semi-independent TV satellite channels, produced a relatively free atmosphere for cultural expression. This opening inspired a kind of Arab cultural “renaissance’ with the establishment of independent theatre and performing arts companies, music groups, publishing houses, galleries, cultural organizations and research centers; all of which share a common desire to venture into the realm of experimentation and innovation and to distance themselves from the constraints of official institutions.

Challenges

As progress was being made on the cultural front, access to state funding decreased in most countries and political and social restrictions made it difficult to secure grants. This, combined with an increasingly commercialized cultural environment, has placed dedicated Arab artists and organizations in a precarious financial position. Although they continue to grow in number and public visibility, they are deprived of substantial access to public resources. With the exception of a few devoted foundations in the Gulf sub-region, philanthropic funding has been mainly directed towards solving immediate social problems related to poverty and health.

Today, the independent cultural sector owes its survival to a small handful of international donors such as the Swedish International Development Authority, DANIDA, NORAD, The EU delegations in the region, The Dutch Government, the Ford Foundation and the Open Society Institute. These donors support the arts because they recognize the social and political importance of an independent cultural practice. However, financial reliance upon international sources presents many problems for artists and organizations. Grant recipients must often defend themselves against claims that they are delivering a foreign agenda and westernizing the culture. In addition, due to a general decrease in arts funding and the turbulent political climate of the Middle East, the future of these financial resources is in question.

Programs

The Arab Fund for Arts & Culture starts its grant-making activities in 2007 with a diverse portfolio of cultural development programs.

Cultural Production:

Grants will be given to support artistic and literary work that employs contemporary artistic sensibilities and addresses Arab common social issues. Support will also be granted towards research aimed at improving cultural policies, cultural management and the marketing of culture. Grants will be offered upon an annual public call for proposals. Applications will be evaluated by an independent jury appointed by the Board of Trustees. Funding is available for individuals and organizations based within a specific Arab country or those working across multiple countries.

The Arab Fund for Arts & Culture will support projects in the following fields:

- Independent Film
- Performing Arts
- Visual Arts
- Literature
- Capacity Building, Training and Research
- Regional Events and Collaboration
- Regional Exchanges, Tours, and Distribution

>> Submission call 2008

Khatt Foundation

2009-03-11T02:38:00.001-07:00

Huda Smitshuijzen AbiFarès

Khatt Foundation

Khatt Kufi & Kaffiya

El Hema exhibition

Bahia Shehab

The Khatt Foundation was created in 2004 in Amsterdam as a non-profit cultural foundation dedicated to design research and development through projects and programs that focus on rejuvenating (from within the culture) the applied arts traditions of the Arab world and the Middle East. The word khatt not only refers to writing, script, lettering, calligraphy, and typographic style. It also means line, as in a trace on a page… a line of thinking… a direction...

Haupt & Binder: What was your line of thinking when you decided to found Khatt? How is such an initiative related to your own background and personal experience?

Huda Smitshuijzen AbiFarès: The primary idea was to create a cultural foundation dedicated to advancing Arabic typography and design in the Arab world and the Middle East that can provide a platform for building cross-cultural creative networks and that educates through an awareness of the vital role that design can play in building a sustainable environment, conferences, forums and publications. The goal was to bridge and establish dialogues between East and West through design and typography (the visual and written aspects of communication). The second goal was to bring back the heritage of Islamic applied arts into a contemporary design and new media context and to reconnect Arab youth to that heritage and encourage them to innovate while establishing a link to that historical cultural tradition.

As a graphic designer trained in some of the best art schools in the US (Rhode Island School of Design and Yale University), I came back to the Middle East at the beginning of the 90s (namely to Beirut, and then later moved to Dubai) to teach and practice as a designer. I faced some serious setbacks in terms of available skills and knowledge about design, typography and the applied arts in general. As Arab designers in general, we were always looking to the West for inspiration and guidance (and standards of excellence). I myself ended up teaching for 12 years at American educational institutions (American University of Beirut and later the American University in Dubai). We rarely took the time to examine and study our Arab and Islamic heritage when thinking of design. I had to teach myself about my own Arab artistic heritage when I wrote my first book "Arabic Typography". I realized then that we needed to look at our heritage, but not copy it: just extract what works and add new life and new techniques that relate to the contemporary realities of today’s Arab societies — which tend to have traits that transcend national boundaries and others that highlight these national differences between various Arab nations, adding to the richness of the Arab and Middle Eastern visual culture.

Haupt & Binder: Could you mention some activities and events organized by Khatt in relation to and as examples of the foundation's goals?

HSA: The activities that the Khatt Foundation has undertaken to date have as a common thread education (in the broad sense, with Arabic typography and contemporary design as binding themes). We see the Arabic script as the simplest and most abstract building block of all the applied arts in the Arab and Islamic cultures (and an emblematic and defining visual identifier or common ground of these diverse cultures), and we aim at keeping it at the heart of all our activities. Some examples:

- Kitabat, the first Arabic calligraphy and typography conference (2006, in collaboration with Linotype and the American University in Dubai). This was the first bold project that combined the past and the future, addressing the history of the written script, its development as typography and its connection to contemporary design and technology.

- The "Typographic Matchmaking Project (version 1.0)," was a three-year project that brought Arabic and Dutch type designers to collaborate on creating 5 new Arabic fonts that match Latin (Dutch) fonts, creating 5 bilingual font families designed especially for bilingual publications. The project resulted in a book that documented the process and that set rules and guidelines for designers who would need to undertake similar design projects. The book was released with the resulting Arabic fonts, which ended up being used by all sorts of prestigious organizations as well as students and professionals in the Middle East, winning design awards and making a small contribution to the advancement of contemporary typographic design in the region. The book was launched with a symposium in Amsterdam on contemporary Arabic visual culture, Khatt Kufi & Kaffiya, and the fonts were showcased in the mock-shop exhibition El Hema (which in turn was realized as a collaboration between young Arab and Dutch/European designers).

We are in the process of initiating the "Typographic Matchmaking project (version 2.0)", which is focused on typography in the urban built environment and making a link between place-making, architecture and bilingual typography (Latin and Arabic) in two parallel cities like Dubai and Amsterdam. This time the project will include collaborations between Arab and Dutch type designers and architects. We are also in the process of developing a traveling exhibition entitled "Orientalia: Lead, Light & Letters" which will link the typographic design heritage of Europe to that of the Arab world.

H&B: In August 2007, you launched the Khatt Foundation online network. What dynamics and synergies does such a network structure release, and what advantages does it offer?

HSA: What the online network provides is an international face to the members and the culture and design in the region in particular. It also brings together people who would not otherwise have met or known about each other, through common interest and coincidentally browsing and discovering people that you need to talk to for professional collaboration and/or social interaction and support. It transcends physical boundaries and is immediate and economical.

H&B: Who are the network’s members and visitors, and where are they based? We've noticed that the website is mainly in English…

HSA: The members are in general designers and visual artists and scholars of Arab or Muslim background, as well as Europeans and Americans interested in the cultures of the Arab world and Middle East. In principle, this is an open community with content generated by the members of the community. The language is mainly English because it is an international language and because most members publish in English, although technically the site is multi-script multi-language enabled, so they could just as easily decide to write in any other language they feel comfortable in. We are planning in the future to have some editorial control on some sections of the site and more translations of some of the content, but that is dependent on the volume of funds we can raise for this purpose.

H&B: As a foundation, how do you harmonize commercial and non-commercial projects and outcomes when setting up projects in partnership with local industries?

HSA: We keep to projects that have cultural relevance and that are aligned with our goals; we try to work on projects in which the product is meant to promote young Arab & Middle Eastern designers and/or the culture. Our interest in the commercial aspect comes from the fact that artifacts are a more democratic way of spreading the message beyond the confines of the art-savvy to the wider public, and we like to create things that are art, that may have an indirect social message but that also serve a pragmatic purpose (like fonts for example).

H&B: The Khatt Foundation just opened an exhibition at Traffic Design Gallery in Dubai with the results of a competition to "re-invent wall design with a distinct Middle Eastern touch". How was the response to the submission call launched earlier this year, and how would you summarize this experience?

HSA: The last project we launched through the Khatt network was a design competition for the first Khatt Design Collection, entitled Project Mulsaq. The response to the competition was very encouraging in terms of participation: we received 150 design submissions and we had to cut our selection down to 19 final designs that we exhibited and that Mosaiques produced in a limited edition of wall stickers for interior decoration to sell through various resellers in the region and internationally. The opening of the exhibition at Traffic was very well attended, and many visitors came back a few days later to purchase some of the wall stickers to use in their homes or offices.

Abdulnasser Gharem

2009-03-11T02:37:00.001-07:00

Abdulnasser Gharem is unique in the history of Saudi Arabian contemporary art. No-one else has combined a career in the Saudi Arabian Army with life as an artist specialising in performance and site-specific installation. Gharem's studio is the street (or wherever he locates an artistic opportunity). Critically, he's someone who understands the value of contingency. This is at the heart of his practice alongside his social, ecological or political concerns. Along with Ahmed Mater, Gharem is one of the stars of 'Edge of Arabia', the first comprehensive exhibition of Saudi contemporary art in London. It opened on 15 October 2008 in the Brunei Gallery.

Born in 1973 in Khamis Mushait, near Abha, Gharem studied at Al-Miftaha Artists' Village before moving away from painting towards performance. One of his earliest pieces, displayed in the recent Sharjah Biennial 2007, was Flora and Fauna. This documented a performance in Abha for which he wrapped one of the Cornocarpus Erectus trees running down the main street in a sheet of plastic and remained in there all day, surviving on the oxygen produced by the tree. It was a neat exploration of man's relationship with his environment as well as the role of technocrats in urban redesign. These trees, a regular sight in Abha, were imported from Australia and although they produce impressive quantities of oxygen they have had a disastrous effect on the local tree population.

Henry Hemming: What kind of reaction did you get to this piece – you mentioned earlier this was the first time anything like this had happened in Abha?
Abdulnasser Gharem: People thought I was crazy. But they wanted to know more. Their minds are not closed so they came over to ask about it. When they understood it, they liked it.

HH: If you had the power would you remove all the Cornocarpus Erectus trees from Abha?
AG: Directly. But what's more important are the lessons for the future. Our architects and planners need to consider the environment more carefully in their designs. Our technology needs to accelerate in this sense. We need a philosophical analysis of the relationship between the technological and the natural.

HH: Can you explain the background to the piece you created a little further away from here in the Tihama Strip [1], Al Siraat?
AG: The background to this is the history of the bridge. In 1982 one day word spread following heavy rain that a flash-flood was about to sweep down the valley. So the villagers near this bridge decided to shelter on the concrete bridge. They put their faith in concrete. They gathered there with their vehicles and livestock and waited. The flood came, yet it washed away both the bridge and the people on it. Many years later I have covered the remains of this bridge with one word: Al Siraat. It took three days of intense labour with many helpers to achieve this.

In Arabic Al Siraat can mean 'the path' or 'the way' in the spiritual sense of the word: it's about the choices you make in life, and whether or not you follow the straight path. It can also refer to the bridge that you face when you die connecting this world and the next.

Gharem has left details of the location of this piece on his website and receives regular emails from art tourists who come down from Riyadh to visit it. It is gaining something of a cult following, and rightly so. It is an impressive piece: an ideal marriage of form and geographic context; concept to execution; memory with time; international contemporary art to Saudi present-day culture.

"But you know what was at the centre of this piece?" Gharem adds. "Chance. I saw this bridge, learnt its history, and improvised. I'm always rethinking. And this is so important for me. I have no studio so my studio is wherever I can find people, or their trace. When I see the opportunity I must take it."

In Chance and Necessity, the Nobel Laureate and French biochemist Jacques Monod argued that only with 'absolute chance' – i.e. coincidence, contingency, the collision that occurs when two unrelated sequences join and there is someone to take advantage of this – do you find the possibility of 'absolute newness'. Gharem embodies that possibility.

In a broader sense Gharem represents the past, present and future of contemporary art in Saudi Arabia. He began his career producing technically impressive watercolorist yet over the last eight years has adapted his technique to a dramatic broadening of his artistic horizons. What's impressive is the way he has responded to the inherent challenge or threat posed by Western contemporary art. Rather than imitate the most recent parts of this, or dream of leaving Saudi Arabia to make art abroad, Gharem has internalised its methodology and, with time, colonised it. The work he produces now is rooted absolutely in its (and his) geographic and social context.

As he puts it: "The one thing I fear is running out of ideas, and this will happen only if I leave the country, or I stop talking to people." So his work represents a commentary and artistic engagement with his surroundings rather than a solipsistic critique.

For Gharem and other like-minded innovators the future of the Saudi artist does not involve a man isolated in a studio, static before an easel with a palette round his thumb, and, metaphorically at least, a beret in place of a traditional headscarf. Instead the artist is a man or woman who can recognise contingency and fashion it to his or her advantage. They are not there to protest, or create beauty for the sake of beauty. There is instead an aesthetic charge to be found in the reality of the processes they enact.

Note:

1. Tihama Strip: A narrow coastal region running down the south-west coast of Arabia, derived geologically from the African mainland.

Hassan Darsi’s Golden Applications

2009-03-11T02:27:00.000-07:00

Born and based in Casablanca, Hassan Darsi founds his artistic practice on ideas that are easily accessed and have a straightforward visual appeal. His works are open to ambivalent readings and strive to reveal situations of conflict in a figurative sense. In the public realm he addresses society as a whole, combining a close awareness of his Moroccan cultural heritage with future issues of global concern.

One of Hassan Darsi’s ongoing themes since 2001 is concerned with gilding. The idea was triggered by his discovery of rolls of golden household wallpaper, 0.45 by 15 meters in an artisan’s shop close to his studio. These self-adhesive rolls were being used for precision cut, ornamental decoration in the style of traditional crafts thereby replacing hand-painted gildings.

At first, Darsi collected the cutout leftovers for playful experimentation, and started by decorating the walls of his studio with them. He subsequently developed abstract works of art, using his golden refuse to create traditionally formatted works on paper. The magical quality of the pieces is enhanced by the precious support consisting of Chinese rice paper mounted on board. Darsi names his pieces "Chute", which in French is as much as "Fall", a pun on the leftover character of the materials in association with the rhythmic cascade of golden abstraction falling down through the image.

In 2007, Darsi carried his golden applications into public space by using his adhesive rolls on the façade of an uptown commercial art gallery. For the first time, the Galerie Venise Cadre in Casablanca was presenting vanguard contemporary art. The initial four days for which the installation had been authorized turned into a duration of five months. The gallery became "the golden house", a landmark for the town’s taxi-drivers and a general subject of conversation for all those who had seen it. The reflections in the high-gloss surface of the adhesive paper turned the building into an Impressionist painting but also hinted at the extensive use of traditional ornamental gildings.

In January 2008, Darsi worked on "Urban Choreography". In this public action that took place in the Al Massira district of Marrakech, he made a toy-doll perform a modern dance on the roof of a car. The naked body of the blond beauty with blue eyes is covered in gold. The black circle on her chest reminds us plainly of the fact that she is a highly desirable speaking doll. Originally, Darsi wanted to drive through the city with the doll on his car roof but was denied the necessary authorizations from the police.

Darsi then intervened in the port of Guia de Isora on the Canary Island of Tenerife with a piece he has called "Golden Jetty" or "Or d’Afrique" a pun on "Out of Africa" and "Gold from Africa". This is the first edition of a series of similar interventions planned for seaports around the world. Here, Darsi applied his golden adhesive to the concrete blocks of the jetty: the bewitchingly beautiful and geometrically minimalist water-edge of the wealthy marina stands out in paradoxical contrast to the brutality of the concrete, with associations of coastline protection against warfare or illegal immigration. Despite the sea wash, the intervention lasted for some months and the artist produced a series of photos that capture the warm golden gloss in sharp distinction from the rough concrete.

Hassan Darsi, whom we already know from his rehabilitation concept for Hermitage Park in Casablanca, has extended his golden applications to an urban project based on the renovation of the Zevaco globe at the centre of Casablanca. The monument was conceived in 1971 by Jean-François Zevaco, one of the most renowned French-Moroccan architects of the period, as the symbol for an underground pedestrian passageway between the Ville Nouvelle, the colonial city, and the ancient medina. The monument deteriorated together with its visions of an emerging golden age. The "Cas’arts 2008" festival put out a call for entries to restore the Zevaco globe. Darsi proposed to gild the monument with his adhesive material, thus dressing it in new, sparkling clothes that, however, would soon deteriorate. He hoped to thereby trigger a discussion on questions of urban modernity and related long-term effects. Casablanca’s city council pushed Darsi’s project aside, precisely because of its predictable short lifespan and a proposal to paint the globe in different colors was sanctioned. Ironically, the council then decided against the colors and required the monument to be painted in gold, the colour being of a "more neutral character". Darsi’s model for this project was shown both in Casablanca and in the exhibition "In the Desert of Modernity. Colonial Planning and After" in Berlin. He has followed up these presentations with "The Great Shipwreck", a large installation using Zevaco’s globe in the imagery of a sinking and wounded planet covered in burns. The artist is currently working on golden applications on tanks used by the Nato in the Middle East.

Hassan Darsi works with the displacement between visual perception and our concept of worth. His adhesive gildings open up a space for reflection as to material fakeness, the contrast between the nature of the gilded object and civilization’s fascination for gold. For Darsi, a central issue of his golden applications is the moment of transformation, encompassing notions of covering up, restoration, and artificial glorification.

Collectif 212 - Contemporary Moroccan Art

2009-03-11T02:09:00.000-07:00

Hassan Darsi’s Golden Applications

2009-03-10T17:04:00.000-07:00

Born and based in Casablanca, Hassan Darsi founds his artistic practice on ideas that are easily accessed and have a straightforward visual appeal. His works are open to ambivalent readings and strive to reveal situations of conflict in a figurative sense. In the public realm he addresses society as a whole, combining a close awareness of his Moroccan cultural heritage with future issues of global concern.

One of Hassan Darsi’s ongoing themes since 2001 is concerned with gilding. The idea was triggered by his discovery of rolls of golden household wallpaper, 0.45 by 15 meters in an artisan’s shop close to his studio. These self-adhesive rolls were being used for precision cut, ornamental decoration in the style of traditional crafts thereby replacing hand-painted gildings.

At first, Darsi collected the cutout leftovers for playful experimentation, and started by decorating the walls of his studio with them. He subsequently developed abstract works of art, using his golden refuse to create traditionally formatted works on paper. The magical quality of the pieces is enhanced by the precious support consisting of Chinese rice paper mounted on board. Darsi names his pieces "Fall" , a pun on the leftover character of the materials in association with the rhythmic cascade of golden abstraction falling down through the image.

In 2007, Darsi carried his golden applications into public space by using his adhesive rolls on the façade of an uptown commercial art gallery. For the first time, the Galerie Venise Cadre in Casablanca was presenting vanguard contemporary art. The initial four days for which the installation had been authorized turned into a duration of five months. The gallery became "the golden house", a landmark for the town’s taxi-drivers and a general subject of conversation for all those who had seen it. The reflections in the high-gloss surface of the adhesive paper turned the building into an Impressionist painting but also hinted at the extensive use of traditional ornamental gildings.

In January 2008, Darsi worked on "Urban Choreography". In this public action that took place in the Al Massira district of Marrakech, he made a toy-doll perform a modern dance on the roof of a car. The naked body of the blond beauty with blue eyes is covered in gold. The black circle on her chest reminds us plainly of the fact that she is a highly desirable speaking doll. Originally, Darsi wanted to drive through the city with the doll on his car roof but was denied the necessary authorizations from the police.

Darsi then intervened in the port of Guia de Isora on the Canary Island of Tenerife with a piece he has called "Golden Jetty" a pun on "Out of Africa" and "Gold from Africa". This is the first edition of a series of similar interventions planned for seaports around the world. Here, Darsi applied his golden adhesive to the concrete blocks of the jetty: the bewitchingly beautiful and geometrically minimalist water-edge of the wealthy marina stands out in paradoxical contrast to the brutality of the concrete, with associations of coastline protection against warfare or illegal immigration. Despite the sea wash, the intervention lasted for some months and the artist produced a series of photos that capture the warm golden gloss in sharp distinction from the rough concrete.

Hassan Darsi, whom we already know from his rehabilitation concept for Hermitage Park in Casablanca, has extended his golden applications to an urban project based on the renovation of the Zevaco globe at the centre of Casablanca, as the symbol for an underground pedestrian passageway between the downtown and the ancient medina. The monument deteriorated together with its visions of an emerging golden age. The "Cas’arts 2008" festival put out a call for entries to restore the Zevaco globe. Darsi proposed to gild the monument with his adhesive material, thus dressing it in new, sparkling clothes that, however, would soon deteriorate. He hoped to thereby trigger a discussion on questions of urban modernity and related long-term effects. Casablanca’s city council pushed Darsi’s project aside, precisely because of its predictable short lifespan and a proposal to paint the globe in different colors was sanctioned. Ironically, the council then decided against the colors and required the monument to be painted in gold, the colour being of a "more neutral character". Darsi’s model for this project was shown both in Casablanca and in the exhibition "In the Desert of Modernity. Colonial Planning and After" in Berlin. He has followed up these presentations with "The Great Shipwreck", a large installation using Zevaco’s globe in the imagery of a sinking and wounded planet covered in burns. The artist is currently working on golden applications on tanks used by the Nato in the Middle East.

Hassan Darsi works with the displacement between visual perception and our concept of worth. His adhesive gildings open up a space for reflection as to material fakeness, the contrast between the nature of the gilded object and civilization’s fascination for gold. For Darsi, a central issue of his golden applications is the moment of transformation, encompassing notions of covering up, restoration, and artificial glorification.

Khatt Foundation

2009-03-10T17:03:00.000-07:00

The Khatt Foundation was created in 2004 in Amsterdam as a non-profit cultural foundation dedicated to design research and development through projects and programs that focus on rejuvenating (from within the culture) the applied arts traditions of the Arab world and the Middle East. The word khatt not only refers to writing, script, lettering, calligraphy, and typographic style. It also means line, as in a trace on a page… a line of thinking… a direction...

Haupt & Binder: What was your line of thinking when you decided to found Khatt? How is such an initiative related to your own background and personal experience?

Huda Smitshuijzen AbiFarès: The primary idea was to create a cultural foundation dedicated to advancing Arabic typography and design in the Arab world and the Middle East that can provide a platform for building cross-cultural creative networks and that educates through an awareness of the vital role that design can play in building a sustainable environment, conferences, forums and publications. The goal was to bridge and establish dialogues between East and West through design and typography (the visual and written aspects of communication). The second goal was to bring back the heritage of Islamic applied arts into a contemporary design and new media context and to reconnect Arab youth to that heritage and encourage them to innovate while establishing a link to that historical cultural tradition.

As a graphic designer trained in some of the best art schools in the US (Rhode Island School of Design and Yale University), I came back to the Middle East at the beginning of the 90s (namely to Beirut, and then later moved to Dubai) to teach and practice as a designer. I faced some serious setbacks in terms of available skills and knowledge about design, typography and the applied arts in general. As Arab designers in general, we were always looking to the West for inspiration and guidance (and standards of excellence). I myself ended up teaching for 12 years at American educational institutions (American University of Beirut and later the American University in Dubai). We rarely took the time to examine and study our Arab and Islamic heritage when thinking of design. I had to teach myself about my own Arab artistic heritage when I wrote my first book "Arabic Typography". I realized then that we needed to look at our heritage, but not copy it: just extract what works and add new life and new techniques that relate to the contemporary realities of today’s Arab societies — which tend to have traits that transcend national boundaries and others that highlight these national differences between various Arab nations, adding to the richness of the Arab and Middle Eastern visual culture.

Haupt & Binder: Could you mention some activities and events organized by Khatt in relation to and as examples of the foundation's goals?

HSA: The activities that the Khatt Foundation has undertaken to date have as a common thread education (in the broad sense, with Arabic typography and contemporary design as binding themes). We see the Arabic script as the simplest and most abstract building block of all the applied arts in the Arab and Islamic cultures (and an emblematic and defining visual identifier or common ground of these diverse cultures), and we aim at keeping it at the heart of all our activities. Some examples:

- Kitabat, the first Arabic calligraphy and typography conference (2006, in collaboration with Linotype and the American University in Dubai). This was the first bold project that combined the past and the future, addressing the history of the written script, its development as typography and its connection to contemporary design and technology.

- The "Typographic Matchmaking Project (version 1.0)," was a three-year project that brought Arabic and Dutch type designers to collaborate on creating 5 new Arabic fonts that match Latin (Dutch) fonts, creating 5 bilingual font families designed especially for bilingual publications. The project resulted in a book that documented the process and that set rules and guidelines for designers who would need to undertake similar design projects. The book was released with the resulting Arabic fonts, which ended up being used by all sorts of prestigious organizations as well as students and professionals in the Middle East, winning design awards and making a small contribution to the advancement of contemporary typographic design in the region. The book was launched with a symposium in Amsterdam on contemporary Arabic visual culture, Khatt Kufi & Kaffiya, and the fonts were showcased in the mock-shop exhibition El Hema (which in turn was realized as a collaboration between young Arab and Dutch/European designers).

We are in the process of initiating the "Typographic Matchmaking project (version 2.0)", which is focused on typography in the urban built environment and making a link between place-making, architecture and bilingual typography (Latin and Arabic) in two parallel cities like Dubai and Amsterdam. This time the project will include collaborations between Arab and Dutch type designers and architects. We are also in the process of developing a traveling exhibition entitled "Orientalia: Lead, Light & Letters" which will link the typographic design heritage of Europe to that of the Arab world.

H&B: In August 2007, you launched the Khatt Foundation online network. What dynamics and synergies does such a network structure release, and what advantages does it offer?

HSA: What the online network provides is an international face to the members and the culture and design in the region in particular. It also brings together people who would not otherwise have met or known about each other, through common interest and coincidentally browsing and discovering people that you need to talk to for professional collaboration and/or social interaction and support. It transcends physical boundaries and is immediate and economical.

H&B: Who are the network’s members and visitors, and where are they based? We've noticed that the website is mainly in English…

HSA: The members are in general designers and visual artists and scholars of Arab or Muslim background, as well as Europeans and Americans interested in the cultures of the Arab world and Middle East. In principle, this is an open community with content generated by the members of the community. The language is mainly English because it is an international language and because most members publish in English, although technically the site is multi-script multi-language enabled, so they could just as easily decide to write in any other language they feel comfortable in. We are planning in the future to have some editorial control on some sections of the site and more translations of some of the content, but that is dependent on the volume of funds we can raise for this purpose.

H&B: As a foundation, how do you harmonize commercial and non-commercial projects and outcomes when setting up projects in partnership with local industries?

HSA: We keep to projects that have cultural relevance and that are aligned with our goals; we try to work on projects in which the product is meant to promote young Arab & Middle Eastern designers and/or the culture. Our interest in the commercial aspect comes from the fact that artifacts are a more democratic way of spreading the message beyond the confines of the art-savvy to the wider public, and we like to create things that are art, that may have an indirect social message but that also serve a pragmatic purpose (like fonts for example).

H&B: The Khatt Foundation just opened an exhibition at Traffic Design Gallery in Dubai with the results of a competition to "re-invent wall design with a distinct Middle Eastern touch". How was the response to the submission call launched earlier this year, and how would you summarize this experience?

HSA: The last project we launched through the Khatt network was a design competition for the first Khatt Design Collection, entitled Project Mulsaq. The response to the competition was very encouraging in terms of participation: we received 150 design submissions and we had to cut our selection down to 19 final designs that we exhibited and that Mosaiques produced in a limited edition of wall stickers for interior decoration to sell through various resellers in the region and internationally. The opening of the exhibition at Traffic was very well attended, and many visitors came back a few days later to purchase some of the wall stickers to use in their homes or offices.

Some gallery...

2009-03-08T00:18:00.001-08:00

1 The Third Line

2 Ayyam Gallery Syrian contemporary art gallery. Damascus and Dubai.

3 B21 Dubai contemporary Middle East art gallery

4 The Townhouse Gallery Cairo contemporary art gallery

5 Ashkal Alwan The Lebanese Association for Plastic Arts, Ashkal Alwan, is a non-profit arts organization based in Beirut, Lebanon.

6 Green Art Gallery [Dubai, UAE]

7 Art Space [Dubai]

8 Carbon 12 [Dubai]

9 Agial Art [Beirut]

10 Al Mamal Foundation [Jerusalem]

11 Al Riwaq [Bahrain]

12 6+ Women's Art Collective [Palestine]

13 Al Bareh [Bahrain]

14 Alexandria Contemporary Art Forum

17 Contemporary Image Collective

18 Darat Al Funun

19 Al Hoash Gallery

20 L'Appartement 22

Ahmed Benyoussef - lovers of dance

2009-02-22T08:59:00.000-08:00

Ahmed Benyoussef is a moroccan composer

Artist From North Africa

2009-02-16T10:16:00.000-08:00

Mohamed Sibari
Ahmed Ould Abdel Qáder
Aref Abu Rabiah
Mohamed Akalay
Mouloud Mammeri
Mohammed Ibn Batuta
Janata Bennuna
Mohamed Choukri
Abdellatif Laâbi
Fátima Mernissi
Ahmed Rami
Mohamed Bouissef Rekab
Dámaso Ruano
labied miloud

Some good videoart festivals

2009-02-10T20:56:00.000-08:00

"VAD: The 6th Festival Internacional de video i arts digitals", Girona, Spain
"The 10th Ssamzie space anniversary exhibition" Ssamzie space, Seoul, South Korea
"Fukuoka Eco-Film Festival", Nokonoshima, Fukuoka, Japan
"MIR festival 2008", Athens, Greece
"Corto per Scelta", Marche, Italy
"August in Art VIDEOHOLICA", Varna, Bulgaria
"VIDEOAKT" GloagauAIR, Berlin, Germany
"The 5th Bangkok Experimental Film Festival" Bankok, Thailand
"3rd Edition of MAGMART video under volcano" Casoria Contemporary Art Museum, Naples, Italy
"Tokyo Video Festival 2008" Japan Victor Bldg, Tokyo, Japan
"International Contemporary Art Biennial of Adana" Adana, Turkey
"5th BigScreen International Film Festival" Yunnan, Kunming, China
"VIDOVIN 2007" Multimedia Centre MINK, Tolmin, Slovenia
"Optica: the Gijon International Festival of Video Art" Gijon, Spain
"RAW: VIDEO ART" Monkey Town, New York, USA
"10th International Istanbul Biennial" 25 spots of Istanbul, Turkey
"11th Edition of International Video and Shorts Festival UNIMOVIE" Pescara, Italy
"9th International Short Film Festival Tinklai" 6 cities of Lithuania
"6DOF MUESTRA PUEBLA07" Cultural Center LA CLOACA / NAHUAL, Puebla, Mexico
"The 6th International Kansk Video Festival" Kansk, Russia
"One Minute Film & Video Festival" Aula Alte Kanti, Aarau, Switzerland
"You're not as green as you are cabbage-looking" Transformer Gallery, Washington DC, USA
"OK.VIDEO: Jakarta Video Festival 2007" National Gallery of Indonesia-Jakarta, Jakarta, Indonesia
"Athens Video Art Festival 07" Athens, Greece
"Cine Falcatrua -International Video Exhibition" Vitoria/ES, Brazil
"00130Gallery Video Project" 00130Gallery, Helsinki, Finland
"Limited Access Audio-Video screening" parkingallery, Tehran, Iran
"ICE BOX 02 Audio/Visual Art Festival" Bell-Roberts CUBE Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
"2nd Edition of MAGMART video under volcano" Casoria Contemporary Art Museum, Naples, Italy
"4th Edition of INPORT International Video-Performance Art Festival" Tallinn, Estonia
"10th Edition of International Video and Shorts Festival UNIMOVIE" Citta Sant'Angelo / Pescara, Italy

The Visible Soul: Contemporary Art from Morocco

2009-02-08T09:24:00.000-08:00

The World Bank Art Program is pleased to present The Visible Soul: Contemporary Art From Morocco, which features the work of four highly accomplished artists. Having shown extensively throughout Morocco, the Middle East and Europe, these artists' work is little known in the United States. While not comprehensive, given the extraordinary diversity of contemporary Moroccan art, this exhibition does provide a sense of the scope of this country's dynamic artistic community. A recurring theme in much of these artists' work is the tension between tradition and modernity, which reflects a critical global issue and a core concern of the World Bank.

The artists range from well-established pillars of the Moroccan cultural community to rising stars within that community. In contrast to the cynicism and irony pervading much of contemporary Western art, the title of this exhibition, The Visible Soul, speaks to the openness and passion of the participating artists in addressing such profound subjects as virtue, memory, identity, spirituality and the tension between tradition and modernity
Contrary to the more incremental development of modern art in most non-Western cultures, the advent of contemporary Moroccan art was abrupt and radical and began shortly after Moroccan independence. One of the most important catalysts in the birth of contemporary Moroccan art was an art movement started in Casablanca in the early 1960s and centered around L'Ecole des Beaux Arts. There, a handful of young male Moroccan artists, who had been observing trends in Western contemporary art, began to create art with a shared set of influences which came to be called the Casablanca School. A point of departure for their work was "hard-edge abstraction" by such Western artists as Frank Stella. More importantly, these artists drew deeply from Moroccan and Berber cultural traditions. The result for Morocco was a totally new and totally contemporary indigenous style of art.

MALIKA AGUEZNAY
Master printmaker and painter, Malika Agueznay's journey as an artist is intertwined with the birth and development of contemporary Moroccan art. She enrolled as a student at L'Ecole des Beaux Arts in the mid 60s, where she was well accepted and encouraged by her teachers, some of whom were leading figures in the Casablanca School. Thus began her career as Morocco's first female contemporary artist.

The early years of the Casablanca School were difficult ones, with its unprecedented work being met with criticism in Morocco. While strongly supported by her fellow artists and husband, Ms. Agueznay's path was even more difficult, as she was also playing a part in paving the way for women's rights in her country by her resolute dedication to her profession .

Through the years Ms. Agueznay has refined a unique style distinguished by intricate interweaving and overlapping organic forms which she calls "algae." . With these forms she creates perfectly balanced and composed work which can be purely abstract or contain representational elements. Whether in her prints or paintings or with vibrant or muted color, these forms interact to create dazzling tableaus imbued with swirling, pulsing movement.
A recurring motif in the artist's work is "algae" forms of stylized Arabic script of her own shape and design. When she uses this script it is always with the same five words: Peace, Love, Compassion, Modesty and Generosity. Ms. Agueznay began using these words in her art as she felt the traditional Moroccan values these words represent are being eroded in of her country's contemporary culture . It is the rare artist who can convey such a profound message with beauty, sincerity and gentleness.

TIBARI KANTOUR
A well-established and respected mid-career artist, Tibari Kantour is considered one of Morocco's finest artists working with paper,: Also a master printer, over the years Mr. Cantor has developed unique processes and equipment for making paper. The artist lives and works in the Moroccan countryside, and part of the reason for these unique processes and equipment has been that where standard materials and equipment have not always been readily at hand.

Sans_titre.jpg
Rim Laabi, Untitled, 2002
Mixed media
Mr. Kantour uses several techniques in creating his paper. With wet pulp he shapes, models and builds up an individual piece of paper. Previously made pieces of paper may be added, in a collage-like fashion. As he works, the paper becomes heavily textured, and he may embed organic elements directly into the wet paper. There is an ancient, elemental look to this paper, as if made in collaboration between the artist and natural forces. The leaves of paper are works of art in themselves

While making this paper, again using a variety of techniques, the artist adds his personal vocabulary of marks and images, to truly makes it speak. He may introduce paint, ink or natural pigment into the wet paper. This may be done in a controlled fashion to make distinct marks or by bleeding color into the paper to create chance shapes and images. While the paper is still wet the artist may incise lines and marks into it. When the paper dries he may then print onto it.

By the late 1980s Mr. Kantour had developed a mastery of his techniques, allowing him to concentrate on manipulating his paper to realize his artistic vision. For him, this vision can only be achieved through a true union of material and content. This content, the artist's soul, is a direct reflection of the natural world in which he lives and works in, far removed from urban centers. His work seems a communion with sky, earth and tree. In pursuit of this sacred dialogue, bits of Arabic script may coexist with an elemental, natural script that flows through the artist onto the paper. Mr. Kantour's art appears as a beautiful visual record of ancient dialogues between humankind and a higher world, whether Nature or God.

Timitar Festival 2008

2009-02-03T20:12:00.000-08:00

While celebrating its fifth edition, Timitar festival has become an eagerly anticipated
event in the Moroccan cultural landscape. Considered today as one of the biggest
festivals in the country, Timitar provides its audience with an event well rooted in and
actively working towards promoting Souss Massa Drâa culture.

This year, from the 1st to the 6th of July, Timitar festival will present the best of
traditional and contemporary repertoires from the five continents of the globe. Held at
three stages, located in different venues of Agadir city, the audience is invited to
structure their own experience of the diverse musical experience on offer.
Essential to the spirit of Timitar festival and its music programme is its position as a
platform for open dialogue between diverse cultures through music.
For this fifth edition, Timitar is highlighting Moroccan artists. This will make this
year s festival not only an ambitious program of established international artists, but a
testament to the richness and diversity of Moroccan music.

The events of each evening will commence with an Amazigh traditional group,
exhibiting the dynamic artistry of the Souss Massa Drâa Region.
Having established itself amongst the major world music festivals, Timitar will this
year invite outstanding artists in the field including, Youssou N Dour, Lamchaheb,
Idir, Marcel Khalife, Alpha Blondy, Izenzaren, Rokia Traoré, Najat Aatabou, Ziskakan,
Cheb Khaled, Takfarinas, Oulad el Bouazzaoui and Salif Keita.
The festival s line up is also distinguished by the new generation of world music
artists, including Maalesh and Etran Finatawa. .

The most awaited repertoire of Rways will be represented by great names such as
Fatima Tabaamrant, Outajajt, Lahoucine Amarakchi, My Ahmed Ihihi, Fatima Tihihit
and Haj Amentag.
The best of the Tamwayt repertoire will be interpreted by Cherifa and Ahouzar.
The audience will have also the opportunity to discover new groups working with
traditional music strongly present in Souss Massa Drâa Region; these include
Imghrane, Oudaden, Tarragt, Azenkd, Toudart, Lahoucine Aït Baamrane and Aït
Laati.

With their well formed ability to create a hybrid of cultures and sounds,
internationally based Moroccan or Maghrebian artists such as Chalaban,
Walid Mimoun, Yuba and Mehdi Haddab & the Speed Caravan will present their
unique music of diverse influences.

Timitar Festival 2008 Signs & Cultures - Agadir - 5
Urban and contemporary music is also commemorated in this edition on account of
the alternative artists who made a mark on the local Moroccan music scene, such as
Amarg Fusion, Darga, Fez City Clan, Rap 2 Bleb and international urban and
contemporary hip hop groups such as Didier Awadi and his band Presidents of Africa
and electronic music groups such as Zong and Nortec Collective.
And finally, the most awaiting rendezvous of live sounds and images with deejay and
veejay sets on Al Amal and Bijawane stages, featuring VJ Dennis Dezenn, Kiss Dub
and Rays; with Dj Big Buddha, Ishtar, Dj B*indi, Mps Pilot, Badr Eddine, Mixape, Dj
Key and Dj Saïf.

The diverse line up of the Timitar festival holds strong to spirit of plurality inherent in
world music and the Amazigh musical tradition.

Timitar Festival office
172 Hassan II Avenue - Fouzia Building
80 000 Agadir Morocco
Tel.: (+212) 28 82 03 38
Fax: (+212) 28 84 81 75
timitarinfo@gmail.com
www.festival-timitar.com

Forum for the Arts in the Mediterranean (Fam) in Tunis

2009-02-03T18:46:00.000-08:00

The Forum for the Arts in the Mediterranean area (FAM) is born in 2004-2005 from a common initiative of Tunisian (Zeinab Farhat, Tawfiq Jebali), Syrian (Hassan Abbas, Hanan Kessab Hassan, Rim Kattab, Cécile Boex) and European artists and Cultural managers (Ornella d’Agostino, Toni Cots, Gerarda Ventura, Fanny Bouquerel). Pioneering cultural cooperation project, it offers an opportunity to develop exchanges between artists and professionals involved in the cultural field within the Mediterranean.
By organising workshops dedicated to choreographic art (including dramaturgy techniques) and to cultural management training, FAM was created, accordind to Gerarda Ventura, Italian Cultural manager “to foster professional activity, dialogue and mutual understanding between young choreographic artists and young cultural operators from different disciplines and countries. To our view, these exchanges could contribute to develop the role of the artists and cultural operators in the building of civil society.”

In Damascus, FAM already organised in August 2004 a choreographic workshop for 15 Syrian and Mediterranean dancers together with a final presentation of the work, meeting and debates. Next March, and on the same line, FAM will organise at the Al Teatro of Tunis a choreographic and dramatic workshop for 10 professional Mediterranean choreographers, a cultural management workshop for 10 young Euro-Mediterranean cultural operators (all disciplines), a initiation to cultural management workshop for 15 Tunisian artists/students and a Performing Arts workshop involving 10 participants. Two evening will be dedicated to the presentation of their artistic works followed by a debate.
Aimed at young choreographic artists and professional cultural operators or professionals-to-be, the Tunis workshops will be attended by participants from the whole mediterranean: Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Turkey, Italy. The workshops will be animated by experts and pedagogues from the same region.

After the fruitful collaboration already experienced in Damascus and soon in Tunis, FAM will try, to follow up on the artistic and cultural management training in the Mediterranean area, in order to further develop the experience in other countries in the Mediterranean and also include other artistic disciplines.
Indeed, for Zeinab Farhat, Director of El Teatro, “after Tunis, FAM also wants to guarantee continuity in exchanges and activities in order to develop a cultural and artistic Mediterranean life. The region needs a stronger and flexible regional cooperation, involving operators and independent organisations, artists from different countries”.

The Project was financed by the European Union, and carried out With the support of , Fonds Roberto Cimetta, and Regione Sardegna and Thanks to Goethe Institute Damascusus, Mustafa Ali Foundation.

A life Full of holes: the Strait Project

2009-02-03T07:27:00.000-08:00

I thought: people say it's better to have no life at all than a life full of holes. But then they say: better an empty sack than no sack. I don't know.' (A Life Full of Holes, Driss Ben Hamed Charhadi (1964).

The title of the exhibition refers to the Strait of Gibraltar, the narrow channel that divides Europe and Africa, but for the artist it also refers to the temptation of departure.

For Barrada the city of Tangier can be seen as a focal point for the issues surrounding African migration into Europe, a microcosm in which a population's imagined dreams and aspirations of leaving are placed.
'The word strait, like its French - and as chance would have it, Arabic - equivalent, combines the senses of narrowness and distress. The collapse of the colonial entreprise has left behind a complex legacy, bridging the Mediterranean and shaping how movement across the Strait of Gibraltar is managed and perceived. Before 1991 any Moroccan with a passport could travel freely to Europe. But since the European Union's (EU) Schengen Agreement, visiting rights have become unilateral across what is now legally a one-way strait. A generation of Moroccans has grown up facing this troubled space that manages to be at once physical, symbolic, historical and intimately personal.
Today the Strait is the main gateway for illegal immigrants, bound north with their own vocabulary, legends, songs, rites, and language. People no longer say 'he migrated' but 'h'reg': 'he burned'- burned his papers, his past, the law. Over the past two decades, the Spanish coast, visible from Tangier on any clear day or night, has lured many thousands of would-be émigrés to their deaths in what has become a vast Moroccan cemetery. Yet throughout Africa, the streets are abuzz with the exploits of 'the burnt ones' or 'the burners', and Tangier has become the destination and jumping-off point of a thousand hopes.
I try to expose the metonymic character of the Strait through a series of images that reveal the tension - that restlessly animates the streets of my hometown - between its allegorical nature and immediate, harsh reality. My work attempts, in part, to exorcise the unspoken violence of other people's departures. I, too, left Tangier, for more than 10 years; by moving back, I have placed myself amidst the violence of homecoming. There are no flâneurs here, and no innocent bystanders.
The subject of this work is never frankly discussed in Morocco. Yet everywhere I pursued my photographic record of northern ennui - along the 'Wall of the Lazy', in the vacant lots and housing projects, around the port - I came to recognise this fatal drive to leave that is today inscribed in a whole people.'

Yto Barrada
Tangier, 2004

Video arts In/Scene at Al Hoah Gallery

2009-02-02T12:50:00.000-08:00

In/Scene is a video-art exhibition that features Mona Hatoum, Khalil Rabah, Taysir Batniji, Oraib Toukan, Jumana Emil Abboud, and Mohammad Musallam. Each of the featured artists works with video as part of a wider practice that includes installation, performance, and sound. In this exhibition the artists present thought-provoking works that challenge the boundaries of artistic categories and test the limits of what art can do, illuminating the political, social, and cultural forces that have shaped it.

The overriding themes that connect the works on display include displacement, exile, memory, identity, representation and home. The subject of home figures prominently in Mona Hatoum’s video-art work Changing Parts. Hatoum contrasts the highly ordered intimate space of her parents’ bathroom in Beirut with the dangerous breakdown of public order during the Lebanese civil war. The calm and ordered sanctuary of her parents’ bathroom, accompanied by Bach’s sombre Fourth Cello Suite, is disrupted by images from Under Siege in which the artist is trapped in the polythene box and struggles to escape from the container. Hatoum uses her body to explore notions of violence, oppression, confinement, and displacement. In Changing Parts, home is an object of longing and a kind of prison at the same time.

In The Pomegranate, Jumana Abboud films herself as she tries to put all the seeds back into a pomegranate, which causes them to burst, leaving her hands covered with red juice. The seeds are displaced, and any effort to return them to their shell is futile, suggesting metaphorically that a return to the past is impossible.

The silent projection in Bruit de Fond by Taysir Batniji conceals the tension and violence that has been experienced by the artist and by many previous generations in Palestine. The artist recalls childhood memories, which are interwoven with the present reality, reminding the spectator that there is no escape from the past.

Trying to Count Memories without Laughter’s Disruption is a two-channel video installation by Oraib Toukan. The work is a commentary on memory – especially the Middle Eastern memory – which has been accustomed to being raped, eradicated, and dispossessed of its rights before it shifts from present to past.

In A This and a That by Khalil Rabah, an olive lies on the ground; it is squashed. Another olive is squashed, and another, and another. At first sight, the repeated destruction of the olives suggests devastation; however with each squash of an olive we see an ant passing by – ants that are well known for their hard work and persistence, thus suggesting strength and resistance.

Finally, on display also is a work entitled Performance by Muhammad Musallam from Gaza. In this video, the artist tries to break through a curtain using his hands, legs, and body, but with no success. This is an indirect portrayal of daily life for Gaza’s more than one million inhabitants.

The exhibition is accompanied by a series of screenings that showcase five thematic arrangements of video art by renowned artists.

Programme 1: INVISIBLE is a selection of video art that reveals stories from our everyday lives that are often ignored or taken for granted. The selection includes: A World Apart within 15 Minutes by Enas Muthaffar, Control Room by Mohammad Harb, Nervus Rerum by Anjalika Sagar (Otolith Group), and Tension by Rashid Masharawi.

Programme 2: RECALLING examines the nature of memory and how it contributes to our personal and historical knowledge. Films include Red, Dead and Mediterranean by Akram al Ashqar, A Journey by Lamia Joreige, Jerusalem HD by Ammar al Beik, and Meet Me Out of the Siege by Jessica Habie.

Programme 3: Expose is a selection of films that critique the West’s representations of the Middle East, Arab culture, and the Palestinian people. Featured films include Planet of the Arabs by Jackie Salloum, SBARA by Larissa Sansour, and Introduction to the End of an Argument by Jayce Salloum and Elia Suleiman.

Programme 4: Frame is a line-up of films that reflect the difficult and often impossible conditions of mobility for Palestinians. Films include Transit by Taysir Batniji, A Day in Palestine by co-directors Mary Ellen Davis, José Garcia-Lozano, Will Eilini, Around by Mohanad Yaqubi, Run Lara Run by Larissa Sansour, The Wall Zone Auction by Khalil Rabah, and 25 Kilometres by Nahed Awwad.

Programme 5: Buoyancy includes a selection of films that are characterised by their enthusiasm and experimental nature: Shopping in Ramallah by Shuruq Harb, At the End by Christian Bitcsh, The Beauty Gaza, Gaza the Beauty by Basel al Maqusi, Molokhia by Mohammad al Hawajri, and Rollescape by Mohanad Yaqubi.

Finally, special screenings for youth are available for schools. Yhey include two 40-minute programmes: Programme 1: Make a Wish by Cherien Dabis, Be Quiet by Sameh Zoabi, and Ricco by Mohanad Yaqubi.
Programme 2: Animated films by Ahmad Habash and ZAN Studio.
(25/11/2008)
For Further information please contact:
Palestinian Art Court – Al Hoash at
T: 00972 2 6273501
media@alhoashgallery.org
www.alhoashgallery.org

Mediterranea/ EU Project / Meeting the Other: Borders, Identity and Cultures

2009-02-02T08:59:00.000-08:00

Cultural expressions are fundamental to fight prejudices. And today, migrant population in Europe are too often perceived through the glass of social conflict, terrorism, fundamentalist backwardness or criminality. Tired of these growing preconception, Babelmed, has conceived a European editorial project to put the emphasis on the cultural expressions coming from Migrations.

The project is developed in the framework of the "European Year for Intercultural Dialogue". This multidisciplinary project covers several areas including journalism, research and cultural productions.

Through articles posted online on several existing websites (Babelmed, IEMed, IRFAM, Paralleli, Qantara.de), the project seeks to give greater visibility to the cultural expressions and artistic productions from immigrant communities. A decentralised committee of young, European and local journalists was created to write articles and cover a wide range of issues on intercultural dialogue.

"Meeting the Other" starts with an intellectual questioning of term of “Interculturality” and “Dialogue” by European magazines, like Lettera Internazionale from Rome. They will both publish special issues on the theme.

The IRFAM in Belgium coordinates a collective research book on intercultural dialogue to fight intercommunity antagonisms.

The creative component of the project will take place from the 1st to the 10th of August through a creative forum for young European artists of the performing arts and organised by Astragali Teatro. It will include the production of a performance.

Finally, a series of documentaries on “Memory, migration and intercultural dialogue” selected by CMCA is accompanying all the main co-ordination event.

From the kick off Meeting in Turin the that took place on the 27th and 28th of April and was organised by the Istituto Paralleli and the Barcelona conference that will take place in October.

The project also includes the creation of a virtual festival on intercultural dialogue. This Internet-based festival will be a virtual showcase to give added visibility to young artists and journalists.
Associazione culturale Babelmed
Via di Sant'Agnese 12
00198 Rome
Tel: +39/06 8632 8178
Email: info@babelmed.net
Contact person: Galesne Nathalie, n.galesne@babelmed.net

Project partners:

Astragali Teatro (EUFONIA società cooperativa)
Via Giuseppe Candido 23
73100 Lecce
Italie
Tel: +39/08 3230 6194
Email: astragali@libero.it
www.astragali.org
Contact person: Fabio Roberto Tolledi

Institut Europeu de la Mediterrània – IEMed
c/. Girona 20
08010 Barcelona
Espagne
Tel: +34/93 244 98 50
Email: info@iemed.org
www.iemed.org
Contact person: Aubarell Solduga Gemma

Paralleli – Istituto Euromediterraneo del Nord Ovest
Via Conte Verde 9
10122 Torino
Italie
Tel: +39/01 1522 9825
Email: info@paralleli.org
www.paralleli.org
Contact person: Marco Alfieri

Lettera Internazionale
Via Luciano Manara 51
00153 Rome
Italie
Tel: +39/06 8535 0230
Email: lettera.int@tiscali.it
www.letterainternazionale.it
Contact person: Bruno Biancamaria

Qantara.de
Kurt-Schumacher Strasse 113
5113 Bonn
Allemagne
Tel: +49/ 228 4292 645
Email: lewis.gropp@dw-world.de
www.qantara.de
Contact person: Gropp Lewis

Mediterranean & North African Movies Festivals

2009-02-02T08:35:00.000-08:00

Mediterranean / Festivals

MOROCCO
Festival of Musics from Desert, Rissani - Merzouga
www.festivaldesmusiquesdudesert.com

Festival of Essaouira
Gnaoua & World Music
www.festival-gnaoua.co.ma/

Festival of Sacred musics of Fez
www.fezfestival.org/

TUNISIA
Festival of Medina, Tunis
www.festivalmedina.com

Festival of Carthage
www.festival-carthage.com.tn/

Festival International of Sahara,Douz
www.douz.org

Review of North African Artists

2009-01-31T14:55:00.000-08:00

Paiting :

Abderrazak Sahli :- TUNISIA

Born in Hammamet in 1940. Works and lives in Tunisia.

Sahli's compositions, some of which are on very larg scale, seem to be retrieved from a swarm of figures. His painting reacts to a variety of stimuli, mixing unconscious elements with what is conscious, vigorous and spontaneous. His different surfaces, colours and themes are a synthesis between minimalism conceptual art, new realism and free figuration.

Rose Issa
Catalogue of the exhibition"Bakou"
Leiton House Museum, London

Rafik Kamel :- TUNISIA

Born in Tunis in 1944. Works and lives in Tunisia.

Rafik Kamel belongs to the second generation of Tunisian painters. He is an abstract painter , who moves with ease between figuration and abstraction ,and shows that there is no inherent contradiction or real seperation between the two. He uses biological or molecular forms in subtle colours that suggest an inner reality not visible to the naked eye.

Rachid Koraichi :- ALGERIA

Born in Algeria in 1947. Works and lives in Tunisia.

He employs calligraphy in an abstract symbolic manner so that his alphabets turn into symbols for revolution and protest. He avoids colour, especially in his graphics, and depends on a dramatic contrast of black with white.

Wijdan Ali
Contemporary Art in the Islamic World

Mohamed Omar Khalil :- SUDAN

Born in Burri, Sudan, in 1936. Works and lives in New York.

Mohamed Khalil is a most accomplished graphic artist, painter and teacher, whose work relies on forms and pattern, comprising symbols, artefacts, stamps or any kind of motifs derived from his Sudanese background.The gradational colours of black and the different contrasts of black contribute to the achievement of sensibility and drama.

Wijdan Ali
Contamporary Art in the Islamic World

painting - Tunisia

2009-01-31T14:45:00.000-08:00

Abderrazak Sahli :- TUNISIA

Born in Hammamet in 1940. Works and lives in Tunisia.

Sahli's compositions, some of which are on very larg scale, seem to be retrieved from a swarm of figures. His painting reacts to a variety of stimuli, mixing unconscious elements with what is conscious, vigorous and spontaneous. His different surfaces, colours and themes are a synthesis between minimalism conceptual art, new realism and free figuration.

Rose Issa
Catalogue of the exhibition"Bakou"
Leiton House Museum, London

Rafik Kamel :- TUNISIA

Born in Tunis in 1944. Works and lives in Tunisia.

Rafik Kamel belongs to the second generation of Tunisian painters. He is an abstract painter , who moves with ease between figuration and abstraction ,and shows that there is no inherent contradiction or real seperation between the two. He uses biological or molecular forms in subtle colours that suggest an inner reality not visible to the naked eye.

two North African cities on focus in Berlin

2009-01-31T14:42:00.000-08:00

The House of World Cultures Exhibition In the Desert of Modernity. Colonial Planning and After examines the colonial fantasies of the West(/Europe) using the north-african city Casablanca as an experimental playground of modernistic ideas and the consequent impact of this enforced transformations.
From the 1930s on, colonial North Africa was transformed into a laboratory for European modernization fantasies. Casablanca was seen as a test case for the ‘city of tomorrow’, radical redevelopment plans included.
The developments projected were envisaged as a blueprint for Europe’s metropolises, too, and intended to reform the way people lived. In the Desert of Modernity presents works of architecture and urban concepts that arose under the state of emergency that was colonial rule, a state influenced, in turn, by the anti-colonial liberation struggles and trans-national migration in North Africa and Western Europe.

The exhibition introduces and expounds the problems of the ambivalences between colonial rule and modernistic Utopias. In how far are Utopias of modernism and civilization rooted in colonialism? In how far have the breaks within and resistance against colonialism left their mark on modernism? The exhibition also provides tangible evidence of the events, projects, actions, and visions that played a significant role during the time of decolonization between North Africa and Europe, and are still of significance today. It traces the stories of the local inhabitants, architects, colonialists, and scholars involved in the project of modernity and modernization.

Models of architecture, diagrams and urban development plans of Georges Candilis, Michel Écochard, Alison and Peter Smithson and the painting of Le Corbusier and Chaïba outline the visions and concepts of different modernistic Utopias and their inherent contradictions. Rare contemporary footage, and artworks by Kader Attia and Hassan Darsi, reflect historical developments. In turn, photographic works by Monique Hervo, Loïk Prat, Robert Doisneau, and Willy Ronis, as well as posters and flyers, make visible aesthetic approaches to the post-colonial situation and its political struggles. In addition, the Labor k3000, students from the Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna, and the Department of Architecture at the Delft University have put together new interviews, photographs, videos and architectural models for the exhibition.

The example of the building projects dating from the 1950s and 1960s shows that European modernity would have been inconceivable without colonialism. The mass housing projects on the outskirts of large European cities, as well as the postmodern critique of the ability to plan urban spaces and housing, find their counterparts in North Africa.

PhotoCairo4: The Long Shortcut

2009-01-29T13:21:00.000-08:00

PhotoCairo4: The Long Shortcut is a large-scale visual arts project that explores the dynamics between informal and official modes of operation that continue to shape the social reality in this region and beyond.

The program revolves around a number of loose coordinates. One main site is Cairo itself as a quintessential example of an explosive mega city situated in a state characterized by a mode of perpetual crisis. Under these conditions one can think of informal structures and strategies of existence as creatively pragmatic answers that are by definition - rather than design - subversive.
On the one hand, we would like to examine transformations in images of officialdom and the rhetoric of power through media representations. However, we are also interested in poetic accounts of daily life, personal narratives and creative strategies employed by Individuals faced with the reality of navigating these mutating hybrid structures.

Artists: Agency, Ala’ Younis, Ahmed Kamel, Artur Żmijewski, Babak Afrassiabi, Bernard Guillot, David Thorne & Julia Meltzer, Doa Aly, Hala Elkoussy, Hassan Khan, Heidrun Holzfeind, Ihab Jadallah, Kareem Lotfy, Larissa Sansour, Leopold Kessler, Maha Maamoun, Mahmoud Khaled, Mandy Gehrt, Mohamed Allam, Pages Magazine, Raed Yassin and Rana El Nemr

With publications, presentations and film programs by: Bassam El-Baroni, Ganzeer, George Azmy, Florian Wüst, Karim Tartoussieh, Martí Peran, Motaz Attala, Nat Muller, Pages Magazine, Sarah Infanger and What, How & for Whom curators’s collective (Ivet Ćurlin, Ana Dević, Nataša Ilić and Sabina Sabolović)

PhotoCairo4: The Long Shortcut is curated by Aleya Hamza and Edit Molnar

Venues:
Contemporary Image Collective
Townhouse Gallery
Rawabet Theater
Hungarian Cultural Institute
Downtown apartment (Please check www.ciccairo.com for address after 1 December 2008)

PhotoCairo4: The Long Shortcut is supported by Alcatel-Lucent (main sponsor), the Danish Center for Culture and Development (DCCD), Prohelvetia: The Swiss Arts Council, Goethe-Institute, Foundation for Arts Initiatives, Mondriaan Foundation, RWE Dea (catalogue sponsor) with additional support by the Spanish Embassy in Egypt, The French Cultural Center, Magix and Nestle Egypt and The Art Review Magazine as a media partner.

Morocco to create higher institute of audiovisual and cinema

2009-01-28T13:22:00.000-08:00

Rabat, Jan. 7 (MAP)- Morocco is due to create a higher institute of audiovisual and cinema (ISMAC) to make up for the country's shortage in high-skilled human resources in these fields.

The creation of this institute is an important step in the training of highly-qualified human resources in this field, and meets the needs of the sector, especially after its liberation, Communication Minister, Khalid Naciri said.

The convention to create ISMAC was signed Wednesday by the ministers of Education, Finance, Communication, and Employment, and the head of the telecommunication authority (ANRT).

About MAD 35mln ($4.27 mln) were earmarked for the institute, which will have a capacity of 200 seats for trainings in eight cinema and audiovisual-related branches.

This project will consolidate the development momentum in upgrading the sector in order to shape it into a national industry and a development vehicle, Naciri added.

According to official figures, the yearly movie production has jumped between 2000 and 2008 from five to 18, while the country is eying to increase production to 20.

Africa 95. (North African art exhibit)

2009-01-28T12:56:00.001-08:00

Africa 95 will feature North African music, film, theater and visual arts. The famous Tunisian painter, Abdelrazzak Sahli, will take part in the exhibit as well as contemporary Moroccan artist Farid Belkahia. A colorful display of monoprints, collages and artworks depicting Egyptian history will also be presented in Africa 95. Queen Elizabeth II and South African Nelson Mandela will also be part of Africa 95.

September will see the launch, in London, of one of the largest and most comprehensive African arts exhibitions ever to take place anywhere in the world, writes Beverley Andrews.

10th Istanbul Biennial 2007

2009-01-27T14:20:00.000-08:00

It is one of the most important and oldest biennials and, after twenty years of pioneer work, in 2007 it is accompanied for the first time by a sumptuous commercial and alternative parallel program. There have been two permanent exhibition sites for contemporary art, the platform Garanti Contemporary Art Center [1] since 2001 and the Museum Istanbul Modern [2] since 2004, but art was far from embedded in the city. This was also reflected in the Biennial motto "contemporary art in traditional spaces", under which the first eight Biennials in historical sites like the Hagia Sophia and the Yerebatan Cistern remained undecided between touristy retrogression and temporary consciousness of the present.

Then, two years ago, the curator team Vasif Kortun and Charles Esche broke through the choice of space that had repeatedly been criticized as romanticizing. They made "Istanbul" the theme and placed the focus on current life. So our course no longer took us to the historical sites, but to empty office rooms, factories, and apartments. Now, two years later, these sites have been occupied again. Beral Madra, coordinator and curator of the first two Istanbul Biennials, offers two storeys in the BM-Suma Contemporary Art Center [3] for rent for exhibitions. An ambitious gallery has been opened in a former tobacco factory and twelve galleries have meanwhile opened around the central shopping street İstiklal Caddesi. With a new self-confidence, they show Turkish artists like Ahmet Elhan or carry out targeted networking, like the Apartment Project [4].

Istanbul has awoken. How does the Biennial present itself now? "It's not only possible, but also necessary – optimism in the age of global war" is the title Hou Hanru has given to the 10th installment, and he has let the Biennial fan out into the city. At night the project "Nightcomers" is on the move, projecting videos in public space in various districts. During the day, on three primary sites, 96 artists from 35 countries focus on the world as a problem case. The title is concretized here as a critical reflection on modernity and its consequences. The tour thus logically begins on Taksim Square, a symbol of the "modern" Istanbul, where the Monument for the Republic and the Ataturk Cultural Center [5] stand. The Palace of Culture in socialistic modernism architecture is to be demolished, and so Hanru titles this part of the exhibition "Burn it or not?" The fourteen contributions in the Ataturk Cultural Center, too, revolve around this question, for example when, in striking images, Vahram Aghasyan (Armenia) narrates the loss of illusions in the face of modernity and lets ruin-like residential buildings sink in floods of water.

That, by the way, is one of the remarkable merits of this 10th edition: The themes are indeed reflected in the works. At the second site, a kind of shopping center for everything that has to do with textiles [6], one’s gaze is directed to conditions of production and economic developments. This approach finds its loud zenith in the former warehouse Antrepo Nr. 3 [6], where the subject is the opportunities and dangers of globalization. But the problem is that few of the works in the Ataturk Cultural Center can compete with the fascinating interior design and, also in the textile traders’ market, many of the contributions fade into the dominant ambience when their longwinded docu-videos, overtexted research, or all-too-simple wall diagrams seek to perform didactic work, which hardly anyone notices. And only a few artists manage to develop their own aesthetic, for example Chen Chieh-Jen, who captures us in the spell of his half-real, half-fictional stories. Apart from contributions like the maps created by Raqs Media Collective, the video "The History of Chemistry" by Lu Chungsheng, and the clothes that Tadej Pogačar produced together with prostitutes in the framework of the São Paulo Biennial 2006, what predominate are failures. Many contributions provide so much information that they are completely incomprehensible, or are catastrophically projected, or are of such low aesthetic quality, like Lordy Rodriguez’s maps and Sora Kim’s helpless "Credit Office", that all one can do is move on fast.

Then, in Antrepo Nr. 3, we are completely overwhelmed. All the videos are turned up full blast. Cao Fei’s suggestion for a new city for "Second Life" and Fikret Atay’s drum roll over the roofs of Istanbul characterize the mood. Here, apparently, Hou Hanru wants to bring the bustling metropolitan life into the realm of art and exhibits primarily works full of aggression (as the predominant feeling toward life?): Hamra Abbas’s Kamasutra figures with rifles, Abel Abdessemed’s sculptures made of knives, David Ter-Oganyan’s simulated time bombs, Huang Yon Ping’s minaret presented like a rocket on its launching pad, and the Russian artists’ group AES-F’s photo stagings of scenes of anonymous teenagers’ murders and suicides. But among them, ways out are opened again and again: meditative works like Ken Lum’s "House of Realization", Paul Chan’s light projection, and Kan Xuan’s video of everyday things falling into water, which are projected in black and white and allotted colors in the sound accompanying them. Some works almost are almost lost in the brute combination of inwardness and overwhelmingness, like Michael Rakowitz’s great installation, which was already among the high points of this year’s 8th Sharjah Biennial. On a table are many small paper maché sculptures – reproductions of some of the 7,000 art treasures from the Iraqi National Museum that were lost or stolen during the Iraq War.

Hou Hanru’s Biennial divides the visitors. Some regard the loud presentation in Antrepo Nr. 3 as an imposition, others as energetic. Finding in the exhibition sites the "global war" that the title alludes to is a challenge to our interpretive powers. "Optimism", the other conceptual cornerstone, is even harder to present and is perhaps best expressed in the "nocturnal side" of the Biennial: Hou Hanru has subsumed site-specific installations under the title "Dream House" on Antrepo Nr. 3’s main level and two built-in raised galleries. Among them are Sam Samore’s larger-than-life bed, one which we can lie down, completely exhausted, and watch the almost hypnotic video that, with hardly any narrative thread, takes us through associations and dream sequences, thereby conveying a feeling for life borne by wishes and yearnings, rather than attempts to explain the world. Then, in the evening, Yang Jiechang’s script glows on the exterior of the building: "I Believe in Angels". Is this the way out of modernity?

Notes, links:

1. Platform Garanti Contemporary Art Center: www.platform.garanti.com.tr
2. Istanbul Modern: www.istanbulmodern.org
3. BM-Suma: www.bmsuma.com
4. Apartment Project: www.apartmentproject.com
5. Atatürk Kültür Merkezi. An earlier opera house, built since the mid-1930s, has been transformed by architect Hayati Tabanlıoğlu into the "Istanbul Cultural Palace", opened in 1969. A big fire in November 1970 led to the closure of the building to the public. After renovations it was reopened in 1978 and given the name Atatürk Cultural Centre.
6. İMÇ, Istanbul Textile Traders' Market