[spectre] Liminal Spaces - Exhibition and International Workshop

[Eyal]

LIMINAL SPACES/ grenzraeume
GfZK Leipzig, 28 October 2006 – 21 January 2007
Exhibition opening: 27 October, from 19.00 pm
Gallery Open: Tue-Sat 14.00 – 19.00 pm/ Sunday 12.00 – 19.00 pm

Participating artists: Jumana Emil Abboud, Sameh Abboushi, Azra  
Aksamija,
Ayreen Anastas und Rene Gabri, Yochai Avrahami, Yael Bartana, Peter
Friedl, Hagar Goren, Inass Hamad, Sandi Hilal and Alessandro Petti,
Khalid Horani, Sabine Horlitz and Oliver Clemens, Ligna, Suleiman
Mansour, Oren Sagiv, Sala-Manca Group, Miri Segal, Sean Snyder,
Superflex, Simon Wachsmuth

Curatorial Advisors: Khalid Horani, Andreja Hribernik, Barbara Steiner,
in cooperation with Interdisziplinäres Projekt-Forum (Wolfgang Knapp)
of the University of the Arts Berlin/ Institute for Art and Context

Curated by: Eyal Danon, Galit Eilat, Reem Fadda, Philipp Misselwitz

LIMINAL SPACES/ grenzraeume originated from an initiative of
individual Palestinian and Israeli artists united in their opposition to
the destructive dynamics and ever growing hardship and deprivation
of basic civil and political rights endured by Palestinians under  
Israeli
occupation. An unprecedented network of artists, curators and cultural
producers emerged, meeting often under difficult circumstances,
despite the harsh context of ever increasing violence and the complete
collapse of the political peace process.
LIMINAL SPACES/ grenzraeume, a project by the Palestinian Association
of Contemporary Arts (PACA), Ramallah, The Israeli Centre for Digital  
Art, Holon
and the University of the Arts, Berlin wishes to support and  
strengthen this informal
network and its stance. In March 2006, the project invited Palestinian,
European and Israeli artists, architects, academics and film makers to
examine the condition of everyday space, borders, physical
segregation, cultural territories within a reality of occupation and
challenge the possibilities of art as a catalyst for political and  
social
change. The focus of the project is the radically divided and
fragmented urban region of Jerusalem/ Ramallah, which has become a
laboratory for an urbanism of radical ethnic segregation. Curators,
cultural figures and artists developed this project through a series of
meetings and discussions that sought to generate a more active
political engagement of the art sector. Additionally, it is hoped that
through participation in the project, new possibilities of contact and
exchange will emerge on an individual basis and beyond.

The project was launched with a conference in March, 2006, in the
area of the Qalandiya checkpoint between Jerusalem and Ramallah,
followed by individual residencies which gave artists the opportunity
to research tactics and artistic strategies for addressing the
physiognomy of specific sites and their everyday operations and
adhering to exposing spatial and contextual politics of the Israeli
occupation. The perception of the frontiers were investigated, and
their accessibility, permeability and potential as contact and
communication zones challenged. Artists employed new forms of
creative practice adopting and subverting contemporary technology
and systems of media communication, underlining the central role
played by technology in the shaping of the physical borders.

The process resulted in over 20 new works, which are now being
shown to the public for the very first time. The future library  
spaces of
the Gallery for Contemporary Arts Leipzig (GfZK), including the already
acquired shelves of Vito Acconci’s library installation at Documenta
X, provide an unusual exhibition context and generate mutual
resonances between LIMINAL SPACES/ grenzraeume as an evolving
archive of research and production in the Middle East and the GfZK’s
declared ambition to build up a public library.

Screening program:

2 November 2006
20.00 pm   CINEMA: >Trespassing<, selection of Israeli short films
and videos curated by Eyal Danon: Artists without Walls, >April 1st<
(19'30'', 2004) //  Avi Mograbi, >Details 3&4< (9', 2004) // Annan
Tzukerman, >Anxious Escapism< (26', 2005) //  Ruti Sela & Ma'ayan
Amir, >Beyond guilt #2< (18', 2004) //  Ruti Sela & Ma'ayan Amir,
 >Alei Zahav after Aliza Begin< (5'30'', 2005) //  Nira Pereg,
 >Souvenir< (5', 2005) //  Ruti Sela & Clil Nadav, >Loopolice< (6'55'',
2003). An event organized for the Friends of the GfZK Leipzig.

7 December 2006
20.00 pm  CINEMA: >Pasolini Pa* Palestine< by Ayreen Anastas
(Jerusalem, 2003). An event organized for the Friends of the GfZK
Leipzig.

4 January 2007
20.00 pm CINEMA: >Quelques Miettes Pour Les Oiseaux - Some
Crumbs for the Birds< by Annemarie Jacir (France/ Jordan, 2005) and
 >Avenge But One Of My Two Eyes< by Avi Mograbi (Israel, 2005). An
event organized for the Friends of the GfZK Leipzig.

International Workshop (28.10 – 29.10)

The opening of the exhibition will be accompanied by an international
workshop, which will explore political and social responsibilities of  
art
production, discussing current trends that are changing the role of
institutions, artists, curators and activists. The conference will  
explore
the notion of 'responsibility' in the context of the Middle East -
characterised by the escalation of violence and violations of human
and civil rights, the continuation of the military occupation, the
building of an apartheid wall and complete breakdown of the peace
process – as well as in the context of Post-Fordist Central Europe
where the erosion of social democratic principles challenges artists
and institutions to survive in a harsher social climate and fight for  
the
acceptance and the engagement of a wider public.
In Hebrew, the word responsibility (acherayut) contains within it the
word acher, which means ‘other’ or ‘different.’ It also  
contains the
word achrey, which means ‘after’ or ‘following an event or  
act.’  In
English, the word ‘responsibility’ contains within it the word  
‘response’
(originating from the old French responsun meaning ‘something
offered in return’). There is a delicacy in the English language  
through
prepositions following the word ‘responsibility’ as one can be
responsible for something or responsible to someone. In Arabic, the
word mas’uliyah contains within it the verb su’ila, which literally
means to require a response. In all three languages, we find a unified
stance which states that responsibility is linked to responding or
answering an external other. How may we respond or answer the
contemporary demand for a responsibility to another or a different
worldview? How may we take responsibility or act differently as
cultural producers and/or cultural consumers? Participants will include
the artists of the project LIMINAL SPACES/ grenzraeume as well as
international guests.

DAY 1 (Saturday, 28 October 2006)

Forum 1:  Reflections on the LIMINAL SPACES project
Moderator: Francis McKee

11.00 am Short presentations by artists participating in the LIMINAL
SPACES project

13:30 pm Lunch Break (for invited participants only)

15.00 pm Project presentation by the curators: Reem Fadda, Philipp
Misselwitz, Eyal Danon and Galit Eilat.

16.00 pm Open session

17.00 pm Coffee Break

17.30 pm   Panel discussion - Cultural Territories: Wolfgang Knapp,
Salwa  Mikdadi, Nina Möntmann, Erzen Shkololli, Hito
Steyerl

18:30 pm  Conclusion

19:00 pm Joint dinner (for invited participants only) followed by
party

*****
DAY 2 (Sunday, 29 October 2006)

Forum 2:  Crisis and Potentials of Institutions
(The Middle East, Near East and Europe)
Moderator: Francis McKee

11.00 am Nina Möntmann: Art and its Institutions – Current Conflict,
Critique and Collaborations

11.30 am Case study 1: Jumana Abboud: Al Mamal Foundation, East
Jerusalem. The establishment of The Museum of
Contemporary Art – Palestine (CAMP)

12.00 am Case study 2: Eyal Danon: Jaffa – An Autobiography of a
City. Untold stories of different national, ethnic, religious
and gender groups within Israel

12.30 am   Case study 3: Boris Buden: EIPCP – European Institute for
Progressive Cultural Policies

13.00 pm   Case study 4: Salwa Mikdadi: Institutionalization of Art
Practice under Occupation/Palestinian Artists Working
Under Siege (West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza)

13.30 pm Case study 5: Erzen Shkololli: Exit Institute for
Contemporary Art in Peja, Kosovo – the dramatic
transformation of the region, connected in particular with
the disintegration of the local totalitarian regimes during
the 1990s

14:00 pm    Lunch Break (for invited participants only)

15.30 pm Open session

16.30 pm Conclusion

Partners:
LIMINAL SPACES/ grenzraeume has been jointly organized by the
Palestinian Association of Contemporary Art (PACA), Digital Art Lab,
Holon and the University of the Arts, Berlin.

The Palestinian Association for Contemporary Arts - PACA
Reem Fadda, Director
Aref Al-Aref House
Behind Arab Bank Al-Bireh
Al-Nahdah Street
Ramallah, Palestine
T: +972 2 2951849
F: +972 2 2967601
E: paca at pal-paca.org/ reemfadda at gmail.com

The Israeli Centre for Digital Art Holon
Galit Eilat, Director
Digital Art Lab
16 Yirmiyahu st
Holon 58373
Israel
T +972 3 5568792
F +972 3 5580003
E galit at digitalartlab.org.il
Web www.digitalartlab.org.il

Universität der Künste Berlin
Philipp Misselwitz (Lehrstuhl Prof. Peter Bayerer) and Wolfgang Knapp
(Interdisziplinäres Projekt-Forum der Universität der Künste Berlin)
Hardenbergstraße 33
10623 Berlin
T +49 177 4107168
E misselwitz at studio-uc.net

The exhibition and conference is made possible by:
Kulturstiftung des Bundes
Robert Bosch Stiftung
European Cultural Foundation
Heinrich Böll Stiftung Ramallah
Goethe Institut Jerusalem
American Center Foundation