DisORIENTation:
Contemporary Arab art from the Middle East
20 March – 11 May 2003
Haus der Kulturen der Welt
presse@hkw.de
The new generation of artists and intellectuals in the Middle East are
breaking the mould in creative circles. They reject all attempts to categorize
them collectively and are as critical of the Western conception of the Orient as
they are of the social conditions encountered in the region.
The new art is political, one which reflects on moral values and the dominant
religious and political codes. Arab artists and intellectuals ponder intensively
over how to dismantle the West’s image of the Orient; meanwhile the
stereotypical conceptions prevalent in the West live on. In rising to the
specific challenge posed by this process of enlightenment the DisORIENTation
programme endeavours to design a tableau that makes the diversity and exciting
topicality of Arab art in the Middle East more accessible for a western public.
This is no rarefied notion from the realms of theory; the sensory fabric of the
projects themselves provide a change of perspective.
DisORIENTation is the product of direct cooperation between experts and cultural
institutions in the region on the one hand and the House of World Cultures in
Berlin on the other. Curator of the art exhibition is Jack Persekian, founder
and director of the Anadiel Gallery and director of the Al-Ma’mal Foundation for
Contemporary Art in Jerusalem. The film programme was put together by the
documentary maker Omar Amiralay (Paris/Damascus/Beirut) and the performing arts
section is the work of Tarek Abou El Fetouh, Director of the Young Arab Theatre
Fund (Cairo/Brussels).
DisORIENTation is the attempt to forge a relationship between Berlin/ Central
Europe and the Arab world and to show the contexts in which creative activity
there occurs, with all its social and political implications. A key element in
this endeavour are the interdisciplinary workshops in which selected artists
from the region assemble in Berlin to work for DisORIENTation on their
respective oeuvres and come to exchange ideas with German artists.
Press Office:
House of World Culures, Press office, John-Foster-Dulles-Allee 10, 10557 Berlin
Christine Regus Tel: ++49 30 397 87-153, Fax ++49 30 3948679, regus@hkw.de
or for Literature and Conferences:
Petra Stegmann Tel: ++49 30 39787–291, Fax ++49 30 3948679, stegmann@hkw.de
Note:
The DisORIENTation workshops, supported by the Capital Culture Fund, will be
acting as crucibles for many new projects in the fields of performing arts, fine
arts and music. They will also be the base for discussions and lectures giving
Berlin audiences an insight into the production methods of artists in the Middle
East and the conditions in which they work: a new forum for cultural exchange
has been set up under the broad roof that is DisORIENTation.
A number of public events, listed below, will be taking place
before the opening of DisORIENTation on 20 March 2003:
Berlinale Talent Campus (Film)
>>> 10 –14 February 2003
>>> Haus der Kulturen der Welt
The Talent Campus section of the Berlin Film Festival is designed to enable
young filmmakers of all countries to interact with some of the established names
of the business. Omar Amiralay, head of the DisORIENTation film programme, will
be leading a workshop and the two young filmmakers Marwan Hamed from Egypt and
Mona Merhi from Lebanon will also be taking part.
"Mapping Sitting“ (Fine Arts)
>>>16 March 2003, 3pm,
>>>Gallery c/o Berlin, Linienstrasse 144
The photographic and video artists Akram Zaatari und Walid Raad will be
presenting their "Mapping Sitting“ photo installation.
DisORIENTation Video Forum (Fine Arts)
>>>19 March 2003, 7pm,
>>>Neuer Berliner Kunstverein
Artists Lamia Joreige (Lebanon), Jumana Abboud (Palestine) and Jananne Al-Ani
(Irak/ UK) will be discussing the use of images of the foreign with regard to
their own countries and clichés about women in Arab societies.
Backroom goes Egypt (Music)
>>>3 – 10 March 2003
>>>El-Minya, Egypt
A music project led by Jean-Paul Bourelly and Tarek Abou El Fetouh. In late
February a new centre for the performing arts will be opening in the central
Egyptian city of El-Minya. One of the first projects here will be a concert by
four Egyptian singers backed by musicians from Berlin. Organised as part of the
Backroom Music series, it will be performed in the House of World Cultures on 11
and 12 April 2003 – alongside a range of other productions within the Performing
Arts category.
DisORIENTation
Zeitgenössische arabische Kunstproduktion aus dem Nahen Osten
Ägypten, Palästina, Libanon, Jordanien, Syrien und Irak
20.03.03 bis 11.05.03 |
