alternative_gaze_cross medit coop in arts.pdf

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p://medreection.eurocult.org http://medreection.eurocult.org http://medreection.eurocult.orgAdilaLadi-HaniehTamaraBra ci c

MarieEliasFanyElisaTorreNat

MullerDaikhaDridiIsabelle

SchwarzBiljanaTanurovska

SofianeHadjadjSamahHijawi

DahoDjerbalClaudiaZanfiLaura

SroujiKhadijaElBennaoui

NatashaMullinsMarinde

HurenkampCatherineCornet

AbdellatifBenfaidoulGhislaine

GlassonDeschaumesLinaSaneh

SusanneMorsMazenQuptySelma

HellalBasmaElHusseinyFanny

BouquerelZeinaAridaBertan

SelimRdaChikhiThomas

BurkhalterKhaledHourani

NathalieGalesneVanessaReed

HalaGalalMineKirikkanatOdile

ChenalCerenOykutRanaAbbawi

LelaBadisHanneloesWeeda

FerdinandRichardHananKassab

HassanAbdelazizTalebHenrik

PlachtAhmetPolatEyalDanon

PierreAbiSaabNevenkaKoprivek

A shared relection on

cross-Mediterranean cooperation

in the artsAn

Alternative

Gaze

un

autre

regard

http://medreection.eurocult.org


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A d i l a L a d i - H a n i e h T a m a r a B r a c i c

M a r i e E l i a s F a n y E l i s a T o r r e N a t

M u l l e r D a i k h a D r i d i I s a b e l l e

S c h w a r z B i l j a n a T a n u r o v s k a

S o f i a n e H a d j a d j S a m a h H i j a w i

D a h o D j e r b a l C l a u d i a Z a n f i L a u r a

S r o u j i K h a d i j a E l B e n n a o u i

N a t a s h a M u l l i n s M a r i n d e

H u r e n k a m p C a t h e r i n e C o r n e t

A b d e l l a t i f B e n f a i d o u l G h i s l a i n e

G l a s s o n D e s c h a u m e s L i n a S a n e h

S u s a n n e M o r s M a z e n Q u p t y S e l m a

H e l l a l B a s m a E l H u s s e i n y F a n n y

B o u q u e r e l Z e i n a A r i d a B e r t a n

S e l i m R d a C h i k h i T h o m a s

B u r k h a l t e r K h a l e d H o u r a n i

N a t h a l i e G a l e s n e V a n e s s a R e e d

H a l a G a l a l M i n e K i r i k k a n a t O d i l e

C h e n a l C e r e n O y k u t R a n a A b b a w i

L e l a B a d i s H a n n e l o e s W e e d a

F e r d i n a n d R i c h a r d H a n a n K a s s a b

H a s s a n A b d e l a z i z T a l e b H e n r i k

P l a c h t A h m e t P o l a t E y a l D a n o n

P i e r r e A b i S a a b N e v e n k a K o p r i v e k


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M a r l o u s W i l l e m s e n A y s e C a g l a r

M a h a H e i k a l I v a n a I v k o v i c

C h a r l o t t e H u y g e n s A h m e d E l

A t t a r R a n a Z i n c i r C e l a l P h i l i p p

D i e t a c h m a i r B e l k a c e m H a d j a d j

J u d i t h N e i s s e A l i a R a y y a n G h a n i a

M o u f f o k M a j a V i i n T o m m i L a i t i o

O m a r B r o u k s y S a a A s e n t i c H e b b a

S h e r i f P a u l K e l l e r P i e r r e B a r r o t

O l a K h a l i d i T h e r e s e B a d i e

L a m i a R a e i Y a n a G e n o v a Y o u s s e

B a z z i E s r a A y s u n M a r k S n i j d e r

N a v H a q M i l i c a I l i c M o h a m m e d

S a r i A s m a a Y e h i a M u r a t E r t e l

H a s s a n B e n d i Y o u s r y N a s r a l l a h

R a c h i d a A z o u g h Y a s s i n T e m l a l i

E r d e n K o s o v a W a l e e d M a r z o u k

Y a c i n e H i r c h e S a l w a M i k d a d i

G o t t f r i e d W a g n e r L a t i t i a M a n a c h

K u b i l a y z m e n E d i n Z u b c e v i c

H a n B a k k e r S y h e m B e l k h o d j a

T a r e k A t o u i L a i l a H o u r a n i S e v i l a y

K o r a y K r i s t i n a N e l s o n W i l l i a m

W e l l s K i r s t e n v a n d e n H u l


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In July 2006 the ECF and its

partners initiated a process o

reection on cultural cooperation

between Europe and the Southern

Mediterranean.

Projects that pursue artistic and

cultural cooperation in North Arica,

the Middle East and Turkey ace

specifc challenges, both political

and artistic. European cultural

actors engaging in such projects are

oten insufciently equipped

politically. O course they need

unding, o course they need

practical tools, but they also need to

engage in open and challenging

debates with their partners in the

region.

Amsterdam

July 3 - 4, 2006

Debate on the political and culturalactors that inuenceEuro-Mediterranean cooperation

Algiers

February 16 - 18, 2007

Financing culture the Algerianexample (in cooperation withEditions Barzakh)

Amsterdam

March 1, 2007

The triangular relationship: Istanbul,Turkey, Europe


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We wanted to conduct the

reection process in an

atmosphere o trust and openness,

where artists, cultural actors and

intellectuals rom North Arica, the

Middle East and Turkey could set

the agenda and pose the questions

important to them. What is their

take on Europe and on the

conditions in which they operate?

We have tried to break away rom

the usual orms o discourse in

order to ask more searching

questions such as:

nHow do cultural actors in the

Mediterranean region and their

European partners actually

relate to one another? What are

their expectations?

nHow do partnership

programmes aect the design o

artistic projects?

nHow do curators and artisticproducers really look upon and

approach the audience on the

respective other side?

Ljubljana

May 6 - 8, 2007

Cooperation between the Balkansand the Southern Mediterranean(in cooperation with BunkerProductions)

Amman

June 9 - 11, 2007

Artistic creation between practiceso export and cooperation(in cooperation with Makan -House or Expression)

Alexandria

October 22 24, 2007

Governance and the position oNGOs rom a legal and politicalperspective (in cooperation withAl Mawred Al Thaqay / Culture

Resource, Cairo)


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Editorial team and

production

Odile Chenal,

Susanne Mors,

Mark Snijder,

Hanneloes Weeda

Advisors Reection

Process

Basma El Husseiny,

Charlotte Huygens,

Marlous Willemsen

Language editors/

prooreaders

Esther Banev (English),

Jim Quilty (English:

Chapter 2),

Marie Gravey (French),

Nayla Chebli (Arabic)

Khadija El Bennaoui

(Arabic)

Translators

Marie Gravey (English-

French),

Patrick Kamel (English/

French - Arabic),

John Doherty (French

- English)

The authors / ECF

Design

De C (Ris van Overeem)

Printed by

Sphinhex & Industrie

Disclaimer

The views expressed in this

book are the views o the

individual authors and do

not necessarily reect the

views o the European

Cultural Foundation or the

editorial team

Introduction

10Building cooperation

on shared ground

by Odile Chenal and

Susanne Mors

Chapter 1

16Alternative orientations

compiled by

Hanneloes Weeda

34A short monologue in a

lengthy dialogue

by Basma El Husseiny

38Coopration et fnancement

culturels

by Sofane Hadjadj

Chapter 2

52O dierent voice

O dierent eye:

Reciprocal collaborative

gestures

by Nat Muller

58Make art in basements

a question o choice

by Nevenka Koprivek


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Photos

Serap Kanay, Connections/Bizler, Installation at Leaps o Faith,

Buer Zone, Nicosia, Cyprus (2005) (p. 8/9). Tarek Heny, Inormal

Meeting o independent cultural spaces and operators in the Arab

world (Forum Design: Ahmed Hussein Ezzat), Alexandria (2007)

(p. 14/15). Tommi Laitio, Museum signpost, Jordan (2007) (p. 40).

Panayiotis Michael, Remember Me, Installation at Leaps o Faith,

Buer Zone, Nicosia, Cyprus (2005) (p. 42/43). Paul Keller, Details

rom Amman (2007) (p. 44; p. 49). Tarek Heny, Numbers on wall,

Alexandria (2007) (p. 45). Paul Keller, Romance, Beirut (2007)

(p. 46/47). Paul Keller, Beirut posters, Beirut (2005) (p. 50/51).

Videokaravaan/ St. Taleb Cherche Midi's Art Project, Morocco

(2004-2006) (p. 60/61). Tarek Heny, Live music, Alexandria

(2007) (p. 70/71).Cullinan+Richards(artlab), Detail, Photo Reale,

or Leaps o Faith, Buer Zone, Nicosia, Cyprus (2005) (p. 76/77).

Support

The ECF is grateul or the

support o NCDO (National

Committee or International

Cooperation and

Sustainable Development).

www.ncdo.nl

Published by the

European Cultural

Foundation

Jan van Goyenkade 5

1075 HN Amsterdam

T +31 20 573 38 68

F +31 20 675 22 31

www.eurocult.org

ISBN/EAN

9789062820498

February 2008

Chapter 3

62Bright spots

by Odile Chenal

68La Mditerrane:

un tissu de traduction

by Ghislaine Glasson

Deschaumes

Conclusion

78More than a message

in a bottle

by Gottried Wagner

Other

40Signposts

60More than camelsand sand

72Online

74And what next?


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10

prs avoir soutenu des projetsrtistiques et port desrogrammes de partenariat dans lagion mditerranenne pendantus de 15 ans, lECF a ressenti leesoin de prendre du recul. Elle aouhait rchir la orme querend la coopration culturellentre lEurope et le Sud de laditerrane, ce quelle signife

our les personnes concernes, ete demander si les questionsoses restent pertinentes.ous avons toujours tendance onsidrer la coopration de notreropre point de vue, et consacronsop peu de temps comprendre leontexte du partenariat dans laerspective de 'lautre'.

une des difcults dans le dbatctuel consiste aller au-del duolitiquement correct qui sembleouvent dominer le dialogueuro-mditerranen. Nousouhaitions aire plus quinvoquer ledialogue interculturel . Cette

Ater more than 15 years o supporting artistic projects and runningpartnership programmes in the Southern Mediterranean region, the ECF elt a

great need to step back and to reect on how cultural cooperation between

Europe and the Southern Mediterranean has actually taken shape, what it

means or those concerned, and whether we are still asking ourselves the right

questions. We always tend to regard cooperation rom our own perspective

and not much time is dedicated to understanding the partnership context rom

the perspective o the other.

As we have been engaged in the Mediterranean region or some time, we

have quite a legacy to build on. Ater our last seminar on the issue o cross-

Mediterranean cooperation in Toledo in 2003 (Beyond enlargement: opening

Eastwards, closing Southwards?) we elt the need to understand better the

context in which we are now working, rom an inrastructural, as well as rom

an artistic point o view, and to go beyond the Med-hype that exists at present.

Our excellent partners many o whom are profled in this book ensured our

access at the grassroots level. This is a level we always claim to reach, butwhom are we actually reaching there?

One o the difculties in these debates is to break through the wall o political

correctness which oten seems to dominate Euro-Med dialogue.

We wanted to go beyond the buzz around intercultural dialogue. Intercultural

dialogue implies an opening, an invitation to understand, but, when used as a

reaction to the amous Clash o Civilizations, it is politically loaded and risks

fxing roles a priori. We were surprised by the ease and ability with whichthose who took part in the reection meetings managed to ree themselves

rom any orm o representation: they all spoke in their own, individual

Buildingcooperation onshared ground

by Odile Chenal and Susanne Mors


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11 An alternative gaze / Introduction

notion implique une ouverture, uneinvitation comprendre. Maislorsquon ait y ait appel pour ragirau ameux choc des civilisations ,sa charge politique risque dedterminer les rles a priori. Nousavons t surpris par la acilit etlaisance avec laquelle ceux qui ontparticip aux groupes de rexionparvenaient se dgager de toute

orme de reprsentation :chacun parlait en sa qualit propre,individuelle et personnelle. Tousensemble, nous sommes parvenus,en gardant lesprit le contextepolitique, crer un espace deconfance et de dialogue.

Les acteurs du monde culturel auMoyen-Orient, en Arique du Nord

et en Turquie nous ontimpressionns par leur crativit etleur persvrance, ainsi que par leurcapacit uvrer dans desconditions difciles. Cesobservations nous conortent dansla conviction que le secteur

and personal capacity. This meant that, while remaining continually aware othe political context, we all managed to create a space o trust and

confdence.

We were impressed by the level o creativity and perseverance shown by

cultural actors in the Middle East, North Arica and Turkey, and their capacity to

act in difcult circumstances. This reinorces our belie that the creative sector

has a leading role to play in fnding innovative ways o successully working in

turbulent political environments, and that it can do so while remainingindependent. The diversity o the region is also something that should be ac-

knowledged beore any cooperation policies or instruments are

developed. Regional and multilateral cooperation are important, but we should

stop treating the 'Arab world' as a single entity, which happens all too oten

when policies or unding are being designed.

The challenge now is to bring the conclusions drawn up in an intimate space

to a broader arena where they could be shared with a larger group o culturalactors; where they will also attract the attention o the media and policymakers,

and have an impact on the way instruments or cultural cooperation are desig-

ned and implemented in the uture.

Thereore we will continue to advocate among oundations and other players

the importance o building real partnerships across the Mediterranean.

This needs time and unds more unds or independent spaces, or contem-

porary creation, or mobility and or capacity development.Only i this sector is strong and ourishing at home can it engage in successul

and sustainable cooperation across borders. Our partners in the region need

Introduction


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12rtistique peut jouer un rle moteuragissant, dans des environnementsolitiques difciles, de trouver desodes daction efcaces tout enardant son indpendance.

e df est maintenant de porteres conclusions, tires dun cercleestreint, sur une scne plus vaste,

elles puissent tre partagesvec un groupe plus large dacteursulturels ; de lamener l o ellesouveront aussi lattention desdias et des dcideurs politiquest aura des rpercussions sur laanire de concevoir et de mettren uvre les instruments deoopration culturelle venir.ous continuerons par consquent

dendre - ace aux bailleurs deonds et dautres acteurs -mportance de construire desartenariats transmditerranensen rels. Cela ncessite du temps,ais aussi davantage de onds pournancer des lieux indpendants,es crations contemporaines, pourermettre la mobilit et leveloppement dinrastructures.

est seulement en tant ort etrospre que ce secteur pourrangager une coopration efcacet durable par-del les rontires.aut nos partenaires dans la

gion plus que du soutien ad hoc.s ont besoin de nous sentirngags pour les aider construirene base solide la coopration.ette publication prsente les

rincipaux rsultats de notreroupe de rexion. Elle se aitcho de ceux et celles qui y ontarticip, intellectuellement et/ourtistiquement. Elle ore aussi desxemples de projets de cooprationulturelle en marche. Et si vousoulez en savoir plus, vous trouverezans le site de lECF un dossierpcial (http://medreection.

urocult.org) incluant des articles,tudes de cas et liens.

more than ad-hoc support. They need to eel that we are committed to helping

build a frm ground or this genuine cooperation to ourish.

This publication presents the main fndings o the reection process. You will

hear the voices o those who have contributed intellectually and artistically.You will fnd examples o projects that show cultural cooperation at work.

And i you want more, the ECFs website contains an inormation dossier with

all the relevant resources, including essays, profles and case studies

[http://medreection.eurocult.org].


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16

Cultural cooperation between Europe and the Mediterranean region is

repeatedly hampered by artifcially-coined strategic orientations and artifciallyimposed geopolitical and geographical demarcation lines. I the

Mediterranean Reection Process made one thing clear, it is that we must

revisit the parameters around which Euro-Med cultural cooperation is

organised. There is a need to seek out new constellations, regional and

artistic, that inspire, in the words o Marlous Willemsen1, alternative

orientations. This presupposes a shit in mindset, and a resh openness

towards the Mediterranean region, leaving behind the preconceived European

political and cultural gaze, and seeking anew the local context in which thecontemporary arts really unction today. It is a requently heard grievance that

European cultural operators are unprepared when they enter the

A compilation o voices rom the Mediterranean reection process

Alternative

orientations

omprendre le contexte local :

n pralable la coopration

ulturelle et artistique

a coopration culturelle entreEurope et la rgionditerranenne est souventne par des orientationsratgiques cres de toutesces et des lignes de dmarcationopolitiques et gographiques

rtifciellement imposes. Sil estne chose que le groupe deexion a russi aire apparatre,est bien le ait que nous devons

evoir les paramtres autouresquels sorganise la cooprationulturelle euro-mditerranenne.nous aut rechercher de nouvellesonfgurations, rgionales etrtistiques, pour inspirer des

rientations alternatives. Celauppose un changement deerspective, et une nouvelleuverture lgard de la rgionditerranenne, qui rompe avecne vision politique et culturellege, prconue, et reconsidre le

Compiled by Hanneloes Weeda

Understanding the

local context:

a pretext or cultural

and artistic

cooperation


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An alternative gaze / Chapter 117

Mediterranean region, in search o partnership projects, new audiences orcultural goods. In addition, experience reveals that cooperation projects can be

burdened by politically correct discourse, conused expectations,

misinterpretation and stereotypes. What is more, as Odile Chenal2 points out,

some Euro-Mediterranean relationships can even be overshadowed by a

certain sense o apprehension: European NGOs can be quite hesitant to

bring their Mediterranean partners into dicult or conrontational

circumstances, not knowing what eects their projects will have on the local

context, and being araid to make mistakes.

Partnership with whom?International NGOs and donors are mainly dependent on the agendas set by

their own governing bodies. They come and seek out what they are looking or.

One much voiced concern is the act that many outsiders assume the Arab

region to be a homogenous whole, making little or no nuances in their

approach to the individual countries that comprise the region. When outsidersenter the region, in search o partners, in search o artistic cooperation, whom

are they actually seeking? Those that are like them? Those with whom they risk

entering into conict, i they dont work with them?

Basma El Husseiny3 questions the motivation behind European interest in

the region: I there were no Iraqi or Palestinian conficts, would the Arab

World be perceived dierently? Would this aect the way one deals with the

region? Are we interesting enough culturally? Are we loved or who we are,

or just because we are the case in question?And Pierre Abi Saab4 suggests a possible driving orce behind Euro-Med

cultural cooperation: Curators use ashionable Arab arts to make the

contexte local dans lequel les artscontemporains onctionnentaujourdhui. Parmi les dolancesrcurrentes, on entend dire que lesacteurs europens du secteurculturel arrivent dans le mondearabe ou en Turquie sans treprpars , la recherche deprojets de partenariats, denouveaux publics ou de biens

culturels. En outre, lexpriencemontre quun discourspolitiquement correct, des attentesconuses, des erreursdinterprtation et des strotypespsent sur les projets decoopration. Dans ce paragraphe,nous explorons quelques-unes desquestions qui entraventactuellement les partenariats euro-

mditerranens et voquons lerle-cl des ONG prsentes surplace pour amliorer laconnaissance du contexte local.

1) Deputy Director o the International

Institute or the Study o Islam in the

Modern World, Leiden.2) Deputy Director o the European

Cultural Foundation, Amsterdam.3) Managing Director o Al Mawred

Al Thaqay (Culture Resource), Cairo.4) Beirut-based journalist and critic.

1chapter


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18

ashionable machine work in Europe. Curator Nav Haq5shows that

European producers are oten incapable o disconnecting the works o art

and productions o the Mediterranean region rom current geopolitical

discourses.

Many regional exhibitions shown in the West are closely linked to migrationprocesses and issues o integration. There seems to be, moreover, a tacit

expectation that exhibitions rom the Mediterranean will automatically attract

the domestic immigrant audience, which, in practice, they generally ail to do.

Ghislaine Glasson Deschaumes6 sums up the above problematic

succinctly: Curators, producers and donorskeen though they may be on

cooperationdo they themselves know where they are coming rom, or the

stereotypes they labour under, or how much o their own cloistered identities

they may be projecting, in some cases, onto others? Have they thought

about the eect o their work, not only on the subject creativity but also on

the cultural groups with which they cooperate, and, more generally, on

cultural diversity?

Entering the region unpreparedThese and other examples hint at the extent to which European cultural

operators, unders and curators are unprepared as they enter theMediterranean region. A major task lies ahead or cultural organisations and

actors in helping to increase knowledge o the local context in order to bridge

this gap. Already NGOs are developing a web o relations with local

communities and among themselves. But they could do even more.

Nevenka Koprivek7 reminds us that in Ljubljana, NGO activists tried or

many years to bring the NGO sector together, but that it was only when they

began to study the local legal rameworks and cultural policies that they were

able to bring about change.

According toAdila Ladi-Hanieh8 artists should also look at themselves and

ocus on certain aspects o their identity, whilst remaining aware o how they

are perceived both rom within and outside the region. Zeina Arida9 sees

danger ahead or artists who are not aware o the way in which outsiders

perceive them. To ensure that the region does not become a shopping centre

or Western curators, says Zeina, artists must urgently reect on their identity

and on that o Arab contemporary art. During the meeting with Turkish culturaloperators and artists held in Amsterdam, the opinion was voiced that what is

lacking is a sense o 'symmetrical cooperation'. Cultural organisations in


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19 An alternative gaze / Chapter 1

Turkey need to be more critical o what Western organisations put on their

agendas, and how they push their priorities orward.

For cultural operators to be able to correct distorted images and

misrepresentations and to open a window on the Mediterranean region there isone urgent precondition, namely the drawing up o a common ground o

operation. Charlotte Huygens10 sums this up in two sentences: Instead o

remaining tied to stereotyped, orientalist oppositions between East and West,

and overestimating their importance, well balanced, long term cultural

relations are better served by the denition o the common ground between

Europe and the MENA countries. (...) While the process o refection and

debate should certainly also aim at the improvement o acilities as a

condition sine qua non, the starting point should surely be the discussion,

where somewhere between the two ends, and among all possible variations

and combinations, the most inspiring meeting places or cultural operators

can be ound, that is, the right spaces or dialogue.

From partnership to real cooperationIn the cases where real cooperation does take place, partners rom both sides

are mutually enriched in their understanding o the other. Hala Galal11reveals the ollowing: `What I know is that when European experts come to

see what we do here, they sometimes ask me: Why do you do this and not

that, why dont you do it this way instead?. Then when they come back

several months later, they oten say: You were right, it doesnt work this way

at home. It is not or me to say, but I think that they learn a great deal about

us with these kinds o experiences and projects. In any case, this type o

project is based on exchange.Hanan Kassab Hassan12 goes a step urther

and in act uses the whole issue o understanding the local context, as thetheme or the estival she is running in 2008, called Damascus: Cultural

Capital o the Arab World. The estival provides the context to show

outsiders, oten inuenced by negative stereotypes o Damascus, another

image o the city: Its the image o a country that has always been a meeting

place and a ocus or creativity; () a country where the culture is a

mixture o Arab poetry, Syriac song, Kurdish music, Circassian dance,

Turkish cuisine, and Armenian photography. Its also the picture o a country

where you can walk alone in the early hours o the morning without the

slightest concern, and where you can knock on any door and be invited in

or a cup o coee.

5) Independent curator based in

London.6) General Director o Transeuropen-

nes, Paris.7) Director o Bunker Productions,

Ljubljana.8) Lecturer in modern and contem-

porary Arab thought, and Palesti-nian contemporary arts at Bir Zeit

University.9) Director o the Arab Image Founda-

tion, Beirut.10) Curator o Arts and the Islamic

World, Netherlands.11) Director o the Egyptian flm produc-

tion company SEMAT.12) Director o the High Institute o

Dramatic Arts, Damascus, andsecretary-general o 'Damascus:

Cultural Capital o the Arab World

2008'.


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20nancement et partenariat euro-mditerranens : engagement et

esponsabilit

eaucoup stonnent de la manireont les politiques culturelles deUE ou des tats membres, etme les politiques des ondationsn matire de coopration culturellevec la rgion mditerranenne,

arviennent rester en quilibrentre lintrt pour le contexte localvoqu dans la section prcdente,t la relative mconnaissance de ceontexte. La socio-anthropologuerque Ayse Caglar a relev desrences dattitudes par tropvidentes lgard de la rgion, quiterminent davance la orme querendront les politiques de

oopration et de fnancement :Il y a, dune part, le langage

olitique dur employ pour les

uestions relatives aux rontires et

la scurit et, dautre part, le

ngage ouvert, plus doux, amilier,

e la politique de voisinage (une

elation sympathique de confance

t dhospitalit... mais sans proximit

xcessive, en maintenant une

stance de scurit). Cest danscadre de ce paradoxe que les

nanceurs de lart et de la culture,ans la rgion mditerranenne, etvec elle, fxent leurs priorits. Il estossible de cerner, sur la base desemarques aites au cours durocessus de rexion, lattitudees bailleurs de onds europensans la rgion. Ils oscillent entre les

eux ples opposs dfnis paryse Caglar : certains, inuencsar la politique, sont tentsinvestir, toujours de manireonctuelle, court terme, dans desomaines sensibles et en vogue ;autres, pousss par desroccupations de voisinage,veloppent des projets deoopration aux motivations

ociales; les uns comme les autrese heurtent aux questions deobilit et de visas

Euro-Med unding

and partnership:engagement and

responsibility

For many it remains ambiguous how EU or member state cultural policies, and

even oundations policies on cultural cooperation with the Mediterranean

region manage to balance on a fne line between retaining an interest in, and

yet remaining relatively ignorant o, the local context which we read about in

the previous section. Social anthropologistAyse Caglar13 rom Turkey has

pointed out the all too obvious dierences in attitude that exist towards the

region and which predetermine the manner in which cooperation and unding

policies are ormed: On the one hand we have the hard political language

used or border and security issues. On the other hand we have the open,

soter, amily language o the neighbourhood policy (a nice relationship o

trust and hospitality not too close, but keeping a sae distance). It is in the

context o the above paradox that unders o arts and culture in and with the

Mediterranean region set their priorities. From remarks made during the

reection process, it is possible to paint a general picture o the way in which

European unders operate in the region, as they oscillate between the two

opposing poles defned by Ayse; some lured by political pressure to invest inashionable topical dilemmas, always punctual and short-lived; others driven

by neighbourly concern to develop socially motivated cooperation projects;

and all restricted by mobility and visa issues. It must be said that the projects

supported by Europe spend a great deal o money on isolated events and on

events that leave ew traces once theyve taken place. It would be more

relevant to create structures that last, and to devote more support or the

mobility o artists. Our youth are isolated. They have no chance o travelling,

and its next to impossible to obtain a visa, saysHanan Kassab Hassan. Sofane Hadjadj,14 whose publishing house

Editions Barzakh in Algiers has received oreign unding on more than one


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occasion, highlights the underestimated drawbacks o short-term project

unding: The support o the French Cultural Centre or Francophone

Publishing (CCF) was very important or us. It provided our business with an

injection o money that we used to nance other publishing projects. But this

support had obvious limitations. It could only be sporadic, and or this reason,

it did not permit us to develop our publishing house. (...) The inherent risk in

this kind o nancial support is this: it makes us more economically

comortable and, as a result, we risk turning away rom the principal

objectives o any publisherreaching a precise readership, helping to develop

public reading, and promoting the national book business, etc. We risk only

publishing the books that we love, but ones that dont correspond to any

public expectationreal or imaginary.

Valuating oreign unding and state undingSo where then lies the added value o oreign unding?'The main point is that

partnerships are an invaluable stimulus to encounters with other universes,

other histories, other preoccupations; and this experience o otherness can be

used to build bridges between Algeria and the rest o the world', comments

Sofane. As everywhere in the world, non-governmental unding or cultural

cooperation projects flls a gap let open by the state. The state releases agreat deal o money or the arts, but oten attaches to it a certain number o

expectations or requirements. Without state support, however, the

maintenance o the cultural inrastructure would be highly problematic. From

the introduction to the Algiers meeting we quote: In less than twenty years,

this [the role o the state: Ed] has been completely transormed. Omnipresent,

omnipotent, it was once the principal employer and source o revenue or the

economy as a whole, compared to which the barely tolerated private sector

was a poor relation. Today, it is attempting to disengage itsel rom this

position in avour o market economics, through a series o nancial

mechanisms. And i there is an area in which the disengagement process

has been particularly spectacular, it is that o culture. In a market economy,

and without public unds, how was this unorthodox merchandise to be

nanced? The State, paradoxically, has continued to be the main nancial

backer o cultural activity through commissions, subsidies and, in recent

years, major commemorations that mobilise the entire cultural apparatus

or extended periods, e.g. The Year o Algeria in France, and Algiers

2007, Capital o the Arab World. And these, admittedly, have provided

new sources o unding or cultural objects.Not only colleagues rom the

13) Associate Proessor and Depart-

ment Head o the Department o

Sociology and Social Anthropology

at the Central European University,Budapest.14) Co-director o Barzakh Editions,

Algiers


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22

Mediterranean, but also rom the Balkans recognise traces o these

developments in their own countries.

A major question is, to what extent is there an alternative, in the Mediterranean

region, to the public unding o culture? In Algeria, private investment in

culture remains marginal, with the notable exception o music. And this is no

coincidence. The music industry brings in short-term prots with little initial

outlay. With liberalisation, rms have nonetheless begun to put themselves

orward as potential partners or small-scale producers o cultural products,

with sponsorship and publicity campaigns. But this type o unding remains

too uncertain and unpredictable to give rise to enduring cultural enterprises.

For some cultural operators, though, the state remains a source or

partnership, without the support o which cultural activity would be seriouslyendangered. Alternative unding sources and private investment should not

replace state unding, but can complement and supplement it, in those areas

that miss the boat in regular government unding strategies. Others, however,

are more pessimistic about state support. They preer to develop initiatives

along private lines, enjoying the relative reedom o manoeuvre and the lower

level o bureaucracy. Basma El Husseiny draws attention to the political

dimension o the cultural role o any public sector and how this inevitably

aects the status o cultural activity in a country. But, since radically changingthe state support system would lead to massive unemployment in the cultural

sector, Laila Hourani15 concludes that NGOs cannot but deal with the state

and cannot aord to simply ignore it, by creating a parallel cultural sector.

The role o oreign undingGrants or cultural and artistic projects rom private oundations and other

sources rom outside the Mediterranean countries naturally remain a welcomesource o unding or many artists and organisations in the Mediterranean

region. Such unding allows them to carry out projects or which it may be

impossible to fnd domestic support. However, the manner in which unders

hop in and out o the region, disregarding their responsibility or a process

they set in motion and ail to sustain, is highly criticised. Moroccan video

artists and flm makersAbdelaziz Taleb andAbdellati Benaidoul16 gave

us the ollowing account: We believe unders can and should do more than

simply give money or oer their resources. We apply or a grant, they give us

the money, we send the report, and thats it. No dialogue, no distribution o

the results o the project. Funders should engage more ater the project is


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over, or example by oering dierent platorms, discussing the results,

acilitating a ollow-up. We are able to do so little, compared to what they can

do in their position. They can help us connect with other projects, plug us into

their international network, make sure people know about each others work.

Independent oundations should play this role. We need more than money,

we need continuity.In connection to this, the ollowing question was posed in

Alexandria: Should we seek to meet all needs by unding alone, or should we

design programmes that can build the community o artists and generate the

optimal environment or the practice o art?

Responsibility and long-term commitment

More long-term commitment should not replace domestic responsibility, butcomplement it, or example by strengthening and empowering local

organisations (capacity building), or by helping to inuence policy on the local

level. International unders or oundations tend to support visible events, but

not the inrastructure which makes them possible. Foundations also tend to

base their policies on secondary criteria, such as peace and reconciliation,

intercultural exchange, or social integration. They are eager to invest in the

region and come with the attitude that they are here to make a change. What

do European unders want rom Turkey?was a question posed byAhmet Polat17at the meeting in Amsterdam. This leads to an artistic grey

area where artistic practices are not valued and supported in their own right,

but judged in terms o their social and political impact. In the long run this can

be damaging or an independent arts sector in the region. As William Wells18

said in Amman: We were always talking about the unders in terms o us and

them. This is why Townhouse Gallery in Cairo put a great deal o eort into

matching international unding with local support, gained by stimulating interest

or the gallerys activities outside o the inner artistic circles. One suggestion,put orward by Henrik Placht19 could be that unders active in arts and

culture look more into the practices o development agencies, which generally

have longer term human resources capacity building strategies. Funders need

to be willing and able to adapt their support strategies according to the needs

that dier in each country and in each political situation. I they are not willing

to adapt to and engage with the consequences o working in an unstable

region, then maybe they should re-consider their engagement in such a region

at all, was an opinion voiced in the Amman workshop.

15) Regional manager Creativity and

Mutuality o the British Council in

Syria.16) Video artists and flm makers, based

in the Netherlands.17) Photographer, based in Istanbul.18) Founder and director o the Town-

house Gallery in Cairo, Egypt.19) Initiator and ounder o the Internati-

onal Academy o Art, Palestine.


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At the start o any meeting like the one that took place in Ljubljana,

proximity produces both a tension and a void, both o them

conspicuous. The tension has to do with the act that each participant

is thinking about his or her proper place in the encounter, and the

sense o his or her presence. The void, always relative, but always

perceptible, has to be physically and mentally occupied i any sharing

is to take place. It is a resonance, frst and oremost. Oten

materialising round a conerence table, it ritualises the encounter and

proposes a horizon. In Ljubljana, it took some time or a void to orm,

and to begin vibrating. It was necessary, frst o all, to get past the

paralysing distance that was inherent in the risk o speaking. And

speaking is impossible i those with whom one is trying to

communicate do not adopt a position o anticipating the speakers

discourse, or indeed eliciting it. The last session in Ljubljana, with its

agenda o division, war, objective walls and subjective rontiers, was a

memorable moment o discursive movement towards gravity and

proundity, towards the truth o engagement. It was an occasion when

proximity created connections. The departure o the frst participant

elt like a loss, but we went our separate ways with a sense that the

void had been occupied, and that we ourselves were now inhabited

by a part o it, a certain absence, and also something o the walls that

had been raised up to confne diversity. Ghislaine Glasson Deschaumes


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Au dbut dune rencontre comme celle de Ljubljana, le ctoiement

produit la ois une tension et un vide, tous deux perceptibles.

La tension tient ce que chacun sinterroge sur sa propre place

dans la runion et sur le sens de sa prsence. Le vide, toujours

relati, mais toujours perceptible, est celui quil aut physiquement et

mentalement se mettre habiter pour que le partage ait lieu.

Ce vide est dabord rsonance. Souvent matrialis par le carr

orm par les tables, il ritualise la rencontre, lui orant lhorizon vers

quoi tendre. A Ljubljana, il allut du temps pour que ce vide prenne

orme, pour quil se mette vibrer. Il allut sortir de cette distance

paralysante inhrente au risque de dire. Or dire nest pas possible si

celles et ceux avec qui lon parle ne se mettent pas en position

danticiper la parole de lautre, de la susciter. La dernire sance de

la runion de Ljubljana, qui porta sur la division, la guerre, les murs

rels et les rontires mentales, reste dans les mmoires comme un

moment exceptionnel de dgagement de la parole vers la gravit et

la proondeur, vers la vrit de lengagement. Ds lors, le

ctoiement a ait lien. Le dpart du premier participant a t vcu

comme une perte. Nous nous sommes spars dans le sentiment

que le vide a t habit et quen nous dsormais habite une part de

ce vide et une part dabsence, et une part des murs rigs pour

confner le divers. Ghislaine Glasson Deschaumes


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As contradictory as it may appear, it is in search o this otherness

that most people cross the borders o their own country and go in

search o new input to their personal lives and proessional practice.

On the one hand, they have a strong desire to get to know other

cultures, and a sincere interest in meeting the representatives o

those cultures. On the other hand, they are not seeking shared

developments or common eatures, but whatever makes or

dierence. Charlotte Huygens

The arts feld is a ruitul venue or any type o encounter, because it

is the most difcult feld in which to put closures. In the arts feld

unsettling processes take place, prompted by political and social

developments, because artists are oten IN, but not PART OF those

developments. Ayse Caglar


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27 An alternative gaze / Chapter 1Publics : construits, imagins,

rels...

Les ormes dart contemporaintendent tre imposes auxpublics locaux. Dans ces conditions,cet art peut-il vraiment convenir au contexte local ? Les publicslocaux sont-ils prpars recevoirles ormes europennes dart

contemporain ? Pour que lacoopration soit rellementinterculturelle, la production nedevrait-elle pas correspondre aupublic ? Dans ce paragraphe, nousnous concentrons sur la questiondes modalits qui permettraientdorganiser des maniestationsrpondant vritablement auxbesoins des publics aussi bien

locaux quinternationaux.On constate dans la rgion lesentiment gnral que les acteursdu secteur culturel sappuientortement sur des approchesoccidentales pour concevoir leursprojets, laissant de ct lestraditions locales qui - comme celledu conte - sont typiquementdestines la amille ou un public

local. linverse, certains thmessont privilgis, en particulierlorsquils suscitent lattention desmdias, comme la place desemmes ou lIslam. Mais les publicslocaux se reconnaissent-ils dansdes mta -discours aussiabstraits que ceux-ci, enracinsdans un point de vue extrieur surla rgion, dans des perceptions

externes sujettes aux modes ? Neserait-il pas plus producti de nousengager dans des thmatiques et

Audiences:

constructed,imagined, real...When presenting contemporary arts to certain audiences, the presented work

might be totally alien to them, it might include artistic and aesthetic codes

which these audiences are unamiliar with. This raises the question: Do the

presenters o contemporary arts impose their aesthetic and artistic codes and

values to the audience without even attempting to validate their codes?20

Western contemporary art orms tend to be imposed on local audiences,

asserts Marie Elias21. Does imported art really ft the local context? Are local

audiences prepared to receive European contemporary art orms? For

intercultural cooperation to be really intercultural, should production not match

the audience? In Amman, Salwa Mikdadi22 ocused on the question o how it

is possible or curators to organise exhibitions that really do respond to theneeds o both local and international audiences. As touched upon in the frst

paragraph, there is a general eeling in the region that cultural operators rely

heavily on Western approaches when designing their projects, leaving aside

local traditionslike story-telling or exampletraditions that are inherently

amiliar to local audiences. Instead, certain topical themes, especially those

that receive media attention, such as the position o women, are avoured. But

do local audiences recognise themselves in such abstract meta discourses as

these, rooted as they are in an external perspective on the region, on trend-inuenced perceptions rom outside? Would it not be more productive to

engage with issues and subjects that have a clear domestic resonance, that

touch the hearts o people in the Mediterranean region, and not only Western

audiences? A heavy ocus and reliance on cultural and artistic events that are

initiated by non-Mediterranean cultural actors automatically creates a distance

between the events and the local audiences. In this respect, more stable

regional and local cooperation in the preparation o productions would take art

out o its established context and closer to the public.

20) Extract rom the report o the expert

meeting held in Amman, rom

9 -11 June 2007, by Paul Keller.21) Dramaturge and critic, University o

Damascus.22) Berkeley-based independent curator

and art historian who writes on

modern and contemporary art o the

Arab world.


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28

Adila Ladi-Hanieh concludes through her analysis that cooperation tends to

take place between the same communitiesthe usual suspectson both sides

o the Mediterranean, namely those with a certain level o culture or

international orientation. In act, the content o much contemporary art

presupposes a certain level o culture. The style is abstract, ironic,post-modern, minimalist etc. What is being oered, in terms o style, can be

quite alien to the general public.

In the light o the above disparity between production/art and its audience,

Adila produced an analytical paper or the Mediterranean Reection Process,

which discusses the above phenomenon and argues or the build up o

long-term, activist, inclusive audience development strategies by way o a

commitment to building dynamic and pluralist societies. The text on pages 30through 33 is a short abstract o this paper, the ull version o which can be

ound on the European Cultural Foundations website (http://medreection.

eurocult.org).

es sujets qui ont clairement unesonance locale, qui touchent leur des populations de la rgionditerranenne, et pas seulements publics occidentaux ? Une

ocalisation trop orte sur desvnements culturels et artistiquesitis par des acteurs europensre automatiquement une distance

ntre ces vnements et les publicscaux. Cest pourquoi uneoopration rgionale et locale plusonstante dans la prparation desroductions sortirait lart de sonadre litiste et le rapprocherait durand public.ans ce paragraphe, Adila Ladi-anieh plaide pour la constructione stratgies de dveloppement du

ublic long terme, pour desratgies actives et intgratives.our trouver lintgralit de cehapitre en anglais, vous pouvezsiterttp://medreection.eurocult.org.


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30

Abstract o the essay

Paradigm shit:

building inclusive cultural

practices

by Adila Ladi-Hanieh

These are interesting times or Arab cultural operators. The last 15 years

have oered new possibilities: technologically, the IT revolution oers new

aordable tools or production and distribution; legally and fnancially, newopportunities are oered to organise outside governmental structures; in

the Arab region, new independent organisations oer space to host

events and meet a new public. Externally, immigration and terrorism have

stimulated curiosity in Arab culture, and Euro-Med structures oer

unprecedented opportunities or unding, training, touring, co-production

and meeting new audiences. More importantly, contemporary arts (visual,

perorming and multimedia) tend towards the conceptual, which is

transorming artistic and aesthetic practice into critical discourse, awayrom the Modernist lyrical abstractions or Turath revivals o the 1940s-1980s.

Problematic

I there is a growing outside market (Pan-Arab and Western) and support

or Arab cultural products, internally the situation is not the same. A casual

visitor to an art exhibition, concert, library, bookstore, non-commercial flm

screening, lecture, or perormance, can detect the consistent gapbetween the makeup o the audience (mostly adult and/or middle class,

with a signifcant percentage o expatriates) and the makeup o the

population at large: 60% o the regions population is under 25 years old,

the literacy rate o the regional adult (15 years old and above) is 66%, and

gross national income or the region stands at $2, 241 per capita.

For example, an opening night flled to capacity, can be ollowed by days

o quasi empty halls, except or the odd tourist, expatriate, or schoolchildren. Or, an audience o 500 attending a one-o perormance by an

avant-garde star singer in a city o 16 million is considered a success.

sum de lessai

Changement de paradigme :

onstruire des pratiques

ulturelles dinclusion

ar Adila Ladi-Hanieh

es 15 dernires annes ontpport de nouvelles possibilits

ux oprateurs culturels arabes: Auiveau technologique, la rvolution

multimdia a introduit de nouveauxutils de production et deistribution; au plan lgal etnancier, de nouvelles opportunitsouvrent pour sorganiser etavailler en dehors des structuresouvernementales; dans la rgionrabe, des organisations

ndpendantes proposent desspaces pour accueillir desvnements et aller la rencontreun nouveau public. lextrieur,mmigration et le terrorisme onttimul la curiosit lgard laulture arabe, et les structuresuro-mditerranennes donnentes opportunits sans prcdent enermes de fnancement, de

ormation, dchanges, deoproduction et de rencontres avece nouveaux publics. Plus

mportant, les arts contemporainsvisuels, perormance et

multimdias) tendent tre plusonceptuels, ce qui transorme lesratiques artistiques en vecteurs deiscours critique, loin desbstractions lyriques modernistes

u des tentatives de renouvellementu Turath (hritage culturel) ducle dernier.

roblmatique

i le march extrieur (panarabe etccidental) et le soutien auxroduits culturels arabes


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An alternative gaze / Chapter 131 connaissent une croissance, lintrieur, la situation est dirente.Le visiteur occasionnel duneexposition, dun concert, dunebibliothque, dune librairie, duneprojection de flm non commercial,dune conrence ou dunvnement peut remarquer ledcalage important entre la

composition du public (le plussouvent, adulte, et/ou classemoyenne, avec un pourcentagesignifcati dexpatris) et celle de lapopulation dans son ensemble:dans une rgion o 60% de lapopulation a moins de 25 ans, letaux dalphabtisation des adultes(15 ans et plus) est de 66% et lerevenu national brut est de 2 241 $

par personne. Cet essai prsentecinq explications cette situation:politiques, conomiques,sociologiques, et intellectuelles,ainsi quun contexte thorique.

Diusion et participation

Cet essai prsente galement desexemples dtailles dactivits

culturelles inclusives rcentesmenes en Palestine, en Jordanieet au Liban. Les cas ne prtendentpas rsoudre les problmesconomiques, ducatis, etsociologiques des classes arabes subalternes , mais ils ont encommun une approche base sur larecherche et lengagement avec denouveaux publics. En outre, ce

travail de diusion coexiste avec undsir de sengager dans unepratique exprimentale,intellectuellement rigoureuse etcritique.

Lire lintgralit de lessai

en anglais sur

http://medreection.eurocult.org

Also, a print run o 5,000 or the book o an internationally recognised

poet is considered normal; etc.

However, in some o these same cities, live perormances over dinner

theatre, chansonnierand comedy companies, fll theatres or days andsometimes years, as do cinemas showing action flms and Egyptian

comedies. Music and/or olklore entertainment estivals co-unded by

governments and the private sector, and governmentally organised book

airs draw thousands, turning into bestsellers books on religion, astrology

and cuisine.

I argue that a combination o fve main reasons are at the root o this:

The frst is economic, since the traditional consumer o culturethe middle

classis shrinking in many Arab countries. At the opposite end, many o

the newly rich classes that emerged ater ree market reorms or rom the

inormal sector o the economy are more oten than not aected by a

second reason:

The second is intellectual: Illiteracy, but also the act that national

educational systems have ailed to stimulate their graduates intellectualcuriosity. This is combined with the wave o outward conservatism and

religiosity that moots the power o attraction any secular intellectual

events or products might have.

Third may be a general symptom o a wider non-participation decito

Arab citizens, due to the meaninglessness o civic participation in

undemocratic and authoritarian regimes, as seen or example in voter apathy.

The ourth reason may bepatriarchal socialisation mechanisms that have

survived the establishment o modern Arab nation states. As Hisham

Sharabi observed in his bookNeopatriarchy: A Theory o Distorted

Change in Arab Society, in such systems, much o ones livelihood,

access to services and benefts, depend on personal, amily, and actional

ties, more than on egalitarian enjoyment o civic rights.

Lastly, in many cases people are not amiliar with the codes conveyed bycultural operators. This is related to the content o the art provided or even

to the outward appearance and social background o the cultural operator.


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32

As a result, the mainly secularised middle and upper class youth,

socialised into activist models o cultural consumption, make up the bulk

o the youth audience o independent Arab art production.

Outreach and Participation

The case study activities and programmes cited below that I undertook

during my management o the Khalil Sakakini Cultural centre In Ramallah

(1996-2005) do not presume to solve the economic, educational,

intellectual and sociological problems o the subaltern Arab classes, but

they all shared a deliberate approach based on seeking out and partnering

in cultural work with new audiences, while engaging in an experimental,

intellectually rigorous, and critical practice. The new challenge thenbecame how to strip culture o class indicators. Two activist approaches

were specifcally adopted: one consisted o bringing in the audience, and

the second in ollowing it, by de-territorialising our events.

Firstly, I tried developing a diverse audience by launching an outreach

programme in 8 reugee camps and in public and private local schools, by

bringing groups o school children to visit exhibitions, ollowed by art

workshops. About 800 children participated every school year. The goalso the exercise were to expand their exposure and accessand also to

elicit the interest o their parentsto the visual arts, which do not enjoy the

same status as literature in Arab high culture, or the place which music

occupies in popular Arab culture.

Secondly, we began oering a monthly public event specifcally or

children. These attracted a large and diverse public, and provided psycho-

social relie during those violent days. One o the activities that brought in200 children was the frst public event held in Ramallah ater the

withdrawal o Israeli troops in April 2002. This was ollowed by an arts

summer camp or children. The overwhelming majority o the parents had

never come to the Sakakini beore.

Thirdly, rom 2003-2005 we organised a summer arts academy attracting

university students rom largely remote areas, oering exposure to

contemporary visual arts debates and hands-on practice.

Lastly, in 2002 we began inviting out-o-town community college students

who were studying in Ramallah, providing them with opportunities to


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debate with a lecturer, an artist, or a perormer. Later, this was developed

into the second part o this outreach programme, whereby we would seek

out audiences. Because o societal norms regarding the mobility o girls,

we could not bring these young non-resident students to the Sakakini. A

ully edged outreach programme or hundreds o young school girls inour area reugee camps, as well as in rehabilitation and education centres

or children at-risk (orphans, abused children, young oenders) was

developed, including a programme o visits by local artists, actresses, flm-

makers, musicians, dancers, singers, visual artists and writers to the

classes, to give a short perormance or to animate an activity, ollowed by

a presentation and debate. Later, the programme developed even urther

to include skill transer workshops in arts and crats, as well as writing and

drama workshops, etc. Like children the world over, these girls werecurious and eager to show o their talents and to acquire new skills in

dance, drama, and song.

The objective o these programmes, beyond developing new audiences,

was also to provide girls rom underprivileged economic backgrounds,

where asymmetrical gender norms oten prevail, with avenues or sel-

expression and spaces or entertainment and debate that oten led to

questioning established gender roles and destinies.

Read the ull version o this essay on http://medrefection.eurocult.org


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34

The other day, during and ater the last meeting o the Euro-MediterraneanReection Group, I ound mysel wondering why it is that I eel uncomortable

every time I hear o a project or a programme which aims to promote

intercultural dialogue. Such a eeling is surely unjustifed i you take into

consideration that I, and most people like me (i.e. those who work in arts and

culture in Arab countries and who are not associated with ofcial

organisations), do believe that people o dierent cultural, ethnic, and religious

backgrounds can not only communicate, but work together to achieve goals

that concern humanity in general. Is it that my specifc cultural background(Arab, Arican, underdeveloped and secular) is weighed down by distrust and

disappointment? Distrust in the Other that on the one hand is humane, open

minded and compassionate and yet on the other hand reely elects

governments that deploy troops armed with the most advanced devices to

countries in our regions causing mass destruction and misery. And

disappointment in ourselves as we repeatedly ail in our attempts to

meaningully contribute to the advancement o human knowledge and

creativity and stumble in utile eorts to break away rom social and politicalnorms that are oppressive, exploitative and ethically devoid. Is it that my

specifc cultural background is in act the reason why I, and many others,

cannot believe or engage in intercultural dialogue, or to put the question

dierently: do I need to step outside my culture to be able to engage with

people rom other cultures?

Or else does this eeling o unease come rom a simple and more mundane

reason? Maybe it is because similar actions in the past have not resulted inimproving intercultural understanding in any evident way. Take or example the

actions that came ater the Barcelona Process. Large well unded

A shortmonologue in a

lengthy dialogueBy Basma El Husseiny


35/84


programmes were rushed on both sides o the Mediterranean, with non-governmental organisations here and there seizing the opportunity and

designing activities that link directly to the wording o the ofcial documents

that came out o this Process. It might be too harsh to say that all this came to

nothing, since there are always benefts that surpass the limitations o a

collaborative project, but what has actually resulted rom these projects? And,

why are we now designing a new plan o action (and using millions o Euros),

without looking back and analyzing what was achieved in the not too distant

past?

But whatever the answer, i I ollow this line o logic in my mind, it seems to me

that what I fnd most uncomortable about intercultural dialogue is the act

that I (we) took no part in initiating it. Once again, the invitation comes rom

Europe (also known as the West and the North). Why didnt we think o it frst?

Are we not interested in communicating with other cultures? Do we know all

that we need to know about them? Are we so immersed in our problems that

we have lost the perspective o our culture being part o a universal dynamic?This is possibly true, but again Im not ully convinced simply because as

individuals: artists, intellectuals, cultural operators, etc., we are very interested

in Europe. Most o us have a clear idea o what we want and expect to receive

rom Europe. Primarily, we want recognition. Being acknowledged as an artist

or a writer in Europe not only brings ame there, but directly impacts on ones

recognition back at home. Money is also something Europe can give us, since

in our countries most independent artists and cultural operators struggle to

survive with no access to public unding and there is no capacity or the privatesubsidy o culture in the national budgets. We also want knowledge produced

or processed in Europe, especially technical knowledge in order to cope with

Statement


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the relentless progress in artistic technology. So, without doubt, our passiverole in intercultural dialogue is hard to explain. Why do we sit still waiting to

be invited to a dialogue we did not initiate, or take an active part in

conceiving? My eeling is that there is only one reason: the absence o true

mutuality. While we know exactly what we want rom Europe, we dont have a

clue as to what Europe wants rom us. This might sound like a generalisation,

but Europe seems to be too eager to give us all that we want and more and

we sometimes struggle to cope with all that is oered; and hastily rush to

change our working modes and our legal and political systems in order to beable to receive. More importantly, we dont know what we can oer Europe. It

is not sufcient to keep telling ourselves that in the past the Arabs produced

knowledge that helped Europe, and the West in general, to build its

civilisation, because i the past were enough to sustain the present and the

uture, we would be in a much better situation than we are now. The past was

good enough or the past, but what about today and tomorrow: what can we

oer? It is difcult to have a good relationship, when deep inside you eel that

you have nothing to give to the other party in this relationship; am I right?

By Basma El Husseiny


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S


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Dans le vaste champ de la gopolitique en Mditerrane, quels sont lesenjeux rels du Nord au Sud ? Et du Sud au Nord ? Dans un contexte marqu

par le terrorisme international, le radicalisme politico-religieux, les migrations

humaines dsespres et la diplomatie scuritaire, il se dessine, entre le Nord

et le Sud, un rapport de orce dsquilibr.

En apparence seulement. Deux postulats interviennent :

n Le Nord na pas besoin du Sud / Le Sud a absolumentbesoin du Nord ;

n Il y a trop de biens culturels au Nord / Pas assez de production culturelleau Sud.

Ceci au moment o la rgle no-librale tend investir tous les champs de la

vie publique, au moment o les tats sont ortement tents de contrler et de

rgir la sphre culturelle tout en sen dbarrassant au proft de sources dites

prives de fnancement.

Les ressources ont daut et linstrumentalisation guette ; lincomprhension

et le dsespoir menacent. Partout, la tentation de contraindre les crateurs,de les limiter dans leur expression ou de les abandonner leur sort monte en

puissance.

Dans ces conditions, les questions de la coopration et du fnancement de

la sphre culturelle deviennent essentielles. Il ne sagit pas seulement de

promouvoir un art, une culture surant sur la vague des modes successives et

conorme nos attentes respectives, mais bien plutt de aire en sorte que

les crateurs de tous bords puissent traduire les imaginaires contradictoires

de leur socit et dessiner leur avenir, librement.

Cooprationet fnancement

culturelsBy Sofane Hadjadj


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Quelques points essentiels et de bon sens simposent alors :

n Permettre aux crateurs de poursuivre leur travail en toute indpendance,

loin des interrences et des pressions diverses ;

n Dvelopper les espaces de mdiation culturelle ;

n Favoriser la mobilit des artistes et des uvres ;

n Encourager les changes et les collaborations artistiques ;

n Augmenter les onds daide la traduction du patrimoine littraire mondial

vers des langues tierces et, en retour, des littratures dites du Sud vers les

langues occidentales.

Il parat utile de rappeler que lart, la littrature, le thtre, le cinma, etc. ne

sont ni un luxe, ni un poids mort que lon trane, et encore moins un tendard

ou un alibi que lon brandit au gr des circonstances.

La culture doit demeurer un bien accessible tous et en toutes circonstances.

En temps de paix comme en temps de guerre. Il sagit aussi de montrer quil

nest pas de meilleur remde la rilosit et au repli sur soi quun art partag,qui pose comme pralable la ncessit dune (re)connaissance de lAutre.

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In her introductory essay The Collaborative Turn or the publication Taking

The Matter into Common Hands: On Contemporary Art and Collaborative

Practices, curator Maria Lind writes:

Oten positive values such as loyalty, the ability to change, altruism

and solidarity are baked into the concept o collaboration. At the

same time, collaboration can stand or the opposite, or treachery

and ethical irregularities. A collaborator can be a blackleg, a traitor,

someone serving the enemy and who is thereore not trustworthyThat is why it is worth recalling that communication and

collaboration can be just as efcient as smoke screens as they might

be methods that generate generosity and solidarity. (p.29)1

I these tensions are at play within the contemporary art world, then the same

power dynamics are heightened in the feld o cross-Mediterranean

cooperation. When the region is variously clumped together as the Middle

East, MENA (Middle East and North Arica), the Arab world,Mediterranean rim either or practical purposes or or ideological reasons

not completely devoid o neo-orientalist premises the question arises as to

how one is to map the state o aairs in a region that defes rigid

geographical, religious, ethnic and cultural categorisation. Moreover, how can

meaningul and horizontal artistic exchange on equal ooting take place when

scars rom colonial pasts still mark the political and emotional landscape. How

is such cooperation hindered when mutual projections and prejudices can

taint perspectives, when technical and fnancial inrastructure, education andproessionalisation and reciprocal mobility (the capacity o both parties to

travel to one anothers countries) might hamper projects, when a convoluted

'une voix dirente, d'un il

irent : gestes rciproques

e collaboration

Moyen-Orient , MOAN Moyen-Orient et Arique du Nord),Monde arabe , Rgionditerranenne : on utilise

ouvent des vocables quiegroupent, soit des fns

ratiques, soit pour des raisonsologiques non dnues dunertain no-orientalisme. Or,agissant dune rgion qui chappetoute catgorisation rigide, quelle

oit gographique, religieuse,thnique ou culturelle, on seemande comment tablir unearte de la situation actuelle.es collaborations artistiques ne

evraient, dabord et avant tout, pastre le ruit dune orme attnuee curiosit post-moderne,elativement abstraite (ou pas sibstraite), incitant connatre Autre, et rsultant souvent en unavoir mieux pour lAutre, ou dune

Reciprocal collaborative gestures

O dierent voice -

O dierent eyeBy Nat Muller


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relationship with the state might become a straightjacket or censure, whenreedoms are curtailed or other agendas pushed to the oreront.

Following these concerns, it is useul to recall Egyptian flmmaker Yousri

Nasrallahs position, which advocates insight rather than mutual understanding.

Insight orms a solid basis or artistic practice, while mutual understanding

might steer the whole thing towards an exercise in semantics. Artistic

collaborations should not proceed rom some abstract (or concrete) post-

modern curiosity to know the Other which can result in one imaginingknowing whats best or the Other or an eort to alleviate post-colonial guilt.

The motor or ruitul artistic collaborations ought to be the premise that it has

to result in something that would otherwise not take place; it simply has to

make possible that which is otherwise impossible2 (p.29). In this sense, a

ruitul collaboration should be able to saeguard the singularity and autonomy

o the artistic project, not always strive or consensus, but in its own way allow

or a dierent voice to speak and a dierent eye to see a voice that is not

necessarily speaking our tongue, an eye that does not necessarily share ourvision.

In the past ew years, Europe has seen quite a ew exhibitions ocusing on

contemporary art rom the Middle East. The most well-known are Catherine

Davids project Contemporary Arab Representations (1998-2006, covering

Beirut/Lebanon, Cairo/Egypt, Iraq); DisORIENTation (Haus der Kulturen der

Welt, 2003); Images o the Middle East (Copenhagen, 2006); Arabise Me

(V&A, London, 2006), and In Focus curated by Predrag Pajdic (London,2007), and Catherine Davids recent Di/Visions (2007-2008). Like the large

Balkan exhibitions held at the end o the 90s and at the beginning o the

orme attnue de culpabilit post-coloniale. Une collaborationructueuse devrait tre capable deprserver la singularit etlautonomie du projet artistique, dene pas toujours svertuer trouverun consensus mais permettre, sapropre manire, que parle une voixdirente et que voie un ildirent.

Ces dernires annes, nous avonsvu en Europe assez peudexpositions dart contemporainvenant du Moyen-Orient .Comme les expositions consacresaux Balkans la fn des annes1990 et au dbut des annes2000, ces grandes expositionsrgionales ont vocation airedcouvrir au public la production

artistique contemporaine duMoyen-Orient, et visent apporterdes lments de contextualisation travers des conrences, des

2chapter

1) Lind, Maria. The Collaborative

Turn. Taking The Matter into Com-

mon Hands: On Contemporary Art

and Collaborative Practices. Eds.

Johanna Billing, Maria Lind, Lars Nils-son. London: Black Dog Publishing,

2007. p.15-31.2) ibid


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Millennium, these large regional exhibitions serve to introduce the public to

contemporary artistic production rom the region, and aim to contextualise the

work through lectures, debates, and flm screenings. Unlike the Balkan

exhibitions, though, is the reality o the post-9/11 world. With xenophobia and

islamophobia steadily on the rise, the perceptual and representational stakesare higher and more charged.

While these projects have their merits, their very scale and points o departure

encapsulate their aws. Too big and comprehensive to make a strong artistic

statement, they homogenise the regions cultural production rather than

representing its diversity. In addition, heavily curated exhibitions are easily

perceived to be representative o artistic production o a particular scene,

whilst in act they merely show a selection, dependent on the curatorspersonal contacts and tastes. Intentional or not, one by-product o a

representative approach is the creation o a canon. In the context o

collaboration, this means some cultural actors, disciplines and artists are

privileged, while others are neglected.

These are not collaborative exhibitions. The gesture is unilateral, not

reciprocal. Art rom the region is brought to Europe and the point o departure

the pre-conditioned gaze, i you like is one o Otherness. Oten particulartopics are stressed, such as the position o women, (the lack o) democracy,

and Islamic iconography. Such shows can thus institutionalise what they aim

to critique, and become neo-orientalist bazaars, where the goods become

indistinguishable because they are all exotic. Such exhibitions do not

necessarily reinorce individual subject positions, but tend to erase

individuality in avour o an Arab or Middle Eastern collective identity.

Perhaps these exhibitions are a necessary evil, yet i we want to lay out

conditions or working together, we have to look beyond identitarian markerso ethnicity, politics and geography.

On the other side o the spectrum there are ventures operating more within an

international art discourse, such as the Istanbul Biennial (TR), the Sharjah

Biennial (UAE) held since 1993 it has risen to international acclaim since

2005, under direction o Jerusalem-based curator Jack Persekian and Art

Dubai launched in 2007 as the Guls frst contemporary art air, including

galleries rom the Middle East, Asia, Europe, North and South America, NorthArica and Australia. O lesser ame, but deserving a mention, are the Cairo

Biennial and Ramallahs Riwaq Biennial. The biennial and art air ormat is

bats et des projections de flms.ais elles se distinguent nettementes expositions consacres auxalkans dans la mesure o, dans leonde de laprs 11 septembre, lesnjeux de perception et deeprsentation sont plus cruciaux etus lourdement chargs. Alors quees projets ont des mrites

contestables, leurs insufsancesont prsentes dans leurmportance et leur point de dpart

mes. On apporte lEurope larte la rgion, avec un point depart ou un regard conditionn, sion veut qui est celui de laltrit.n constate aussi un intrt accruour le Liban de laprs-guerre (de006). Cest vrai, Beyrouth merge

ortement depuis quelques annesur la carte artistique rgionale etternationale. Pourtant, on peine

e daire de limpression que lepectacle du conit a rendu lesones de guerre ou daprs-guerretrayantes et ascinantes pour les

cteurs culturels europens, et ques partenaires europensengourent trop acilement dans

es projets, ou sautent allgrementun conit un autre. Ce sentimentoulve des questions crucialesuant la durabilit et lavenir ng terme de tels partenariats.e lautre ct du spectre, il y a desennales et des oires dart, quiprent davantage dans unscours internationaliste sur lart.e ormat des biennales et des

oires est tel que, dans et par elles-mes, elles deviennent unouveau lieu pour lart, enermans les cadres dexposition de laennale, et sans lien ncessairevec leur environnement contextuel.u niveau local, rares sont les


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55 An alternative gaze / Chapter 2projets qui seorcent de saisir lesdynamiques spatiales etterritoriales. Ce qui nest pas sanssurprendre une priode et dansune rgion o lon se bat autantpour le territoire, quil soit occup,dchir par la guerre, exploit pourses ressources, gentrif , divisou marchandis. Dans ces projets,

et du ait mme du nombre limitde participants, la production dediscours nouveaux et critiques, etleurs rpercussions sont duneimportance extrme.Abstraction aite des rservescritiques, les collaborations sontdabord et avant tout un gestesinon un acte de rciprocit.

such that, in and o themselves, they become a new locus or art enclosed

within the biennial exhibition grounds, not necessarily relating to their incidental

geographical context. This is the so-called biennial bubble eect: by defnition

globalised art events catering to a steady stream o international art travellers.

However, one cannot deny that increased exposure o artists rom MENAworldwide, and the act that Istanbul, Sharjah and Dubai host these events,

has an impact.3

Locality and situatedness also entails constraints. In the art world, and in

cross-Mediterranean collaborations in particular, there have been many

projects trying to grapple with the dynamics o space and territory. This is not

unsurprising in a time and region where territory is so contested whether

under occupation, torn by war, exploited or resources, gentrifed, zoned orcommodifed. Motley crews o artists, architects, urbanists and critical thinkers

have become the new cartographers o the real, taking rural areas, cities,

public spaces (or the lack thereo), active citizenship, and urban crisis as

subjects. The German-Palestinian-Israeli partnership Liminal Spaces4

(2006-2007) provides one example. In approaching the hard realities o the

Israeli-Palestinian conict by examining notions o urban spaces, borders,

mental and physical segregation, cultural territories and the possibilities o art

within political rameworks the project has literally taken the feldtrip asfeldwork. Israeli, Palestinian and international artists, academics and activists

took part in two such trips one in 2006, ocusing on the area around the

separation wall (Qalandia, Jerusalem, Ramallah), another in 2007, ocusing on

the mixed cities within the Israeli Green Line (Lod, Ramle, Jaa). Apart rom

generat[ing] active participation o the art sector in developing modes o

expression against the political status quo o occupation, dehumanization and

oppression,5 this project also raises interesting questions on the position o art

vis--vis activism and politics. Exclusive because o the limited number oparticipants, these projects are important or the production o new critical

discourses generated in their atermath.

The Italian Cultural Lab aMAZE6, has or years been active in researching the

socio-politics o territory, ows o migration and the intricacies o

Mediterranean urban centres in various projects with partners in Turkey,

Palestine, Israel, Lebanon, Egypt and Cyprus. Their latest project,

Communities & Territories/ Beirut (November 2007), in collaboration with theAmerican University in Beirut, Heinrich Bll Foundation and CLAC (Haret

Hreik) was mainly directed towards young artists and students, setting out to

3)

The scope o this article does notallow me the space to elaborate,

yet the impact and signifcance o

a magazine like Bidoun deserves

a mention. Founded in 2004 by

German-Palestinian Alia Rayyan

and American-Iranian Lisa Farjam,

Bidoun has over the years become a

very important resource and discur-

sive platorm tying arts and cultural

in the Middle East to wider debateswithin contemporary art. With contri-

butors and editors across the globe,

they cater to an audience that goes

well beyond the Anglophone, cosmo-

politan, diasporic Middle East. In

ormat as in content Bidoun is chal-

lenging, and has yes! become a

printed space or various surprising

collaborations. Cr. www.bidoun.com4)

Cr. http://www.liminalspaces.org5) Cr. http://liminalspaces.org/?page_

id=50/6) Cr. http://www.amaze.it/


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examine how public space is made and used in a city like Beirut, by means o

art, architecture and culture. This project is not unlike the Unbuilt Beirut

project, conducted by 3 Dutch partners Archis, Partizan Publik, Pearl

Foundation and Lebanons Studio Beirut. It addressed a similar audience but

was more geared to Beiruts reconstruction and visions or the uture aterIsraels summer 2006 war on Lebanon. With all respect to the well-

intentioned organisers, one does have to wonder at the heightened interest in

Lebanon ater the 2006 summer war. True, Beirut has been prominent on the

regional and international art radar in the past ew years, due to visionary

artists like Akram Zaatari, Tony Chakar, Lamia Joreige, Walid Raad, Khalil

Joreige & Joanna Hadjithomas, Nadine Touma, and the eorts o the Lebanese

Association o Plastic Arts Ashkal Alwan7, directed by Christine Tohme. In

particular the Home Works orum (2002, 2003, 2005), has become an evento international stature, whilst keeping local interests close to heart. Still, I fnd

it hard to shake the impression that the spectacle o war has made (post-)war

zones sexy and intriguing to European cultural actors, and that European

partners jump into projects too easily, or hopscotch rom one conict zone to

the ot

Documents

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