#Issa Touma | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

basmalahasad · 7 months

Text

Week Two - V&A Photography Centre

Jo Spence, Rosy Martin - Libido Uprising, 1989 Use of light and tone: Jo Spence and Rosy Martin employ artificial warm lighting, high contrast, and dramatic shadows in this work. The image has a brown tinge that gives it a retro sense. All of these work together to highlight key features in the picture. The red in the shoe and nails, as well as the black from the fishnets, stand out in particular. The intentional emphasis on specific parts attracts the viewer's attention to certain aspects, perhaps mimicking what men and society notice and care about in women. The shadows contouring the legs as well as the wrinkles and imperfections urge viewers to rethink expectations and appreciate the complexities of women's identities.

Sufis: The day of al-Ziyara by Issa Touma, Photographed 1995-2005

This photographs depicts a Sufi practices conducted on the day of Al-Ziyara these range from celebrating, dancing, praying, and carrying flags to putting rods into each other's stomachs. Issa Touma studies the spirituality, cultural tradition, community, aesthetic, and emotional components of a Sufi procession, particularly on the day of al-Ziyara. It offers viewers a one-of-a-kind and sensitive viewpoint on an event with great religious and cultural importance. The photographs offer a rare insight into a religious event that many people in the UK or the world would be unfamiliar with. Touma employed both close-up framing to focus on individual participants, and broad framing to convey how big and busy the rituals are. The photographs are all taken at eye level, giving the impression that the viewer is also a participant. The photographs are black and white, which helps the viewer focus on the content rather of being distracted by the background. What links all of the images together is the subject matter itself, the Rifa'i brotherhood's Sufi parade, and the rites and activities that take place on the "day of al-Ziyara."

My photographs

From eye level: This creates a sense of reciprocity and connection between the viewers and the person in the photograph. This viewpoint evokes sentiments of intimacy and connection. Viewers relate to the subject, making it simpler for them to engage with the image and interpret it in their own unique way.

From below: Photographing someone from a lower angle, and gazing up at them makes them appear bigger, taller, and more intimidating. This viewpoint can be used to highlight the subject's strength, power, or dominance. This makes the person seem very confident and influential.

From above: Shooting someone from above gives the impression of weakness or inferiority. It makes the subject look smaller and creates a feeling of adorableness.

Becoming the subject: The viewer and photographer are now in the shoes of their subjects. This establishes a strong feeling of engagement and immersion, allowing individuals to view the world through the eyes of that subject. It gives the viewer a feeling of importance because they have access to what is behind the scenes.

0 notes

diarrheaworldstarhiphop · 6 years

Video

youtube

9 Days - From My Window in Aleppo

A documentary from an artist who woke up one day to gunfire and the sudden appearance of a war beneath his apartment

--------

Winner of the European Short Film Award at the European Film Awards. In August 2012, Syrian photographer Issa Touma awoke to the dawn of the rebel uprising in the city of Aleppo. He spent the next nine days holed up in his apartment, filming the emerging civil war outside.

When Aleppo-based curator and gallerist Issa Touma noticed Syrian Civil War combatants on the streets below his East Aleppo home, he didn’t run—he grabbed a video camera. Over the course of nine days, using a compact Nikon photo camera, Touma sat in his perch and filmed the Syrian rebels on the streets. Last year, Touma collaborated with filmmakers Floor van der Meulen and Thomas Vroege in turning the footage into 9 Days - From My Window in Aleppo, an arresting documentary short on the civilian experience during the five-year long Syrian Civil War, which won Best Short at the 2016 European Film Awards this past December.

While Touma is active on social media, and on projects like Aleppo Gallery, he's not exactly easy to get ahold of for an interview. Talking over WhatsApp’s wifi service, Touma tells The Creators Project he returns to Aleppo every few months after touring Europe to talk about what life and creativity is like in the besieged city.

“There is a lot of shit going on around the world, but people pay attention because I’m coming from a wartorn country,” says Touma. “I was traveling around Europe the last six months, but during this time I traveled back to Aleppo to see what what was going on and shoot some more films. One will be Greetings from Aleppo, which is about me explaining why I come back.”

Touma says he wanted to document his experience in war, while shooting what would become 9 Days - From My Window in Aleppo, because he didn't know what would happen or if he would even make it out alive. This narrative, he insists, is all too common in Aleppo.

While 9 Days - From My Window in Aleppo has an international aim, Touma sees a different audience for the film. For him, the reaction of Syrians to the film is of the utmost importance, because they are the ones who have suffered.

“We saw the same story,” says Touma. “When [the rebels] decided to cut the city in half and make war, they didn’t ask us. They didn’t care about us. They made a checkpoint and started shooting. They came to kill—they didn’t come to [liberate] us. This is the message for civilians.”

He blames the media, in part, for portraying the rebels as heroes. Some journalists, he insists, have an agenda and possibly even a party affiliation. “They try to take away our voice,” Touma says. “So I’m very happy that in the last 10 days a lot of Syrians have seen the film.”

“This is our story, this is what we’re suffering, this is the story of what happened,” he adds. “For the West it’s shocking. 9 Days shows the people who have no power and want to say something, and I think people get that, even in the West.”

CREATORS - VICE

#issa touma #Syria #syrian civil war #aleppo #free syrian army #FSA #SAA #syrian arab army #liwa al tawhid #al tawhid brigade

26 notes · View notes

hollandshoop · 6 years

Link

TV Dramaserie: Dana Nechushtan voor HOLLANDS HOOP, seizoen 2

#tessa pope #dana nechushtan #martin koolhoven #aliona van der horst #Alex de Ronde #Thomas Vroege #floor van der meulen #issa touma #ester gould #@Sarah Sylbing #Jan Gitsels

1 note · View note

secondscreenmosaic · 7 years

Video

youtube

9 Days - From My Window In Aleppo One morning in August 2012, renowned Syrian photographer Issa Touma saw young men lugging sandbags into his street. It turned out to be the start of the Syrian uprising in the city of Aleppo. Touma grabbed his camera and spent nine days holed up in his apartment, recording what was happening outside. The result? An unprecedented glimpse into a war that has been raging for three years now.

#9 days - from my window in aleppo #short film #aleppo #syria #Issa Touma

3 notes · View notes

donewithcapitalistfrayers · 2 years

Text

2 notes · View notes

the-only-mainstream · 7 years

Text

Video Filtrate 96

Response to Bill Whittle's "Is climate change real?" The US, China, and Thucydides’s Trap with Graham Allison Maranitpachawa peru markanxa tabaco pitaña yatiqapjaraki Climate & Extreme Weather News #42 (July 6th to July 9th 2017) Gerald Horne: NRA Video a Symptom of America in Decline Honest Government Advert - Visit Puerto Rico Clare Daly TD on US Military use of Shannon airport Dr. Katharine Hayhoe: Evangelicals Adapt to Climate Change 9 Days - From My Window in Aleppo Rear Window - Black Athena Pt 1

______________________________

AVPF tag / channel list

#Bill Whittle #Gerald Horne #Graham Allison #Martin Bernal #Katharine Hayhoe #potholer54 #Clare Daly #Ireland #Syria #Issa Touma #AVPF #video filtrate #Edward Said #global warming #China #environment

0 notes

rudyroth79 · 7 years

Text

Știri: Festivalul Internațional de Film NexT: ”Short Matters!” la ICR (22–26 iunie 2017, București)

Festivalul Internațional de Film NexT, care va avea loc în perioada 22–26 iunie 2017, aduce și anul acesta pe ecranele românești scurtmetraje ale unor nume sonore ale cinematografiei internaționale prin intermediul unor secțiuni deja consacrate în cadrul festivalului: European Film Academy: Short Matters! Tour și Arthouse Shorts. Lista regizorilor din cadrul acestor două programe include nume…

View On WordPress

0 notes

myonlyheroisreality · 3 years

Photo

Sufiyan, 2017. Robin de Puy Created for the project Studio Aleppo, a pop-up project that photographs recently arrived refugees and is an initiative of both Fotostudio Paradox and the Syrian photographer Issa Touma. Says De Puy: ‘I hope the public will have the time and peace to really look at another human, so that there is more to look at than just disturbing reports about refugees. Perhaps people may recognise something from themselves’

#Robin de Puy

1 note · View note

novasciencepublishers-blog · 5 years

Link

What Mum Taught Us: Valuable Lessons and Outstanding Hospitality, Including Precious Mesopotamian Recipes

Theodora Issa, Ph.D., Touma Issa, Ph.D., Tomayess Issa Ph.D., Tamara Issa Raphael and Theodore Issa, FCPA, CA

This book would not have been possible without the existence of that brilliant, vivid, bright, superb, wonderful, luminous, radiant, and very beautiful person whom the authors simply refer to as ‘Mum.’ The Authors’ mother was always there for them as they went through the highs and lows of their lives, always encouraging and helping them throughout her life, and this help continued even when the authors became adults. She continued to be a source of great help until she answered God’s call and went into her eternal sleep on that Wednesday afternoon in March of 2016.

This book is written by her five children and is an attempt to keep Bathqyomo Marine Khoury-Issa’s memory alive.

The authors’ mother hailed from Mesopotamia, “the land between the two rivers.” Mesopotamia is the place that is referred to as the“Cradle of Western Civilization.” Therefore, it was worthwhile to mention in this book some of the literature that talks about this great civilization that the authors’ parents brought them nearer to by what they taught, told and asked them to read in history books. The recipes included in this book were taught to the authors by their mother, and thus have a Mesopotamian origin.

0 notes

playground-blog · 5 years

Photo

“Women We Haven’t Lost Yet” by Issa Touma is a survey of sorts. One of tragedy and fears of the womyn of Syria, who are the most affected by the violence. _____________________ Dreams and fears were collected from 20 womyn during the ‘Great Attack’ in 2015 on the city of Aleppo. Their disgruntled photos render them both invisible and fully visible. These are womyn who, at the publication, survived the attack on Aleppo. They are the future of Syria! _____________________ An important story and book is now available at the #PlaygroundAnnex ! (at Playground Coffee Shop) https://www.instagram.com/p/BsivlqVFIKk/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=17xrdm7vr0nkx

#playgroundannex

0 notes

easternmediterranean · 7 years

Text

Highly recomend you all check out Issa Touma, a Syrian photographer who lives in Aleppo and documented the start of the war in Syria in his neighborhood in his film, 9 Days - From My Window in Aleppo. The film was applauded on an international scale and won a European Short Film Award

145 notes · View notes

ao3feed-roninwarriors · 5 years

Text

“Fushigi nari umareta ye de kyo no haru” “Meraviglioso essere a casa in questa primavera” Issa

read it on the AO3 at http://bit.ly/2Guxzab

by ClioHeather

Fanfic ambientata in seguito agli eventi raccontati nell'oav "Message". Ryo e i nakama si sono ritrovati e capiscono che non possono più separarsi e che il senso della loro esistenza lo troveranno solo nello stare insieme. Ma Realizzare tale sogno potrebbe non rivelarsi così semplice. Dinamiche polyamorose. Questa fanfic andrebbe letta dopo la nostra "Owari no mae ni owari".

Words: 3966, Chapters: 1/1, Language: Italiano

Fandoms: Yoroiden Samurai Troopers | Ronin Warriors

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: M/M

Additional Tags: Hurt/Comfort, Introspection, Post-Canon, Boys In Love, Shounen-ai, Shounen, Bishounen, Sentimental, Emotions, Romanticism, Angst, Family Dynamics

read it on the AO3 at http://bit.ly/2Guxzab

#ronin warriors #yoroiden samurai troopers #IFTTT #ao3feed #fanfic

0 notes

yeniyeniseyler · 6 years

Text

Uluslararası Boğaziçi Sinema Derneği ile İstanbul Medya Akademisi tarafından ve T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı’nın katkılarıyla 17-26 Kasım 2017 tarihleri arasında İstanbul’da gerçekleşecek olan 5. Uluslararası Boğaziçi Film Festivali’nin yarışma filmleri belli oldu.

Jüri başkanlığını usta yönetmen Derviş Zaim’in yapacağı Ulusal Uzun Metraj Yarışması’nda 8 film 100.000 TL değerindeki ödül için yarışırken; festivalin kısa filmleri de 25.000 TL değerindeki Ahmet Uluçay Büyük Ödülü için jüri önüne çıkacak.

Ulusal Uzun Metraj Film Yarışması

Andaç Haznedaroğlu’nun “Misafir”, Ayhan Salar ve Erkan Tahhuşoğlu’nun “Eşik”, Burçak Açık Üzen’in “Beginner”, Bülent Öztürk’ün “Mavi Sessizlik”, Fikret Reyhan’ın “Sarı Sıcak”, Özgür Sevimli’nin “Murtaza”,Pelin Esmer’in “İşe Yarar Bir Şey” ve Selman Kılıçaslan’ın “Bütün Saadetler Mümkündür” adlı filmi 100.000 TL değerindeki En İyi Ulusal Uzun Metraj Film Ödülü için yarışacak.

#gallery-0-25 { margin: auto; } #gallery-0-25 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 25%; } #gallery-0-25 img { border: 2px solid #cfcfcf; } #gallery-0-25 .gallery-caption { margin-left: 0; } /* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes/media.php */

Ulusal Kısa Kurmaca Yarışması / Ulusal Kısa Belgesel Yarışması

Uluslararası Boğaziçi Film Festivali’nin kısa film yarışmasında ise kurmaca dalında 10, belgesel dalında ise 8 film yarışacak. Kurmaca dalında bir film10.000 TL değerindeki En İyi Ulusal Kısa Kurmaca Film Ödülü’nü, belgesel dalında bir film de yine 10.000 TL değerindeki En İyi Ulusal Kısa Belgesel Ödülü’nü kazanacak. Ayrıca festivalde yarışan kısa filmlerden birine de 25.000 TL değerindeki Ahmet Uluçay Büyük Ödülü verilecek.

Ulusal Kısa Kurmaca Yarışması’nda Ahmet Serdar Karaca’nın “Frekans”, Alkım Özmen’in “Bir İş Görüşmesi Hikayesi”, Ayris Alptekin’in “Kot Farkı”, Canbert Yerguz’un “Kamyon”, Çağhan Özdemir’in “Mutluluk”, Hasan Ali Kılıçgün’ün “3,5 Lira”, Derin Biricik’in “Mümkün Hayatların En Güzeli”, Okan Akgün’ün “Bir Tabut İnsan”, Onur Yağız’ın “Toprak” ve Serkan Kesova’nın “Hinterlant” adlı filmleri yarışacak.

#gallery-0-26 { margin: auto; } #gallery-0-26 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 25%; } #gallery-0-26 img { border: 2px solid #cfcfcf; } #gallery-0-26 .gallery-caption { margin-left: 0; } /* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes/media.php */

Ulusal Kısa Belgesel Yarışması’nda ise, Abdurrahman Demir’in “Kırmızı”, Ege Zaimağaoğlu’nun “Gönüllü Yürekler”, Hasan Ete’nin “Meftun”, Haydar Demirtaş’ın “Ülkemden Uzakta”, Mehmet Can Mıcık’ın “Menderes Kıyısında”, Orhan Dede’nin “Misafir”, Volkan Budak’ın “Yaban” ve Yavuz Üçer’in “Hekim” adlı kısaları jüri karşısına çıkacak.

#gallery-0-27 { margin: auto; } #gallery-0-27 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 25%; } #gallery-0-27 img { border: 2px solid #cfcfcf; } #gallery-0-27 .gallery-caption { margin-left: 0; } /* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes/media.php */

Saraybosnalı ünlü yönetmen Aida Begiç jüri başkanlığında gerçekleşecek Uluslararası Uzun Metraj Film Yarışması’nda, Cannes’dan Locarno’ya, Berlin’den Venedik’e, pek çok festivalden ödüllerle dönmüş 8 film yarışacak. Almanya’dan Gürcistan’a, Litvanya’dan Güney Kore’ye, dünyanın dört bir ülkesinden bir araya gelmiş 10 kısa kurmaca ve 8 kısa belgesel film ise kısa film jürisinin karşısına çıkacak.

Uluslararası Uzun Metraj Film Yarışması

İran sinemasının önde gelen yönetmenlerinden Parviz Shahbazi’nin dünya prömiyerini yaptığı Venedik Film Festivali’nin Ufuklar (Orizzonti) bölümünde yarışan ve iki genç sevgilinin birlikte olabilmek için ailelerinden kaçmalarını ve başlarına gelen çeşitli olayları incelikli bir kurguyla anlatan filmi “Malaria”; bol ödüllü ilk filmi “Apache” ile eleştirmenlerden övgüler toplamış Fransız yönetmen Thierry de Peretti’nin Cannes’da Eleştirmenler Haftası’nda yarışan, huzursuz edici ikinci filmi “A Violent Life” ve “Corn Island/Mısır Adası” filmi ile tanınan Gürcü yönetmen George Ovashvili’nin dünya prömiyerini Karlovy Vary’de yapan ve devrik bir devlet başkanının siyasi mücadelesini anlatan son filmi “Khibula”, yönetmenlerin takipçilerinin yarışmadan özellikle kaçırmaması gereken filmler.

İtalyan yönetmen Andrea Magnani’nin Locarno’da yarışan, aşırı kilo problemi nedeniyle gokart aracına artık binemeyecek hale gelen bir yarışçının kara komedi hikâyesini anlattığı “Easy”; Brezilyalı yönetmen Davi Pretto’nun Berlin Film Festivali’nin Forum bölümünde görücüye çıkan, Brezilya Ödülleri’nde En İyi Film seçilen ve insan, doğa ve mülkiyet konularını başarılı ve etkileyici bir görsellikle anlatan filmi “Rifle”; Kırgız Bakyt Mukul ve Dastan Zhapar ikilisinin Montreal World Film Festivali’nden En İyi İlk Film Ödülü’yle dönen draması “A Father’s Will”, kısa filmleriyle Berlin ve Cannes film festivallerinde aldığı ödüllerle tanınan, genç kuşak Romen yönetmenlerden Cristi Iftime’nin dünya prömiyerini yaptığı Karlovy Vary’den Fedeora Ödülü’nü alan filmi “Marita” ve Rus yönetmen Ivan Bolotnikov’un Şanghay Film Festivali’nde Cristian Mungiu başkanlığındaki jüriden En İyi Yönetmen ve En İyi Görüntü Yönetmeni ödülleriyle dönmüş biyografik filmi “Kharms”, yeni yönetmenleri keşfetmek isteyen sinemaseverleri bekliyor.

#gallery-0-28 { margin: auto; } #gallery-0-28 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 20%; } #gallery-0-28 img { border: 2px solid #cfcfcf; } #gallery-0-28 .gallery-caption { margin-left: 0; } /* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes/media.php */

Uluslararası Kısa Kurmaca Yarışması / Uluslararası Kısa Belgesel Yarışması

Uluslararası kısa film yarışmasında ise, kurmaca dalında bir film 10.000 TL değerindeki En İyi Uluslararası Kısa Kurmaca Film Ödülü’nü, belgesel dalında bir film de yine 10.000 TL değerindeki En İyi Uluslararası Kısa Belgesel Film Ödülü’nü kazanacak. Ayrıca festivalde ulusal ve uluslararası yarışan kısa filmlerden birine de 25.000 TL değerindeki Ahmet Uluçay Büyük Ödülü verilecek.

En İyi Uluslararası Kısa Kurmaca Film Yarışması’nda Almanya, Belçika, Brezilya, Brüksel, Çin, Danimarka, Fransa, Güney Kore, Hollanda, İngiltere, İran, Letonya, Lübnan, Romanya ve Yunanistan’dan toplam 10 film bulunuyor. Mahdi Fleifel’in “A Drowning Man”, Qiu Yang’ın “A Gentle Night”, Jeroen Ceulebrouck’un “Antarctica”, Ena Sendijarević’in “Import”, Ladj Ly’in “Les Miserables”, Kaveh Mazaheri’nin “Retouch”, Una Gunjak ve Rami Kodeih’in birlikte çektiği “Salamat From Germany”, Cyril Aris’in “The President’s Visit”, Anna Katalin Lovrity’nin “Volcano Island” ve Adrian Silisteanu’nun “Written / Unwritten” adlı kısa filmleri Büyük Ödül için yarışacak.

#gallery-0-29 { margin: auto; } #gallery-0-29 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 20%; } #gallery-0-29 img { border: 2px solid #cfcfcf; } #gallery-0-29 .gallery-caption { margin-left: 0; } /* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes/media.php */

En İyi Uluslararası Kısa Belgesel Film Yarışması’nda ise Belçika, Çin, Danimarka, Fransa, Hollanda, İngiltere, İran, Lübnan, Macaristan ve Yunanistan’dan toplam 8 film yarışıyor. Belgesel film tutkunlarının kaçırmaması gereken filmler arasında; Karlis Lesins’in “Grandfather’s Father”, Douwe Dijkstra’nın “Green Screen Gringo”, Issa Touma, Thomas Vroege ve Floor Van Der Meulen’ın birlikte yönettiği “Greeting From Aleppo”, Sam Peeters’ın “Homeland”, Laura Ferrés’nin “Los Desheredados”, William Henne ve Caroline Nugues’tan oluşan Atelier Collectif’in “No Go Zone”, Jean-Julien Pous’un “Resonances” ve Karam Ghossein’in “Street Of Death” adlı kısa belgeselleri bulunuyor.

#gallery-0-30 { margin: auto; } #gallery-0-30 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 25%; } #gallery-0-30 img { border: 2px solid #cfcfcf; } #gallery-0-30 .gallery-caption { margin-left: 0; } /* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes/media.php */

5.Uluslarası Boğaziçi Film Festivali (Tanıtım) Uluslararası Boğaziçi Sinema Derneği ile İstanbul Medya Akademisi tarafından ve T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı’nın katkılarıyla 17-26 Kasım 2017 tarihleri arasında İstanbul’da gerçekleşecek olan…

0 notes

nofomoartworld · 7 years

Text

Hyperallergic: Cultural Diplomacy and Artwashing at Documenta in Athens

Thierry Geoffrey, “Is Documenta the botox of late capitalism?” (2017), (image courtesy of the artist)

ATHENS — The auspicious arrival of Documenta 14 in Greece earlier this year has so far met considerable controversy in a country still coming to terms with the 2008 financial crisis, social unrest, and the ongoing issue of refugees entering the country’s porous southern Mediterranean border. Athens stood out as a curious choice for Documenta right from the start, immediately spurring speculative criticism since the announcement nearly five years ago that it was to be split between its usual host city in Kassel and the Greek capital. Entitled Learning from Athens — a concept developed by artistic director, Adam Szymczyk, with a team of six other curators — the exhibition features the work of over 160 artists, set over 100 days, spread across nearly 40 venues, including most notably the National Museum of Contemporary Art (EMST), the Athens Conservatoire (Odeion), the Benaki Museum and the Athens School of Fine-Arts.

Issa Touma “Nine Days — From My Window in Aleppo” (2012) (film still), Artists at Risk pavilion (photo by Sol Prado)

After a controversial 2010 bailout package brought relations between Germany and Greece to a new low, organizers had said they hoped the festival would help mend relations between the two countries. However, the undertaking has largely failed to appeal to locals, and in the process has even alienated some. According to Yanis Varoufakis, the enigmatic former Greek finance minister who stepped down after pressure from European leaders forced Greece to accept harsh austerity measures in exchange for an international bailout package in 2015, Documenta’s arrival was nothing more than “crisis tourism.” During a talk held at the 6th Moscow Biennale he suggested that Documenta’s placement in the Mediterranean country was both a political and cultural gimmick, unpropitious and a blight on the Greek people:

I have to say that I am not very happy about the idea that part of Documenta will take place in Athens — it is like crisis tourism. It’s a gimmick by which to exploit the tragedy in Greece in order to massage the consciences of some people from Documenta. It’s like rich Americans taking a tour in a poor African country, doing a safari, going on a humanitarian tourism crusade. I find it unhelpful both artistically and politically.

Issa Touma, “After United” (2017) series, Artists at Risk pavilion (photo by Sol Prado)

During the opening press conference held on April 6, Szymczyk nevertheless stated that organizers had a political responsibility, “there is a large untapped potential when visitors come together for an exhibition — a political potential,” he stated.

However, Documenta’s integrity at the local level began to seriously unravel after alienating the Athens Biennale, despite sharing an office building with the team. When it was first announced that Documenta 14 was to take place in Athens, there were several joint press conferences and public appearances held with the Athens Biennale team. Initially, the Athens Biennale was supposed to be one of the main collaborators and partners, but later this relationship soured as the oleaginous Documenta staff began to poach some of the Athens Biennale workers. Besides this, there were murmurings of Documenta using neoliberal practices such as employing their own invigilators as art laborers. What’s more, after two weeks on the job, these invigilators hired for Documenta 14 were informed that their wages would be decreased from a promised €9/hour to €5.62/hour, in a move described by the administration as a “misunderstanding.” In response to these and other issues, an Athenian group of anthropologists organized by Eleana Yalouri, an assistant professor in the Department of Social Anthropology at Panteion University, and Elpida Rikou, an instructor at the Athens School of Fine Arts and TWIXTlab developed a parody research group called “Learning from Documenta.”

Artur Żmijewski “Glimpse” (2016–17) digital video transferred from 16 mm film, black-and-white, no sound, approx. 20 minutes (photo courtesy of Documenta 14)

However, since the crisis, Greece’s 270 public museums have seen their budgets considerably slashed, and austerity has noticeably pinched Greece’s other areas of the cultural sector where funds remain scarce. One of the main positives of Documenta’s arrival in Athens is that the organization brought with it cold hard cash that was invested in local cultural infrastructure, and to Documenta’s credit, they decided to work with cash-strapped public museums, rather than private entities. For example, Documenta restored an EMS Synthi 100, a rare analog synthesizer manufactured in 1971, which had been in disrepair for over twenty years and is now situated at the Megaron. There was significant cash made available through Documenta’s presence: the €37 million budget allocated for Documenta 14 was split evenly between Kassel and Athens. Apart from the free rent of public venues in Athens, no funding came from the Greek state or the city of Athens itself. In addition, Documenta brought with it a wealth of experience and an international team including Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung, founder of Berlin’s influential Savvy Gallery, an expert with considerable experience exploring how intersections of colonialism, power, and representation function within art.

In one of Documenta’s strongest stand-alone works, Ross Birrell’s “The Athens-Kassel Ride” (2017), a mobile performance project takes place over the 100 days of the exhibition, during which two equestrian riders invited by the artist will travel the distance from Athens to Kassel on horseback, mapping what Birrell has called a “vagabond trail” through Greece, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Austria, and Germany. The project takes as a point of departure the idea of the mythical Greek god Hermes, the god of commerce, theft, music, and border crossings. Tracing the relational and metaphorical connections between the Balkans and Western Europe, Schengen and non-Schengen countries, the project also mirrors the migrational passage of many asylum seekers who make their way westward to Europe’s more prosperous countries, like Germany.

Another performance that gained considerable attention was Marta Minujín’s “Payment of Greek debt to Germany with olives and art” (2017). In it, Minujín, dressed up like Angela Merkel on the opening day of Documenta in Athens, serving olives to passersby while reciting a speech entitled “Angela” in which she agreed to write off Greece’s debt in exchange for the olives. While the performance bordered on being flippant, it appeared to me intended to awaken political consciousness within the sanctified space of the museum, though in a way that appeared naive and flat.

Alexandra Pirici, performance of “Parthenon Marbles” (2017) (image courtesy of Alexandra Masmanidi)

Performance was on full display both inside the official Documenta program and outside it. In a parallel project organized by Future Climates entitled the “Parthenon Marbles” (2017), artist Alexandra Pirici and writer Victoria Ivanova examine the controversial request for the repatriation of marbles taken by Lord Elgin from the Acropolis in Athens to the British Museum in 1801. The work takes the form of a choreographed ensemble presenting an immaterial speculative dance performance and journey into a “what if” scenario if the marbles were repatriated to Greece. Yet it was unclear what the project’s intended aims were — other than perhaps commenting on the role played by cultural imperialism in exhibitions like Documenta.

Pathway leading to Artists at Risk pavilion outside Omonia Square (photo by Sol Prado)

Artist Thierry Geoffroy, aka the Biennalist, trolled organizers at the opening press conference, wearing his signature blue United Nations Peacekeepers helmet, asking to what extent, if any, organizers had exercised self-critique. Archived under the hashtag #Documentasceptic, Geoffroy’s Instagram exploded during the opening press conference with the artist posting amusing images including one that asked “is Documenta the botox of capitalism?” At a book launch by artist and comedian Olav Westphalen, co-editor of Dysfunctional Comedy (2016), the artist discussed how biennals have been used to artwash crises. Often interspersing witty criticism with analysis of the culture industry, Westphalen is perhaps best known for his comic “Untitled” (1999), which depicts a smoldering town, while in the foreground an individual being interviewed on TV suggests “what our village needs now is a biennale!” Such humor was not lost in the context of being in Athens under the specter of Documenta.

In the main exhibition at the Athens School of Fine Arts, a work by Polish dissident artist Artur Żmijewski proved to be one of the exhibition’s most controversial. Entitled “Glimpse” (2017), it’s an unabashedly grim, silent video depicting refugees on location in two camps: one in Calais, also known as the “Jungle,” (which was closed and demolished by French authorities in 2016); the other in Templehof, Berlin, which is Germany’s largest refugee camp, housing about 1,300 individuals. The work speaks to the plights of migrants and the sordid conditions in which they live, but does so in a way that borders on victim porn, shot in a style that reminded me of Werner Herzog. A young girl smiles into the camera, seemingly unaware of the conditions of the shacks around her while her father looks on grimacingly. Żmijewski gives one of the migrants a pair of worn shoes; he paints the face of another. Oscillating between trembling close-ups and medium range shots, the film feels shockingly disconcerting. It is both Documenta’s most powerful, visceral work, as well as its most disturbing.

Pinar Öğrenci, “A Gentle Breeze Passed Over Us” (2016) film still (photo by Sol Prado)

Also referencing the refugee situation is Rebecca Belmore’s large marble tent installed on Filopappou Hill, overlooking the Acropolis. With it, the artist designed a place for speculation on displacement. One can literally sit in the tent, which is otherwise a common item used by refugees for shelter. However, this one is cast in marble and placed at the highest point in the city, a primary area frequented by tourists. The tent felt like a crypt, and rather than actually evoking the experience of refugees, I saw it as a wasteful object that sought to consecrate the refugee crisis with an expensive monument.

In Athens, others projects set up shop outside Documenta’s official program, like the Artists at Risk initiative, organized by Marita Muukkonen and Ivor Stodolsky. Artists at Risk is founded on a simple, yet important principle: to provide safe haven and passage to artists facing acute political threat, to support their work through long term research projects, exhibitions, workshops, lectures, grants, studio space, technical support, and visa applications. In Athens, Artists at Risk set up a pavilion just outside Omonia Square, a stone’s throw from one of Athen’s oldest fish markets. The pavilion features a series of films and photographs by Issa Touma Pinar Öğrenci, and Erkan Özgen. Though outside the official program, it offers Athen’s most politically salient works under one roof. Touma’s film (which last year won the European Film Award for Best Short Film), “9 Days — From My Window in Aleppo” (2012), depicts in shockingly realistic terms how the battle for Aleppo played out from the perspective of his apartment window. It traces the shifting alliances of a group of college-age men as they take up different sides in the Syrian conflict, sides that correspond to shifting dominant powers. The rupturing alliances depicted in Touma’s film hints not only at the brutality of war, but also the mutable state of affairs in a civil war that has claimed millions of lives and displaced several million more. In Öğrenci’s film, a sententious shot of an oud floating in water stands in for the importance of the instrument for a group of Iraqi refugees the artist met while on residency in Vienna. In Özgen’s film, on the other hand, the artist depicts the heart wrenching story of a 13-year-old deaf Syrian boy who recounts the horror, violence, and tragedy that struck his family while living in Kobanî, a small Syrian village. Rather than using voice or language, the young boy testifies to the horrors of war with gestures and body language, performing for Özgen’s lens the necropolitics of the mass violence he has witnessed.

In May, nearly a month after Documenta touched down in Athens, a new round of tax and pension cuts were imposed on Greece by its EU-IMF creditors — principal among them, Germany. Percolating not so far beneath Documenta’s surface were these realities. Though Documenta features a number of strong individual works, as well as investments made in local cultural spaces, and interesting parallel projects, it also includes the standard interlopers of art tourists and poseurs who touch down amidst the city’s crumbling social and economic infrastructure. Consequently, it remains to be seen whether Learning from Athens manages to responsibly employ cultural diplomacy, or simply artwashes crisis for the acquisition of cultural and curatorial capital. Above all, these two competing narratives dominate Documenta’s Athens experiment.

The Athenian portion of Documenta 14 is on view at locations throughout the city through July 16. The Kassel portion of Documenta 14 will open on June 10 at various locations and run through September 17.

The post Cultural Diplomacy and Artwashing at Documenta in Athens appeared first on Hyperallergic.

from Hyperallergic http://ift.tt/2rnQYi2 via IFTTT

#IFTTT #Hyperallergic

0 notes