RAMALLAH, October 4, 2016 (WAFA) - Qalandiya International (QI) Tuesday launched its third edition, ‘This Sea is Mine’, to contemplate the subject of return and refuge for Palestine and the region through a series of exhibitions, performances and talks, as well as film screenings, workshops and tours.
The event, which will run between the 5th and 31st of October, is a collaborative contemporary art event that takes place every two years and brings together 16 art and cultural organizations for the 2016 edition who have joined forces to organize a comprehensive program of events both within and beyond Palestine.
On Wednesday, October 5th, ‘This Sea is Mine’ will launch with a simultaneous inaugural program of exhibition openings across Palestine and the Diaspora, Haifa, Gaza, Beirut, Amman and London.
The Arab Culture Association in Haifa presented ‘The People of the Sea’, addressing the motif of the sea as a visual artistic medium through a comprehensive photographic exhibition combining photography, photography-based installation and video works.
While on the southern side of the same coast, barred by a siege and a 6 nautical mile ban, Gaza opens with ‘This Sea is Mine’, co-organized by Eltiqa Group and Shababek for Contemporary Art.
“In Gaza, the sea carries many meanings. It is where people go to find some calm and peace of mind, but it is also a reminder of the s on freedom” explain curators Raed Issa and Shareef Sarhan. “Yet, the sea also represents our current homeland, as well as what we have lost, and is part of our daily life.”
‘Sea of Stories’ at Dar El Nimer for Arts and Culture in Beirut explores the displacements and imagined returns of the Palestinian community in Lebanon throughout the Mediterranean Sea, a site that bears testament to the journeys of displacement as well as possible routes of return.
Openings will extend to Darat Al Funun-Khalid Shoman Foundation in Amman, where seven Palestinian artists based in Jordan have been commissioned to respond to this year’s theme and its ideas around the Palestinian right of return, resulting in works representing a range of personal perspectives, unveiled truths and intertwined questions.
The Palestine Regeneration Team (PART), a design-led research group in London, explores alternative means of re-reading ‘Air’, ‘Land’ and ‘Sea’ within the region through their exhibition and complementary program, ‘Moments of Possibilities’, suggesting a world where the invisible can be rendered again as visible and where the subject of return is achievable.
During the month-long program, QI invites over 100 Palestinian and international artists, curators, writers and researchers to participate in its programs, and expects to engage over 15,000 visitors.
M.H
