News
Advent talks
5 stateless refugees choose works of art
In cooperation with The Norwegian Centre Against Racism, Henie Onstad Art Centre has invited five stateless refugees from Palestinian Camp (palestinerleir.no) to make their imprint on the advent period at the Art Centre. Each participant has chosen a work of art which will be the starting point for a conversation at HOK about art, identity and humanism, with a representative of Henie Onstad Art Centre, on each Sunday in advent.
Project background:
- We wish to fockus on human relationships, with art as the center of talks, says Tone Hansen, director of Henie Onstad Art Centre.
- When someone sees a work of art, it may produce flashbacks from episodes earlier in one's life, says Mohammed Ganam, one of the project's invited participants.
The cooperation between Henie Onstad Art Centre and The Norwegian Centre Against Racism expresses the wish to create an including and diverse society. This is the first project in a long-term cooperation.
The talks take place in Norwegian and English. Visitors are invited to participate with their questions. Free admission on presentation of museum ticket.
The 3rd Sunday in advent at 2PM (December 11):
Anne Kristine Sollund
Museum educator and guide at Henie Onstad Art Centre
51 years old
Resident: Oslo
meets:
Abuwarda Kalio
Physiotherapist
25 years old
Resident in palestinerleir.no in Oslo
Abuwarda has chosen Israel dreper, 1982 by Per Inge Bjørlo
The Palestinian Camp's own Christmas calender
Watch the Christmas calender of the Palestinian Camp here
In relation to the project, the Palestinian Camp in cooperation with The Norwegian Centre Against Racism has produced its own Christmas calender. Every day until Christmas a video from the Camp is presented.
Arts, Culture, and Social Change Within the Arab Spring
Akram Zaatari: Composition for Two Wings
Kunstnernes Hus Wergelandsveien, Oslo
04 Nov - 22 Jan.
Oslo Contemporary Art Exhibition wishes to highlight art practices that engage with social and geopolitical developments with the aim to create a general awareness of contemporary art's unique ability to reflect and comment its own time. With the establishment of Oslo Contemporary Art Exhibition, Kunstnernes Hus wishes to raise the discourse beyond the local, examining the field from a global perspective.
Akram Zaatari (b. 1966 in Saida, Lebanon) lives and works in Beirut. Akram Zaatari examines the cultural and geopolitical condition of post-war Lebanon, a contemporary landscape marked by urban tensions, cultural mobility and territorial conflicts. With an archeologists eye Akram Zaatari examines layers of human experiences combining his material into larger bodies of work. Akram Zaatari's work engages in research and the studying and interpreting of a wide range of documents. Letters, photographs, testimonies and other recordings communicate individual and personal positions within the larger social and political landscape. The material exposes hidden social, political and geographic boundaries and conflicts as they challenge a specter of narratives; national, gender, historical and social. The exhibition consists of a juxtaposition of two bodies of work: Earth of Endless Secrets and The Uneasy Subject.
Oslo Contemporary Art Exhibition was initiated by Marianne Hultman, artistic director Oslo Kunstforening/Oslo Fine Art Society. The concept has been developed further in collaboration with Mats Stjernstedt, artistic director Kunstnernes Hus. PRIO, Peace Research Institute in Oslo is collaborating partner in 2011. The exhibition is supported by the Fritt Ord Foundation.
Cynthia Schneider at Kunstnernes Hus
December 7, 7-8 pm
The wave of protests that has swept across the Middle East and North Africa has been characterized by unsurpassed levels of innovation. While much of the focus has been on the use of new media, we also see various forms of cultural expression at play, expressing political visions that blend the traditional with the forward looking. What role has arts – and artists – played in the protests? Should we expect the transition regimes to foster a new and different relationship to the cultural sphere? What role could arts play - in healing the wounds from years of repression, in building new relationships, in inspiring change - as a new contract between state and society is being shaped?
We invite you to a debate on how arts and culture impact social change in the Middle East. The seminar will take place in the context of the exhibition at KUNSTNERNES HUS, Composition for Two Wings by Akram Zaatari.
Presentation by Cynthia P. Schneider, Georgetown University
Comments by Jørgen Jensehaugen, Norwegian University of Science & Technology (NTNU)
The seminar will be chaired by Scott Gates, Research Professor and Director of the Centre for the Study of Civil War (CSCW), Peace Research Institute, Oslo (PRIO)
About the Participants:
Professor Cynthia P. Schneider teaches, publishes, and organizes initiatives in the field of cultural diplomacy, with a focus on relations with the Muslim world. She teaches courses in Diplomacy and Culture in the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, where, from 1984-2005, she was a member of the art history faculty, and published on Rembrandt and seventeenth century Dutch art. Schneider is presently Distinguished Professor in the Practice of Diplomacy, School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University.
Professor Schneider co-directs Los Angeles-based MOST Resource (Muslims on Screen and Television), which provides valuable resources and accurate information on Islam and Muslims for the U.S. entertainment community, and brings together policy leaders with their counterparts in media and entertainment. For the Brookings Institution she leads the Arts and Culture Dialogue Initiative within the Saban Center for Middle East Policy.
Ambassador Schneider publishes and speaks frequently on topics related to arts, culture, and media and international affairs, often with a focus on the Muslim world. Her writings range from blogs for the Huffington Post and CNN.com to policy papers for the Brookings Institution. Her talks include a TED presentation on the global impact of American Idol, as well as speeches on the role of arts and culture in the U.S.–Islamic world relationship in venues from Kurdistan to Cairo.
From 1998-2001 she served as U.S. Ambassador to the Netherlands. In 2001 she was awarded the Office of the Secretary of Defense Exceptional Public Service Award (highest civilian award given by Pentagon, in recognition of support for the U.S. military during ambassadorship). Schneider received her B.A. and Ph.D. from Harvard University and is a member of Phi Beta Kappa.
Jørgen Jensehaugen holds a MA in history from the University of Oslo, and is currently pursuing a doctorate in history at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. His research project is on the Camp David treaty negotiated between Egypt and Israel. He has a background as a researcher at PRIO.
Jensehaugen is the editor of Babylon, the Nordic Journal of Middle East Studies. He has published articles on various aspects of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, including such issues as: Palestinian nationalism; Palestinian historiography; the ethnic cleansing of Palestine; the Oslo peace process; the Israeli-Jordanian armistice; history as a political tool; etc.
Scott Gates, Research Professor and Director of the Centre for the Study of Civil War (CSCW), Peace Research Institute, Oslo (PRIO) and Professor of Political Science, Norwegian University of Science & Technology (NTNU). Gates has a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Michigan and an MS in Applied Economics from the University of Minnesota.
Gates has published eight books including: Child Soldiers: Children and Armed Conflict in the Age of Fractured States (Pittsburgh, 2009) and Teaching, Tasks, and Trust: Functions of the Public Executive (Russell Sage, 2008). Gates has also published in the American Political Science Review, American Journal of Political Science, Journal of Conflict Resolution, Journal of Peace Research, Review of Development Economics, Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, World Development, inter alia.
He is an Associate Editor of the Journal of Peace Research and is the Editor in Chief of the International Area Studies Review. Gates’ current research interests include: governance, political transitions, civil war, insurgency-counter-insurgency dynamics, and policing.
Today we received the happy news that Seismopolite Journal of Art and Politics is supported by Arts Council Norway in 2012.
Biennale Jogja XI / Equator # 1
Opening November 26 2011
Jogja National Museum, Jl. Gampingan no. 1, Yogyakarta
Biennale Jogja XI / Equator # 1, is the first in a series of five international biennales to take place in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. The geographical point of reference for these Biennales is countries that are located near the equator ( 23.27º north and south of it) and the series will see Indonesia’s cultural engagement with the participating countries. Shadow Lines, the first edition, will have forty artists from Indonesia and India collaborating in the exhibition that opens on 26 November 2011.
Shadow Lines suggests imaginary lines that draw people together and pull them apart; it also refers to geo-political borders and the creation of modern states in South Asia. Curated by Alia Swastika (Indonesia) and Suman Gopinath (India), the Biennale, with its overarching theme of ‘religiosity, spirituality and belief’ will attempt to present ways in which artists from the two countries address and interpret their contemporary conditions, informed by their personal experiences, as also by the political structures of the countries they live in.
Participating artists include:
Atul Dodiya, Archana Hande, Anita Dube, Amar Kanwar, N S Harsha, Prabhavati Meppayil, Sreshta Rit Premnath, Pushpamala N, Riyaz Komu, K.P Reji, Sheela Gowda, Shilpa Gupta, Sheba Chhachhi, Sakshi Gupta, Valsan Koorma Kolleri, Setu Legi, Krisna Murti, Jompet Kuswidananto, Arahmaiani, Wedhar Riyadi, Andy Dewantoro, Christine Ay Tjoe, Paul Kadarisman, Albert Yonathan, Akiq AW, Ariadhitya Pramuhendra, Iswanto Hartono, Wimo Ambala Bayang, Tromarama, Octora, Theresia Agustina, Titarubi, RE Hartanto, Nurdian Ichsan, Wiyoga Muhardanto, Erika Ernawan, Melati Suryodarmo, Arya Panjalu / Sara Nuytemans, Ruangrupa, Irwan Ahmett
Besides the main exhibition in two venues, there will be several parallel programmes and special projects like the Equator Festival with the contemporary reinvention of the Ramayana ballet, seminars, artists’ talks and community projects.
For further information visit their website:
Biennale Jogja XI / Equator # 1
The 9th edition of the Bamako Encounters / African Photography Biennial
1st Nov 2011 / 1st January 2012
The 2011 edition of the “Rencontres” offer a reflection on the quest for a sustainable world, with the aim to outline an inventory and pay special attention to the signs and forms of resistance possible. The strong adherence to the theme proposed only confirmed the social and political commitment of African artists.
Environmental concerns, once limited to a small circle of visionaries alerts, are now part of our daily lives and are at the heart of all debates.
Global warming, the depletion of mineral resources and food, the deforestation, water scarcity, are now central to all issues and global balances.
If economic liberalism based on the consumer society has created to improve the productivity and development, it also and above all strengthened the profits and inequality at the expense of basic respect for people and their environments.
In 2010, many African countries have celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of their independence. For many this event was the time to take stock of national achievements and to look critically on the political and social structures and the distribution of wealth.
For these “Rencontres”, we invited the photographers and videographers to witness, to denounce, but also to identify areas for action, evidence of resistance or prevent the construction of a sustainable world. The different works presented approach the topic through documentary and journalistic approach or metaphorical and fictional stories.
The variety of themes and languages chosen by the artists, allows to take stock of artistic production today on the continent and the diaspora.
It is a measure of excitement and renewal of permanent African photographic scene, including the emergence of a new generation invents its own codes of expression.
Art Directors: Michket Krifa, Laura Serani
For more information please visit:
African Photography Biennial
More Articles...
- Seismopolite Journal of Art and Politics Issue 2 is soon to be released
- It's Friday and many vernissages tonight. Check out Seismopolite Art Map to see what's happening on your art scene!
- What is happening Today in New York City is hopefully going to make it clear that the end of corruption that the Occupy movement is fighting peacefully for, will help us all.
- The Contemporary Istanbul Video Cube program is out now
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