Letter to a Refusing Pilot | By Maria Bagnara

The concept of Homeland or  Fatherland  is extremely connected  to the concept of a father. In order to define the concept of homeland, Romans used the adjective Patrius, Patria ,Patriae from the substantive Pater (Father) where the substantive terra (land) was usually understood and unused consequently (terra)patria means literally “land of the father”.

That being stated your homeland, the place where you grow up, is at the same time and in an imperceptible way the land that, as a mother and as a father, gives you the life, bring you up and form you. Your homeland will definitely shape your character your soul and your way of thinking. As a child missing his mother, you will cry for your homeland and you will miss it whenever you are away from it. In some cultures, people adore the land as an idol and as a divinity and they feel grateful to respect it and in debt to the land that gave them their life and their support. This innate sense of attachment to the homeland and the strong influence that our homeland has on all of us is certainly clear in the Akram Zaatari’s video: Letter to a Refusing Pilot. To be born and to grow up in a country as Lebanon, extremely devastated from wars and recurrent invasions, and where the memories of his citizens are continually destroyed by bombs and by the reconstruction after bombing, will definitely shape the human being and this strongly appears in a singular way in the video of Akram Zaatari.

In his video the artist is trying to tell us about an Israeli invasion and,  in the specific instance, about the Israeli aviator that in 1982 was supposed to bomb a school located in Saiida, the artist’s native town. As he was an architect, the aviator, recognized, from the map of the site,  that he was going to bomb a school so he decide to deviate from his course and to drop the bombs in to the sea. This singular story spread out and quickly became a well-known legend in the city of Saiida and had a strong influence on the artist.

The purpose of the artist is to tell us about the dramatic events that Lebanon was going through by using the positive message of the story of the Israeli aviator and by making a parallelism between the Israeli aviator and the French novel “Le Petit Prince” written by Saint-Exupéry that was an aviator too. We can say that, indeed, the artist is trying to give us a different point of view of the recurrent invasions that are massacring the country. He mixed the history with the legend, created by the rumors about the Israeli aviator, and with the deep meaning hidden in the Saint-Exupéry novel. Zaatari is pushing us to think about it in a different way but at the same time he want us to remember what historically happened in Lebanon. In fact while we plunge into the video, another video behind us is projecting real images documenting the historical events to remind us the tragic side. He is rewriting his story but the History is running behind us like a Greek tragedy chorus.

The interesting fact is the presence of a theatre armchair located in the middle of the room between the two projections and facing instead of the main video the historical images in loop. So at this point maybe the artist want us to focus about the question: what we are supposed to watch? We are supposed to discuss the historical events without consider the people that are trying to change its course or we are supposed to read the history passing through legends stamped in people’s memory.

It seems that the artist doesn’t take a side or that he doesn’t want to debate the political issue but in reality he’s giving us the historical and not so historical sources to think about . As an artist, Zaatari is not trying to impose on us his political point of view but he is giving us just some input. His artistic choice is indeed to not put limits in his artwork.

Another issue that the artist want us to consider is the concept of Enemy. He describes the Enemy in a different way. The Enemy in Zaatari’s work is represented not in abstract terms but as a real person with negative and positive inclinations and with an innate ethical sense. The concept of ‘the Enemy’, that is in fact a relative concept that depends from which side you take, falls down in front of the natural sense of morality and the ethics of  human beings. Indeed, Letter to a Refusing Pilot, revises the concept of the Enemy, while Lebanon is celebrating its 70th anniversary of the Lebanese Republic. This detail, apparently meaningless, changes in a deep way the audience’s perspective.

Is letter to a Refusing Pilot, a story doomed to remain unknown from the Lebanese government, a “gift” for Lebanese citizens on the occasion of the Republic anniversary?

Visiting Kosovo | By Ahmad Al Areef

In the modern world artists are imposing art on almost every aspect in life. The influence we live nowadays whether it was our interest or not is major .One way or another the surrounding will get to be a rolling stone that drives our wagon of achievements. The 26-years-old artist Petrit Halilaj, was the commissioned artist that the republic of Kosovo is representing itself for the first time in its history.

“I’m hungry to keep you close.

I want to find the words to resist but in the end there is a locked sphere.

The funny thing is that you’re not here, nothing is.”Petrit Halilaj

The depiction of reality based on Halilaj’s personal experience of war, memories of a rural childhood, destruction, exodus, and displacement sums up the new site-specific installation made for the Biennale.

The controversy behind their participation was more likely to make a huge statement to the world, in which art was one of the tools the republic of Kosovo is taking a step forward to form an establishment a diverse healthy society. I personally do not see the contemporary art scene can escape the harsh political situation Kosovo is in. countries like China, Russia, and Spain do not recognize Kosovo, which five years ago has declared independence from Serbia.  What can Kosovo still holds on to strangle itself up internationally is by participating as a country pavilion at one of the world’s premier art events.

An article was written about Halilaj’s work at The New York Times was discussing the influence of war on artists as well and mentioned a very interesting quote by a young artist:

“It’s Darwinian because it throws out the people who do not want to do it for real,” said Brilliant Pireva, 19, an award-winning artist who spent a large chunk of his childhood as a refugee in New Zealand. “You live poorly and you cannot afford anything, so the only reason you are doing it is because you either love it or you need to. I wish I was born loving economics or computer programming but art is my thing.”

The series of Art in everyone’s own chapter of life reflects a positive step.  In order to experience the fantasy, the pure feeling, the misery or happiness, and idea behind what an artist is trying to show is better left untouched and unmodified. of course, depending on what scale the artist will be showcasing and by what name is they are representing her/him self with, will always determine whether a government play the role of taming the outcome or not.

Finally, any international activity will always be political, the art industry is taking its toll on social communities globally, it is better to be subjective.

It remains untouched | by Maria Bagnara

First of all I would like to specify that until now I can’t define my feelings, my personal impressions, my deep sensations about the most emblematic project that the artist, Mohammed Kazem, is showing at the UAE National Pavilion for the 55th art exhibition in the Venice Biennale.

Actually my feeling are growing; new ones created and my inspiration exploding every day as I interact with the work.

My first approach with Walking on Water exhibition, was very simple and immediate. I entered the dome and stood in front of the geographical positioning system coordinates and I just saw the sea all around me and immediately felt serenity and calmness. The natural feeling you feel when you feel and look at the sea.

The next day, I entered again in the dome and discovered the power that the artwork had on me . I admit  I was very lucky because I had the opportunity to stand inside the dome alone, as the pavilion at that moment was still closed to visitors, an opportunity that I will never forget and that most of the visitors unfortunately will never have.

I stood next to the GPS coordinates watching the movement of the sea and listening to the sound of the waves and minutes later I felt it all;  all my feelings and all my perceptions about the sea and water were definitely real; in fact I was fluctuating-walking on water and I just let myself be carried away by water. I was standing in a maquette of the real sea, in front of the 360 degrees projection but it felt real! I was trying to walk on water. I couldn’t help but question: What is real? Is it a fact that I’m here standing in front of the projection real? and does that make my feelings real? or is it totally the opposite.

From that moment I understood what the Artist Mohammed Kazem was trying to communicate with his work. Indeed he was trying to challenge the limits and make the impossible possible. He was giving us the opportunity to travel and cross borders that are in fact totally unreal; they don’t exist in nature but continue to limit our cultural and social exchange.

The idea of Kazem is that at least we can always move from a point to another but in a conceptual way. His work Directions ( Walking on Chemnitz River), where the artist crossed a river by using coordinates sketched on some leaves, helped me a lot to understand more the meaning behind his last project. His purpose to challenge all limits is certainly clear. This can also be seen in the series Scratches where he is trying to capture the intangible and make it tangible on  paper.

Another concept that I personally found very interesting and powerful is the concept of the sea and of the water in general. Day by day I could see how people are living with water and the sea, and find us all similar in our reactions.  It doesn’t matter which nationality you are from, and which cultural background.  Between us there are definitely no borders.

indeed the concept of the sea remind us always of tranquility and personally it is always related to the sense of eternity. In fact the sea even if it’s always flowing and even if you will never fill a glass with the same water, is something that you will always find in the same place that you expect to find it. When all around you is changing, growing up and developing very quickly, the sea is the only thing that will always remain unchanged. It will give you peace, it will stabilize you. While everything surroundings us is changing and evolving, the sea is still there untouched.

Walking on water; an interaction between an Emirati and a Venetian perception | by Nidal Touma

Venice -the city of Art- with its well renowned biennial, is one of the most coveted global exposures for countries and artists alike

Several centuries ago, Veneti people exploited the marshy lagoon to –literally- find their land and create their city on water, and ever since water became a comfortable reality for Venetians. Houses, markets, daily life events are all well acclimatized to the water and the canals that spread all over the archipelagic city.

When it comes to Art and artistic production, water also inspired many artists with the magnificent Vedute of Venice and the beautiful Ca’s that became a recurring motif in works of prominent artists such as Canaletto among others, the canals also add a lot to the romantic scenes of the city with the famous Gondola excursions making it one of the preferred destinations for tourists.

For Venetians water is a Romantic reality and a daily ritual, or even their second nature !

Few thousand miles away, and despite the geographical similarity between Venice, Abu Dhabi and Dubai – since they are all formed of clusters of natural and/or man-made islands more or less- for the Emirati artist Mohammed Kazem it’s evident that the notion of water has a different sensitivity formed through one of his childhood experiences; when he had fell –unnoticed- of the boat and was lost at the open sea for around half an hour before he was relocated and saved by his friends.

Kazem’s “walking on water” brings a different perception to the daily Venetian habit of “walking” on water, a mildly disturbing one though !

We need to keep in mind here what the French artist George Braque once said: “The function of Art is to disturb… Science reassures.” Consequently we can deduct that the importance of Mohammed Kazem’s work derives exactly from its capacity to challenge the visitors’ comfortable perceptions of the water and introduce them to a new unsettling consciousness provoked by the artist, simultaneously the work is suggesting a new understanding and a new meaning to the modern notion of Global Positioning System coordinates.

“Walking on water” is part of Kazem’s series of conceptual art called: “Directions” which he started in 1999. By using GPS coordinates to document his location he endeavors to symbolically reference his very existence, he also tries to give a new meaning to the figures of the coordinates; (e.g. 25” 14.08 N  /  055” 14,30 E  /  0 Ft) might have no functional value except in the exact geographic spot where they were captured merely indicating a location on earth, But at the same time they bare an inner-story of that location and this is what gives them a meaning and a big Importance anywhere they traveled in the world.

With the simulator installation of “Walking on water” Mohammed Kazem attained a big success; he transmitted his personal experience through a 360 degree video projection, developed it into an artistic message, and put it on a global outreach… Kazem succeeded in actually realizing what the French artist Edgar Degas once said “Art is not what you see, but what you make others see”, and “others” here is not limited to Venetians, but it include the whole international publics visiting the biennial.

As illustrated before, the concept -which the solo artwork in the National pavilion of UAE stands for- is an interesting and smart juxtapose to one of the distinguished marks of Venice.

However examining this work along with the overall theme of the Biennale suggested by the curator Massimilano Gioni -revolving around the 1955 Marino Auriti’s design of a “Pallazo Enciclopedico”; an archive museum to document all knowledge and evolution of humanity and societies-… we can notice a diversion in the curatorial approach, which In my humble opinion is due to 2 main points:

– First: the concept of archiving of the past achievements of a nation, or its prominent landmarks, or the current traits of its modern society is not clearly evident through this type of conceptual artworks.

– Second: the context of water –even with its interesting critical approach- is not exactly specific to the United Arab Emirates, as it can be a tale from any country with and stretch of a coastline or even without coastlines.

Eventually I would like to say that this diversion in approach does not derogate at all of the value of Mohammed Kazem work and artistic message, nor of the curatorial efforts of Reem Fadda… it is just a different way to plot the United Arab Emirates participation in the 55th Biennial of Venice 2013 – 2014

Goodbye Lorenzo, Khawla, Munira and Sara .. | We will miss you

 

 

 

Sara decided to bake Khanfarosh on her last day working for the National Pavilion of the UAE; delicate Emirati sweets made with saffron that she baked herself in her Venetian apartment that she shares with the other interns working in the Venice Biennale. She brought the sweets to the pavilion and distributed to the biennale employees that have become her friends during the course of a month she lived here in Venice.

This sums up the experience I personally had with the fourth batch; a group of intelligent young women and a man who knew how to not only manage the Emirati pavilion, but also make friends with almost all of the other employees at the biennale. They became friends with the biennale lot in no time, and ensured that their country was represented in the best way possible; through smiles and kindness, this batch made Venice their home.

In an absolutely non-exaggerated statement: the four interns made quite the impact on the biennale, to the extent that the different teams working in Arsenale found it very difficult to say goodbye to them. Their presence was felt everyday and the positivity they spread every morning echoed to even the furthest point in Arsenale.

Not only that, but they wrote and researched the pavilions very well. One look at Lorenzo’s posts on this very blog, you will find a detailed and thorough analysis of different pavilions and art representations. Munira also had her moments sitting on a red bench under my very own apartment thinking about Nationalism, Culture and the meanings of artistic expressions. 

Khawla on the other hand engaged the visitors with facts and trivia about the UAE that impressed the biennale goers, and made sure to convince everyone that the UAE was indeed the perfect country to host Expo 2020. 

Each one of the interns added something to this experience that I personally will forever cherish. The United Arab Emirates is fortunate to have such an intelligent young generation that promises even more prosperity and vitality for its future. 

Proud to have been their supervisor, but most importantly, proud to be their friend. 

Mariam Wissam Al Dabbagh