Tag Archives: review

Afghanistan in Documenta 13

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Note: a very different, one-page graphic version of this article was published in the Belgian art magazine A Prior #23; see the article here. I published another article about this subject in the Indian art magazine Take On Art.

Alighiero Boetti: World Map (1971)

With fourteen Afghan artists and at least ten artists whose work reflects on this country, Documenta 13 is strongly flavored by Afghanistan. After Kassel, Kabul is the main location of Documenta (the others being Alexandria & Cairo, and Banff in Canada): 27 Documenta artists will show their work in the Queen’s Palace in Kabul’s Babur Gardens in an exhibition that opens on June 20. Continue reading →

So-called ‘terrorists’ finally receive a democratic platform – as an art project

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The setting for the New World Summit in Berlin’s Sophiensaele. The flags are all of organizations on the ‘designated terrorist lists’. Showing one of them might be a crime, but as a whole they qualify as an artwork. All photos courtesy of Jonas Staal and his team

I chaired a summit and helped curate a project designed by the Dutch artist Jonas Staal in Berlin on 4 and 5 May, as part of the Berlin Biennial. Continue reading →

Palestine Exhibition in Paris

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Review of the Exhibition: « Palestine, la création dans tous ses états ».

Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris, June 23 to November 22, 2009

Palestinauts 

A Palestinian woman in a cute white spacesuit plants a Palestinian flag on the moon. The image used for the poster and other communications for this exhibition is drawn from Larissa Sansour’s video ‘A Space Exodus’(2008). The artist remarks ‘One small step for Palestinians is a giant leap for mankind’ and waves the blue earth goodbye. A homeland, finally? No, because the film ends on the astronaut hurtling through space on an outbound journey from the earth. The exodus is not over. Continue reading →