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On the road to Tadafuq : contemporary art in Palestine
September 21, 20237:00 p.m.
MADRID
Casa Árabe Auditorium (at Calle Alcalá, 62).
7:00 p.m.
Free entry until the event’s capacity is reached.
In English and Spanish, with simultaneous translation.
On the occasion of the opening of the exhibition "Tadafuq/Flow: Palestinian artists in motion", we have organized this round table discussion, with the participation of Nicolás Combarro, an artist and curator, and Rawan Sharaf, a curator and researcher. It will be held in Madrid on Thursday, September 21.
A new generation of Palestinian artists has come into being. In their work, the contemporary talents displayed in the exhibition Tadafuq/Fluir: Palestinian artists in motion express a narrative ability that has a great deal to say about the complex environments in which they live and create. Casa Arabe’s exhibition is made up of works by 15 contemporary Palestinian artists representing each region of Palestine where the various contemporary creativity scenes are focused: Gaza, the West Bank and Jerusalem. The artists were selected from among over 100 candidates by way of a contemporary art initiative held in Palestine within the prestigious European program “European Spaces for Culture,” which works through three local partners: Alhoash (Jerusalem), Sakakini (Ramallah) and GUCC (Gaza), along with three international partners: the Spanish Consulate in Jerusalem/AECID, the French Institute in Palestine and the British Council in the Occupied Territories, in close collaboration with the EU Delegation in Palestine.
Since 2020, several art programs have been led each year by Nicolás Combarro, the exhibition’s curator, with the collaboration of local institutions and art professionals, as part of an online contemporary art program in the region. This year, the Palestinian contemporary art expert Rawan Sharaf, who has joined the Tadafuq program as a curator in this final stage, became a guest invited to speak at the opening conference. She will be addressing the audience and delving into the challenges and tribulations experienced by today’s Palestinian artists. Moderated by Karim Hauser, Casa Árabe’s Culture Coordinator.
The talk, which will be broadcast live on YouTube, will be followed by the exhibition’s official opening, with the participation of Casa Árabe’s General Director, Irene Lozano. Visual artist Fuad Alymani, one of the fifteen artists to be selected, will also be taking part in the guided tour of the exhibition.
Since 2020, several art programs have been led each year by Nicolás Combarro, the exhibition’s curator, with the collaboration of local institutions and art professionals, as part of an online contemporary art program in the region. This year, the Palestinian contemporary art expert Rawan Sharaf, who has joined the Tadafuq program as a curator in this final stage, became a guest invited to speak at the opening conference. She will be addressing the audience and delving into the challenges and tribulations experienced by today’s Palestinian artists. Moderated by Karim Hauser, Casa Árabe’s Culture Coordinator.
The talk, which will be broadcast live on YouTube, will be followed by the exhibition’s official opening, with the participation of Casa Árabe’s General Director, Irene Lozano. Visual artist Fuad Alymani, one of the fifteen artists to be selected, will also be taking part in the guided tour of the exhibition.
Nicolás Combarro is an independent artist and curator. As a curator he has held monographic exhibitions by artists such as Alberto García-Alix, Anders Petersen, Cristina de Middel and Miguel Ángel Campano. He has worked with museums and festivals that include: Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Les Rencontres de Arles, Moscow House of Photography, Ullens Center (Beijing), Fotomuseum (Antwerp), Centro Fotográfico Manuel Álvarez Bravo (Oaxaca), in addition to others. As an artist, he has also had solo exhibitions shown in museums like the Maison Européenne de la Photographie (Paris), CGAC (Santiago de Compostela), MARCO (Vigo), Palexco (A Coruña), Institut Français (Madrid) and OCEMX (Mexico City), and at galleries such as the Solo Galerie (Paris), Moriarty Gallery (Madrid), Kwanhoon Gallery (Seoul), Taché Gallery (Barcelona) and PABLO Gallery (Manila).
Rawan Sharaf is an art curator and researcher specializing in Palestinian art. Her interests include the politics of artistic production, social history of the arts, the institutionalization of the cultural world and the dynamics of artistic and cultural practices in a colonial context. She is an editor and contributor to “Contemporary Palestinian Art: Origins, Nationalism, Identity,” written by Bashir Makhoul and Gordon Hon, and published by the Institute for Palestine Studies in 2020. She directed and edited a series of books by Al Hoash and contributed as an editor and/or author to its publications, which included Palestinian Women Artists (2008), Palestinian Video Art - Constellation of the Moving Image (2013), Otherwise Occupied 2013) and Floating Free (2015), as well as the monographs by Sliman Mansour (2011) and Bashir Makhoul (2012). She has curated and supervised the creation of the electronic platform “Yura,” a strategic program by the Palestinian Art Tribunal - Al Hoash which offers archival material and historical and critical insights into the Palestinian art scene. She curated the exhibition Otherwise Occupied at the fifty-fifth International Art Exhibition - Venice Biennale of 2013.