Join us in the next meetup of “Hiwar Art Club” via Zoom, in this special event about the late artist Mohanna Durra, with the participation of HRH Princess Wijdan Al Hashemi, Mr. Yasar Durra, Dr. Khalid Khreis, Dr. Mazen Asfour and Ms. Zeina Saket, with a time dedicated to our joined audience to participate.
The fourth edition of Spring Sessions is coming to an end! Join us for this year’s exhibition, which will run continuously for 48 hours from Thursday 29 June at 7 PM until Saturday 1 July 2017 at 7 PM. A series of talks, events and happenings will be announced soon.
This event is a culmination of the work produced during this year’s program, challenging notions of personal and collective desires and together exploring what is thinkable, permissible and doable.
Participating artists:
Adam Chad Brody, Ahmad Salameh, Ameer Masoud, Andre Mcheileh, Andrey Pavlov, Batool El Hennawy, Bayan Kiwan, Fadi Zumout, Hanna Al Taher, Husni Khalil, Magda Magdy, Mohammad Tayyeb, Mona Ali, Nour Mujahed, Reem Marji, Reham Sharbaji, Rula Al Tamimi, Sidy Benamar, Salim Salameh, Tala Abdulhadi, Tawfiq Dawi, Yasmeen Kanaan, and Yazan Ashqar.
Workshop conveners:
Batool El Hennawy and Karim-Yasin Goessinger (CILAS), Tita Salina and Irwan Ahmett, Yvonne Buchheim, Andrea Luka Zimmerman and Gareth Evans, and Brian Conley.
Organised by:
Toleen Touq (co-director) Noura Al Khasawneh (co-director/curator), Yvonne Buchheim (co-curator) , Victoria Dabdoub (assistant curator/program manager) , Raed Ibrahim (mentor), Hussam Da’na (technical support).
Spring Sessions is generously supported by:
Patrons: Mohamed and Mahera Abu Ghazaleh Foundation, Haya Al Fayez, Yassin Talhouni, Zein Al Naqib, and Zina Jardaneh.
Sponsors: Al Jazy & Co Advocates & Legal Consultants, Goethe Institute, Jordan National Gallery of Fine Arts, and the Ministry of Culture’s Directorate of Arts and Culture – Ossama Mashini Theater.
Nil and Lin, together NiliN or niliu, are two viruses, errors, qubits shaped/stuck in human bodies/forms. They perform the role of a scientist who takes an event apart in order to analyze/understand it and make a reconstruct out of it, without necessarily any effort in bringing anything new to the table. They feed on waves, light and sound, and play with them to make music in their free time.
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The film performance will consist of a live conversation channeled through multi-projections in one space: one super 8mm (or 16mm) and two digital projections, where the three perform separate characters with different languages. «One could also be multiple at once» presents footage from three cities, landscapes and aspects of the everyday in each city, while focusing on what does it mean to be physically present somewhere, and what happens if one could have temporal existences in different places at once? – When does a place become familiar, and -like plants- do we need earth to grow?
Through playing with visual and sound aspects that affect human-perception, and by putting the audience in an active role of taking part in the film with the way they build a narrative, the experience of those who are witnessing the event /physically/ should be staged in which this film performance cannot be experienced behind a screen, each of the audiences could see different aspects of the conversation based on their position to the characters/projections.
Filmed between Amman, Alexandria and Cairo, the layers of the visual aspects of these cities will sometimes overlay, one image or a sound could become more or less dominant than the other, the sound of the narrator(s) alongside sounds from the landscapes would shape the way we see what our eyes are seeing.
MawatreS was born in Valencia in 1986, he is currently lives and works in Bilbao. Bachelor of Fine Arts and Master of Research and Creation in Art from the UPV-EHU. He has been awarded a scholarship by INJUVE (Madrid, 2015), EREMUAK (Vitoria, 2015), East Street Arts (Leeds, UK, 2015), Micro Interventions (Arts Santa Monica, Barcelona, 2015) BilbaoArte (Bilbao, 2013), the Basque Government (2017) and Ertibil Bizkaia (2019), among others. He has individually exhibited in spaces such as Espacio Trapezio (Madrid), La Ciudadela (Pamplona), East St Arts (Leeds, UK), 3Era esquerra (Girona), Sicart Gallery (Barcelona), BilbaoArte Foundation (Bilbao), Ma Studio Beijing (China) and the Montehermoso Kulturunea Cultural Center (Vitoria), Koganecho Art Manager Center, Yokohama, JAPON (2019).
His work began in the world of urban art and it takes conceptual place between public spaces, monuments and contemporary documentation. He is interested in how physical spaces influence the social events that happen in them. His projects seek to redefine what we observe, focusing on details that are not seen, and involving new agents of perspective. The projects he develops seek to have some kind of link with their context, whether formal, historical or social.
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Mawa’s project focuses on the micro, observing small details that go unnoticed. Objects, situations, processes… Small things that help to build contexts suited to each person, feeling and emotion. Small spots, wrinkles or cuts that make each situation something different and unique. Separating everyday life from great stories and great heroes, looking at the small things that make the world a better place.
“It is easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism.”
“I don’t care if anyone believes me” – Joyce Byers
Deema Shahin is a Jordanian-Palestinian artist; she obtained her MA in filmmaking specializing in cinematography/lighting from Goldsmiths-University of London in 2014. Her work focuses on stories of the everyday, in Jordan and beyond; to hear them, write them and visually tell them. In the beginning of her career in Jordan, Deema played different roles in the departments of film in directing, producing and editing since 2004. Deema has also carried out training workshops on filmmaking for children in Gaza refugee camp and Southern Jordan Valley in Jordan, for journalists and bloggers in Egypt and for interested youth to learn producing audio-visual public service announcements in the world youth forum held in Quebec in 2008.
She has been exploring her idea of ‘Home is Where Mom is’; of mothers’ dreams with photography, film and text since 2015. This idea travelled to 4 different places so far. Her interest in dreams is taking many shapes and in 2018 she was able to give life to her idea “1001 Dreams” which was exhibited in Gozo General Hospital.
Deema was diagnosed with MS in 2006 and besides disease-modifying therapies, suppressants, diet, exercise and alternative medicine; she continues to find ways to exist and live well, to the best of her knowledge.
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Love before ache, for oneself, the other, the system, maybe
To those whose oneself attacks them
The rooted and the uprooted alike, whole, broken, invalids
Auto-immune diseases are present in the Jordanian reality; PubliCast Me is an attempt to start a conversation against inexperience, indifference, shame or guilt.
Faces, realities and lives of people of different backgrounds that have a common wound, an autoimmune disease. In PubliCast Me, elements of these characters’ environments, objects, habits and what they choose to show to express what they want to say as noise and distractions of life in the city swallow the sound or force isolated confinement. Moving image is interrupted by architecture and circumstance; blackened windows eating up part of the shoulder: Cast Me; the stereotype enveloping the sickened.
“Part of the movie’s magic is that it seems to be science fiction yet it obviously is not.” (Dunker in the Modern Times Review 19/3/19)
Humanoid robots are like new creatures on our planet. They work at reception desks, in shopping malls or as chefs. And they are coming into our private lives…
„With an A.I., you have to keep your sentences short and to the point.“ This piece of advice is given to Chuck as he’s picking up his new robot partner Harmony fresh from the factory. Together they go on a road trip through California. As it turns out at a second glancing, the sex robot Harmony likes books and can ad lib quote Ray Kurzweil.
While Harmony and Chuck are searching for love questions arise: How will robots and artificial intelligence change our lives? What will we win, what will we lose? And, who will be the main protagonists of the future world? The documentary shows us tomorrow’s world today.
Trailer Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xkgk4ZkGUU
At the Jordan National Gallery of Fine Arts
Entrance: Free
Organized by: Goethe-Institut & Jordan National Gallery of Fine Arts
We are delighted to invite you next Wednesday on a film screening and discussion about Australian Aboriginal arts where Barbara Rowell, founder and managing partner of Jacaranda Images, will talk to us about this kind of art and take us after watching the film on a tour and discussion through the ongoing exhibition “A Sense of Place” at The Jordan National Gallery of Fine Arts – in collaboration with the Australian Embassy and Jacaranda Images.
The art of Aboriginal Australia is celebrated in this screening: “Dreamings” as we journey into the sacred heartland of Australia to see traditional artists at work. The artists talk of their work, its association with the land and its spiritual connection with their people, the animals and plants. The film explores the meanings behind the works, from acrylic dot paintings of the Central Desert to cross-hatched bark paintings and burial poles of northern Australia, as it allows the viewer access to the oldest continuous art tradition in the world. A Film Australia production, the film is 30 mins long and will be played in English.
Join us at 7 PM, Saturday 17/7/2019 at the Jordan National Gallery of Fine Arts – Building #2.
In our next meetup of Hiwar Art Club we are pleased to invite you to the film screening of “The Color of Pomegranates”. This film is considered as one of the masterpieces of writer and director Sergei Parajanov as he depicts the life of revered the 18th-century Armenian poet and musician Sayat-Nova. Portraying events in the life of the artist from childhood up to his death, the movie addresses in particular his relationships with women, including his muse Sofiko Chiaureli. The production tells Sayat-Nova’s dramatic story by using both his poems and largely still camerawork, creating an impressionistic work.
The film has appeared in some scholarly polls of the greatest films ever made. It has also been recognized for its great influence on the fields of video art, performance and other forms of contemporary visual arts.
The film screening is in Armenian and will be played with English subtitles. The duration of the film it is 1:15 hr, to be followed by a group discussion. Join us at 6 PM, Saturday 30/3/2019 At the Jordan National Gallery of Fine Arts – Building #2.
In our next Hiwar Art Club meetup we invite you to the conclusion of our January program, titled: “Primitive Traces in Modern and Contemporary Art”. We will be watching a screening of the drama film “Final Portrait” about the life and works of world renowned artist Alberto Giacometti.
Film plot: year 1964 in Paris, artist Alberto Giacometti asks American critic James Lord to be a model for his latest portrait. This begins their off-beat friendship where the artist gives his friend an insight into the profundity and chaos of the artistic process while finishing one of his latest masterpieces.
The screening is in English and it is 1:30 hr long, to be followed by a group discussion. Join us at 6 PM, Saturday 26/1/2019 At the Jordan National Gallery of Fine Arts – building #2.
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From the meet-up at the gallery where Hiwar Art Club in collaboration with the Embassy of Switzerland organized the screening of the film “Final Portrait” about the life and works of renowned artist Alberto Giacometti. A beautiful and interesting film depicting the depth and chaos of the creative process of the artist as he finishes one of his last masterpieces.
The Ambassador of Switzerland in Jordan Mr. Lukas Gasser attended the event and seized the occasion to hand over a book about the life and work of Alberto Giacometti intended for the Gallery’s library to Director General Dr. Khalid Khreis. The screening was followed with discussions between Jordanian artists, art students, Swiss citizens and other participants.
Special thanks to the Swiss Embassy for their beautiful participation and to everyone who joined us
Film screening of “Humor” art documentary from “Art21” film series. The four artists profiled in “Humor” have been influenced by the history of humor and comedy, including vaudeville, cartoons, and comic books. The artists in this hour reveal how humor and satire can stimulate laughter as well as serve as a vehicle to explore serious subjects, such as feminism, the natural environment, the excesses of consumer culture, social injustice, and war.
The documentary was filmed in 2003 at different locations in California and New York.. The meeting will feature a group discussion after the screening which will be played in english along with english subtitles. The documentary is 54 minutes long.
Film screening from BBC TV series “Ways of Seeing.” This program was written and presented by critic and thinker John Berger in 1972, who issued a book of the same title adopted from the content of these episodes. The series and book criticize traditional Western cultural aesthetics by raising questions about hidden ideologies in visual images and their impact on societies and their dominant concepts.
The meeting will feature a group discussion after the screening which will be played in English along with English subtitles. The documentary is 58 minutes long.
Screening of “Why Beauty Matters”, a BBC art documentary. Philosopher Roger Scruton presents a provocative essay in this film on the importance of beauty in the arts and in our lives. In the 20th century, Scruton argues, art, architecture and music turned their backs on beauty, making a cult of ugliness and leading us into a spiritual desert.
The film is in English subtitles. It’s a 2009 British documentary film directed by Louise Lockwood, written and presented by Roger Scruton. The meeting will feature a group discussion after the screening. The documentary is 58 minutes long.
Sscreening of “Spirituality” art documentary from “Art21” film series.
The five contemporary artists featured in this film have taken on different themes in the spiritual dimension, using their art as a window to explore what is unknown in our immediate world. This documentary features close examples of the practices of international artists: Ann Hamilton, Bryl Corot, James Turrell, John Fyodorov and Shahasia Sikander.
“Spirituality is such a vibrant and integral part of our lives that even our changing times and all the apparent obstacles have not stifled the powerful partnership of spirituality and art in the modern era,” writes Lynn M. Herbert in her essay for the Companion Book to the Art in the Twenty-First Century series. “The realm of the spiritual is mysterious and inviting,” writes Herbert, “It is a place where we are encouraged to explore the unknown.”
The meeting will feature a group discussion after the screening. The film is 54 minutes long, it will be played in English along with English captions.
Film screening about world renowned photographer Gregory Crewdson, titled “Gregory Crewdson: Brief Encounters” directed and produced by Ben Shapiro. Crewdson has created some of the most gorgeously haunting pictures in the history of the medium. His meticulously composed, large-scale images are stunning narratives of small-town American life—moviescapes crystallized into a single frame.
While the photographs are staged with crews that rival many feature film productions, Crewdson takes inspiration as much from his own dreams and fantasies as the worlds of Alfred Hitchcock, David Lynch, Edward Hopper and Diane Arbus. Shot over a decade with unprecedented access, this film beautifully bares the artist’s process, as it also features a mesmerizing collection of his work.
The meeting will feature a group discussion after the screening. The film is 1h 56 minutes long, it will be played in English along with English captions.
Screening of Holy Motors a 2012 French-German fantasy drama film. From dawn to dusk, a few hours in the life of Monsieur Oscar, a shadowy character who journeys from one life to the next. He is, in turn, captain of industry, assassin, beggar, monster, family man… He seems to be playing roles, plunging headlong into each part – but where are the cameras? Monsieur Oscar is alone, accompanied only by Céline, the slender blonde woman behind the wheel of the vast engine that transports him through and around Paris. He’s like a conscientious assassin moving from hit to hit. In pursuit of the beautiful gesture, the mysterious driving force, the women and the ghosts of past lives. But where is his true home, his family, his rest?
Written and directed by Leos Carax, starring Denis Lavant, Édith Scob, and Eva Mendes.
The meeting will feature a group discussion after the screening. The film is 115 min long and will be played in french along with arabic subtitles.
Screening of the Documentary “In Wyeth’s World” from BBC art film series. Presenter Michael Palin heads for rural Pennsylvania and Maine to explore the extraordinary life and work of one of America’s most popular and controversial painters, Andrew Wyeth. Fascinated by his iconic painting Christina’s World, Palin goes in search of the real life stories that inspired this and Wyeth’s other depictions of the American landscape and its hard grafting inhabitants.
Tracking down the farmers, friends and family featured in Wyeth’s magically real work, Palin builds a picture of an eccentric, enigmatic and driven painter. He also gets a rare interview with Helga, the woman who put Wyeth back in the headlines when the press discovered he had been painting her nude, compulsively but secretly for 15 years.
The meeting will feature a group discussion after the screening. The film is 58 min long and will be played in English along with English subtitles.
Screening of a collection of clips from “The Antics Roadshow” documentary along with other assisting videos serving “Social Networks and activism as a Form of Art” theme, followed by a group discussion
“The Antics Roadshow” is an hour-long 2011 documentary film focused on “famous pranks and acts of activism which have become iconic”.
Directed by Banksy and Jaimie D’Cruz
The film is part of the “Power of Art” series produced by BBC in 2006. Written and presented by international critic Simon Schama, this film sheds light on the story of abstract artist Mark Rothko, who is considered as one of the most controversial and famous painters of the past century.