katalog-overlapping voices - Ritesinstitute

we – the Palestinian citizens of israel – are a collective
who pursue everyday life under the Jewish
state and in accordance with its laws and regulations.
moreover, we live with a majority of more
than five million Jewish citizens who are immigrants
from different cultures and communities all
around the world. their uniting factors are the Jewish
religion and the hebrew language, which replaced
their native tongues; and they seek to produce
an israeli, Jewish, and hebrew culture that
has its position, impact, output, momentum, and
effect not only on the Jewish citizens, but also on
us, the Palestinians.
how, then, would the artist work in this impossible
reality? where, and with whom? what are the most
vivid stimuli for his creativity? is it reality? or is it
dream and obsession, or both? are reality and
dream in fact the same thing? Does the artist dream
alone, or is there a fellow artist from the Jewish
majority who shares his dreams? an artist who,
despite his different language, narrative, reality and
national and religious affiliations, is similar to him;
who is a close, supportive, and understanding
friend, who believes in the same set of ethics and
principles as the Palestinian artist does? are we to
approach the other with the mentality of majority
versus minority, when the other is someone who
shares with us the peculiarity of the current situation?
the israeli is not only the soldier firing bullets
at us, or the policeman or security guard; he
is also the photographer, the taxi driver, the woman
selling flowers, the bookstore salesman, and
the music store owner. the relationship is not ordinary
or definite, rather a thorny one. we try to
build our relationship in such a way that our endangered
identity is not blurred by the other, and
simultaneously we take the initiative to establish a
dialogue and influence him.
more than a year ago, we started the preparations
for this exhibition. humbly put, as the exhibition
co-curator, i worked with my dear friend, the artist
tal adler, who is distinguished by both his high artistic
taste and a sense of responsibility. tal matches
deeds and words as he uses art to support
the vulnerable, the marginalized, and the
oppressed.
as a co-curator of the exhibition, tal adler actively
dedicated most of his time and effort to this project.
experts in the field recognize that the work of
a curator is a difficult one; imagine what it is like,
then, to be the curator of an exhibition of both Palestinian
and israeli artists, who live in the semitragic
and vague situation that characterizes relations
between the two peoples. my participation as
a co-curator aims to pull, with my friend tal, the
beam of light out of the darkness of our common
reality like a thin line.
the presence of austrian artists friedemann Derschmidt
and karin schneider in the preparation of
the exhibition was a pleasant one, which provided
a supportive and special atmosphere. although
they are geographically far from the middle east,
we are nonetheless artistically close. accordingly,
both artists were interested in our issues and
struggles and our different media for creativity.
hence, they devoted to this project much time and
effort, and contributed with a very distinguished
video work on our life in this land.
karin and friedemann possess initiative, spirit, and
a thorough understanding of our Palestinian-israeli
specificity, which they can view from various
and multi-dimensional perspectives. they have put
in gigantic efforts to deliver this compilation of art
to the austrian public through this vastly different
exhibition and the participation of truly remarkable
artists who are tightly connected to their places of
origin. this was done in cooperation with the essl
museum, which is a co-partner in raising our “overlapping
voices” and delivering our art into the
hands of a wide public in austria. this exhibition
helps the artists and familiarizes a wider public
with their work; it heightens the artists’ creativity
and the stories they carry, as well as memories and
incentives which contain both hope and pain.
the exhibition >overlapping voices< raises a new
and brave voice; it opens a channel of dialogue
that carries us toward hope and possibly toward
freedom for the oppressed, which is the quest of
every artist.
i have no doubt that this will and love – a great love
for life – beams like an ever-burning candle in the
hearts of all the participants in this exhibition.
amal murkus is a Palestinian artist; citizen of israel and resident in
the village of kufur Yasif. singer, actor, and tv and radio presenter.
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