Vrienden van Felix Meritis mogen de opening van onderstaand opmerkelijk project van ‘onze vrienden’ van Stichting Metropool Internationale Kunstprojecten, Linda Bouws en Joseph Sassoon Semah, op 7 september in Lumen Travo Gallery, gevolgd door een bijzondere avond op 12 september a.s. in het Goethe Institut Amsterdam niet missen. Het is de aftrap voor een reeks bijeenkomsten die vanaf het najaar op maar liefst 36 verschillende locaties zullen plaatsvinden.
On Friendship/(Collateral Damage) III – The Third GaLUT: Baghdad, Jerusalem, Amsterdam (7 september 2019-19 januari 2020) is an aesthetic and poetic research into the cities Baghdad, Jerusalem and Amsterdam, which has been conceived by artist Joseph Sassoon Semah and curated by Linda Bouws (Metropool International Art Projects). All these cities are said to have been tolerant at some time in their history, but how does that relate to ‘otherness’ and what does it mean today?
The project focuses on two lines of thought. The first is what Semah calls ‘The Third GaLUT’, the third Exile, a metaphor for disconnectedness. The second is ‘The Guest’ – someone who is allowed to live and work in a foreign context tests his surroundings by articulating his particular position in exile without any reservations. The Guest becomes Host. By this process Semah investigates one of the greatest achievements of human civilisation: hospitality. Joseph Sassoon Semah translates his cultural and visual heritage, and its subtext, into contemporary art. While doing so he reassesses and redefines lost heritages.
The project will translate the cultural heritage of Baghdad, Jerusalem, and Amsterdam, with the help of the different ‘Guests’, into a meaningful experience for a broad audience.
In On Friendship/(Collateral Damage) III – The Third GaLUT: Baghdad, Jerusalem, Amsterdam, Joseph Sassoon Semah shares his lost rich Babylonian cultural heritage and asks the public to review their own art, culture, traditions and identity. This will take place mainly in 36 public locations in Amsterdam.
There will be new pieces of art, performances, debates, lectures, round-table discussions, video-interviews, a publication in English, articles on diverse platforms, and a research report as well as a video report. Simultaneously in Amsterdam (The Hermitage), Baghdad (in front of the Meir Tweig Synangogue) and Jerusalem (Jerusalem Biennale 2019) a small house will be built: MaKOM in MaKOM.
On Friendship/(Collateral Damage) III – The Third GaLUT: Baghdad, Jerusalem, Amsterdam was realized in part with the support of AFK, BPD Cultuurfonds and Mondriaan Fonds.
For more information, please go to Rozenberg Quarterly and Joseph Semah.