More on Wafa Hourani's 'Qalandia 2067 [87?]' from Robin Creswell

I posted about Hourani's Qalandia piece at the New Museum a couple days ago. Now Robin Creswell has reviewed the exhibit for the Harper's Blog. And he has this to say about the Hourani piece. (Which is called Qalandia 2067 on his website. Maybe it was renamed for this exhibit?)

Here is Creswell: 

The eeriest exhibit, which has stayed with me in the days following my visit, is Wafa Hourani’s Qalandia 2087. The installation is a diorama built of simple materials, imagining what the Qalandia refugee camp, situated just west of Jerusalem, will look like one hundred years after the first Intifada. The camp is an orderly sort of ghetto: one of its taller buildings is conspicuously aslant, but the roads are straight and lined with prim little streetlamps. The security wall that cuts through the real Qalandia has become a wall of mirrors; on the other side of it — the Israeli side — are a nightclub with a goldfish tank and an airport with toy jetliners.

“Qalandia 2087, 2009,” a mixed-media installation in six parts by Wafa Hourani, photographed by Wilfried Petzi.

Walking through the space of the mock-up, which is about half the size of a handball court, you are made to think what it would be like to live in or visit such a place. And as you approach the mirror-clad separation barrier, you’re confronted with the image of yourself in two very different landscapes — as though asked to choose which side you’re on, or to think about the restrictions such a choice might entail. Like several other exhibits in the show, Qalandia 2087 suggests the power of images to limit the imagination, by reflecting back at us the picture of ourselves we would like to see, or might prefer to see in place of another, perhaps truer one.

You are the aqal that is the pride of your people

 

....by Allah we will level the enemy's necks....

Here's one of the exhibits at the New Museum's show of contemporary art from and about the Arab world, Adel Abidin's Three Love Songs. It consists of three videos, one lounge, one jazz, one pop, featuring non-Arabic speaking singers who don't know what they were singing. The lyrics are from songs commissioned by Saddam Hussein to glorify him and his regime. Above are a couple of choice lyrics. (An aqal is the black cord that Arab men use to keep their kufiyas in place.)

The juxtaposition of lovely blonde women singing such lyrics...

and I quote from the description: 'It is this uncomfortable juxtaposition – between the lush visual romanticism and the harsh meaning of the lyrics, between the seduction of the performer and comprehension of the viewer – that forms the main conceptual element of this work.'

See excerpts from the vids and read about the sound installation here.

Here are links to a couple Saddam Hussein music videos, courtesy Frontline.

And for an introduction to some of the really great music produced during the Saddam era, I highly recommend the Choubi Choubi! collections produced by Sublime Frequencies. Volume 1 for now is out of stock, but I'm sure you could find one somewhere. Volume 2, only released on LP, was released this year, and is available. Really essential for your collection.

Here's a sample from Volume 1:

Once Upon A Time In The West by Hiwa K with Jim White

This is a pretty astonishing example of intercultural collaboration. This piece emerged from a friendship and long-term collaboration between Iraqi Kurdish artist Hiwa K, who took asylum in Germany, and Jim White, a former American soldier and subsequently a caretaker at a German art academy where Hiwa studied. Hiwa taught Jim to play country guitar (!) and songs by country singers like Johnny Cash. 

This piece,  work consists of a live, ten-minute performance simulating Ennio Morricone’s score for the final duel scene of Sergio Leone’s spaghetti western, Once Upon a Time in the West. The work is "an inquiry into the redistribution of dominant cultural representations and competences." 

Hiwa K (harmonica) and Jim White (guitar) perform with orchestra. 

This was performed at the New Museum in New York City, as part of the museum's exhibit of  contemporary art from and about the Arab World, called "Here and Elsewhere." I found it by going to the exhibit link and going to "Dig Deeper."

Here's an excellent review of the exhibit, which runs through September 28.

Here is Hiwa K's website, so you can dig deeper yourself.