Ramallah- A.M. Qattan Foundation:
On Saturday 23 March 2019, the Public Programme at the A.M. Qattan Foundation launched The Facility exhibition with the participation of 17 Palestinian artists from different artistic fields at the Cultural Centre in al-Tireh neighbourhood in Ramallah.
The participating artists come from diverse artistic practices; some of them take drawing as their medium, such as: Ala Al-Baba, Haneen Nazzal, Haya Kaabneh, Dima Irshaid, Majd Masri, Safa’ Shqair, Nameer Qassim, Essmat Zaid, Anwar Fannoun and Nibras Barghouthi; while Ayah Nireroukh and Duaa Abu Shgheibh utilise design and photography; Muhannad Al Azeh, Rawan Abu Ghosh, Nisreen Barghouti and Thikra Muslih create artworks with mixed media; and Majdi Abu Gharbia uses recycled materials for his projects.
The exhibition creates an open interactive space between artist and audience, since the artists do not work in isolation and the audience does not see the work only in its final form, allowing for an unfolding of the work process. The project combines five elements of artmaking—namely, the artist, the studio space, the process of artmaking, the artistic product and the audience’s experience. Traditionally, exhibitions combine two or three of these elements; The Facility, however, challenges the traditional notion of exhibitions, allowing these elements to coexist simultaneously in order to produce a ‘social sculpture’.
The exhibition also sheds light on the lack of suitable studio workspaces for Palestinian artists. Through The Facility, each artist is given a 2 x 3 m. private studio space connected to the other studios through public areas, gardens, eating and meeting spaces. These studios provide artists with the spaces for their creative processes of thinking, experimentation and imagination and the spaces in which they can receive their audiences.
Artists will depart their studios on 1 May 2019, leaving behind furniture, drawings, sketches, documents, books and other materials used by the artists during their residencies. These traces of themselves, their works and their visits will remain on exhibit throughout May 2019.
The exhibition is open to visitors Monday-Thursday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. until 31 May 2019.