Public Programme (PP)

The Public Programme works within various programming tracks. Some are direct leading towards a single output, others are multi-layered in which work processes and outputs intertwine. Multi-layered programmes include research-based exhibitions that may result in publications, research papers and seminars, some of which are planned while others are defined throughout the work process. Due to the diversity of its audience, the Public Programme works in two ways; the first caters to a general and broad audience; the second caters to a narrower specialized audience. This amount of interdependence and diversity has allowed the programme to cultivate partnerships with local and international individuals, groups and foundations. It also facilitated a deeper and stronger partnership with the rest of AMQF’s programmes.

As part of the “Jadal” Programme (dialogues), the Public Programme organized an event entitled “The Land Today” in commemoration of Land Day on 30 March. The event included a lecture by German filmmaker Monica Maurer on the archives of the Palestinian revolution, a screening of White Oil directed by Judy Price, and La Commune by Peter Watkins. A symposium entitled Out of Sight was also held in April as part of the Palestine Literature Festival. Several book launches were also organized including the launch of Permanent Temporariness by Alessandro Petti & Sandi Hilal; Companions in Conflict by Penny Johnson; Searching for Jamal al-Mahamel by Khaled Hourani; My Damascus by Souad Amiry; Justice for Some by Noura Erikat; A Girl from Shatila by Akram Musallam; The Sad Guard Dog by Sonia Nimr. International thinkers were invited to give lectures and participate in specialized workshops including Lieven De Cauter, Belgian thinker and philosopher and Renata Salecl, thinker and senior researcher at the Institute of Criminology at the University of Ljubljana and visiting professor at London School of Economics (LSE). Many artist talks were held with local and international artists including Suzanna Henty from Australia; Raeda Saadeh from Palestine; and the participating artists in the Ways of Travelling residency programme. Additionally, two poetry reading sessions were organised hosting poets Asma Azaizeh and Tareq al-Araby. As part of the Palestine Independent Jazz Festival, a lecture entitled Feminist Activism in Hiphop and Beyond by American artist and academic Akua Naru was organised.

As part of the Creative Margins residency programme, in collaboration with Riwaq Centre for Architectural Conservation and ad-Dhahiriya Municipality, an artist residency programme was set up to develop workshops with ad-Dhahiriya children for a week. Participating artists included Mohammed Saleh Khalil, Salim abu Jabal, Basil Naser, a conversation workshop with Riwaq, Rima Issa, Issa Ghreib, Fida Ataya and Rana Bishara. The final exhibition was organized in October as part of the Southern Agricultural Festival in ad-Dhahiriya.

The Foundation hosted 4 artists: Marija Nemcenko (Lithuania), Mateusz Sapija (Poland), Javier Tuscano (Mexico) and Marc Buchy (France). Through its exchange programme with Matadero Madrid Centre for Contemporary Creation, in collaboration with the CAP, the Foundation hosted two Spanish artists Patricia Echeverria Liras and Sabela Vázquez Llerena. In cooperation with the Mosaic Rooms, artist Praneet Soi was hosted in Palestine for a week in June 2019, as part of his project Anamorphosis.

In Music, 3 musical performances were organized: Circus by Shadi Zaqatan, Our Story by Habib Shehade and Bad Timing by Faraj Suleiman. As part of the AMQF’s partnership with the Palestine International Festival in 2019, the Foundation hosted Shayfeen Band. Similarly, in partnership with the Palestine Independent Jazz Festival (MahraJazz), AMQF hosted The Two Rivers Ensemble (jazz and Middle Eastern maqam), No Tongues (experimental jazz), Jim Black (drummer and experimental jazz) and Akua Naru (hip-hop and jazz).

Within the Mashhad (Performances) programme, AMQF hosted a shadow puppet play entitled The Gift produced by the Arab Puppet Theatre Foundation in partnership with al-Kamandjati Festival. A theatre performance for children based on Jabra Ibrahim Jabra’s novel The First Well was organised, in addition to a musical performance by the acclaimed Spanish artist Fatima Miranda entitled Living Room Rumor. In September and in collaboration with the CAP, the Public programme organised the /si:n/ Festival for video art and performance in Ramallah, Marseille and Gaza. The festival was launched at AMQF’s headquarters in Ramallah and Gaza.

As part of the col.lab.o.ra.tion programme, the film archives of director Monica Maurer about the Palestinian revolution were digitized in collaboration with the Audiovisual Archive of the Democratic and Labour Movement (Fondazione Archivio Audiovisivo del Movimento Operaio e Democratico). With a grant from the VolkwagenStiftung, AMQF undertook the project “Liminal Spaces as Sites of Socio-Cultural Transformations and Alternative Knowledge Production in the Arab World”, in partnership with Université Mohammed V-Agdal in Morocco, Cairo University in Egypt and Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient (ZMO) in Germany.

As part of its Exhibitions programme, The Facility exhibition was produced and inaugurated in March featuring 17 emerging Palestinian artists from various artistic fields. In August, From the Archive Room exhibition was produced and opened in collaboration with El-Funoun Popular Dance Troupe as part of its 40^th anniversary celebrations. During the same month, an exhibition by Italian artist Beatrice entitled A Needle in the Binding_Nablus Municipality Library: The Prisoner’s Section; 3d Edition was launched at the Leila Miqdadi al-Qattan Library in cooperation with the Nablus Municipality. In October, in collaboration with the Culture and Arts Programme (CAP), the Public programme also organized the YAYA in Focus – Raeda Saadeh’s Retrospective Exhibition.

In preparation for the 2020 exhibitions, and as part of the research participatory process, two workshops were organised in partnership with the Biodiversity and Environmental Research Centre (BERC) in Til, Nablus with two groups of students from Hebron. The workshops took place in preparation for the Weed Control exhibition which commissioned 33 Palestinian artists from within and outside of Palestine to produce articles and preliminary visual material alongside scientific and literary texts written by Rima Hamami, Tania Naser, Iman Mirsal, Adania Shibli, Zakaria Mohammed, Hussein Barghouti, Mohammed Naffa’ and Aisha Odeh. Within the framework of the Palestine from Above exhibition, the Public Programme worked with the Institute for Palestine Studies in several stages: the research phase in Ottoman, Bavarian, British, Australian and Israeli archives. Key researchers (Michael Talbot, , Zeynep Celik, Andrew Yip and Salim Tamari ) later met at the Foundation at the end of year to find commonalities and formulate concepts for the forthcoming exhibition in 2020.