The Jerusalem Show 2010

It's terrible that I no longer have time to write on my own blog but what I have been doing instead is writing on other blogs...


I have just come back from a two week long trip to Jerusalem where I reviewed and documented the Jerusalem Show and it was great. It's the culmination of an archive project I've been working on for about 6 months. It starts with the history of the Al Ma'mal Foundation in the Old City of Jerusalem and concludes by being right up to the present with reviews and documentation of the 4th Jerusalem Show which finished on October10th.

It's an amazing thing especially given the fact that the situation in the city is so difficult. After the opening of the Show there was a visit to the gallery from Israeli security to check there was nothing too provocative on the walls. Another partner venue also had a visit from the police for the same reason and the visiting international artists got ten tons of shit from security at the airport on their way out.

The only 'democracy' in the region? What a joke. It's as brutal and reactionary as any other and even more paranoid. It's truly bizarre to see the situation on the ground and try and connect that with the absurdity of 'peace process' diplomacy. Most of what happens on the ground happens fast and is invisible to the outside which means that policy is always years behind reality... as well as being flaccid and irrelevant :) Thank god for small mercies .........

Click for link to The Jerusalem Show

OMG It's Almost May ..

Have just realised that it's almost May and I have done precisely 6 blog posts for the entire year so far. That's an appalling average of 1.2 per month. Granted, I haven't had a life since I left the UAE, BUT....   that has just changed. I have now acquired an almost proper job!  What's more it's a writing job that involves a lot of things that I either a) know about or b) love. In relation to the first category it's the Middle East, and in relation to the second it has art, politics and history.

Given the cultural .. dare I say it... renaissance ... in this region over the past 10-15 years, there is a now an urge to start archiving. The project I have been asked to do is essentially an archive project about the Al-Ma'mal Foundation for Contemporary Art in Jerusalem.  As a consequence I just came back from 2 weeks in Jerusalem doing research and interviews and going through lots of lovely dusty old boxes.

The trip was supposed to be 10 days but when nature strikes back, there's not a lot you can do so thanks to the delightful volcano in Iceland, I got stranded in Jerusalem for an extra 5 days. This was fine because I have a lot of friends there and as usual the social schedule was harder to deal with than the work. It's not just the friends to see but all the family members of the friends as well.

Anyway, the first stage of the project is now well under way and is here if anyone's interested:

Al-Ma'mal Retrospective 

Once this has been brought up to the present (and funding permitting) the material will be expanded and turned into a book. 

Bizarrely this has coincided with several offers of gainful employment coming spouse's way too, so seems like its back to the life again yo... .. er... to quote Eminem. It also means we can replace a few of those garden plants that sadly didn't make it through the last two years ...... I might even buy a bird table....