yeniyle gelen hayirli gelsin hos gelsin

photo: bjork, kurucesme arena, 2008

our solidarity is with the people of Gaza and with all the people who want peace

http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=34293

gazzzzzeeeee

ALL they can say is "we urge maximum restraint to avoid further civilian casualties"

israil durmuyor.
en az 155 ölü, yazıldığına göre 1967'den beri ölü sayısının en çok olduğu saldırı.
herkes eli kolu bağlı oturuyor.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7801291.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7800985.stm

curiosity-to-survive fm in cairo: kahire'de altıncı gün

doğu akdeniz'in kutsal üçlüsünü tamamladım çalışkan çocuk olarak.

internet kesildi de dört gün herkes kendini şehre, toplantıya, yüzyüze diyaloglara verdi.
www.photocairo4.com

alltimes favorite is:

DOWNTOWN CAIRO: IMAGINED SCENARIOS..: Lecture by MONA ABAZA

Cairene new rich followed by the rising middle classes have opted for departing from the centre of Cairo to the satellite cities and the gated walled-off communities in the desert. The American middle class suburban dream—advertised as villas and condominiums with swimming pools, privatised golf tracks, gyms and reinvented Disneyfied landscapes—has been Egyptianised. The urban expansion of the city of Cairo looks more than ever like an expanding huge slum. Wist al-Balad (Downtown) looks like it has been depopulated from its well to do middle classes. Furthermore, a decentralisation of the professional world has been occurring through the recreation of alternative centres such as the Smart Village, Mohandessin, or the recent move of the American University in Cairo. But Downtown Cairo is repopulated in the evenings but sha'abi (popular) youngsters and there are a few endeavours in reclaiming the centre for arts and intellectual life. Would Downtown face a process of gentrification which many European capitals have undergone, or would it simply wither away following the logic of the neo-liberal government's agenda aided by the discourse against 'Ashawaiyyat, as cancer and as an essential evil that has to be removed? This process of eliminating slums, seems to be paring with the idea of erasing history especially if it is a history related to the khawagat culture of the Ismailliyya quarter and Belle Epoque architecture. On the other hand, a nostalgic trend epitomised in Alaa al-Aswani´s Jacoubian Building tells us that the cause is not totally lost. However, the question remains where is the interest of developers? Let us imagine scenarios...

MONA ABAZA
Born in Egypt, Mona Abaza attained a B.A. in Political Science at the American University in Cairo, Egypt, an M.A. in Sociology from University of Durham, UK, in 1986 and a Ph.D from the University of Bielefeld in 1990. Currently, she is associate professor and department chair of Sociology, Anthropology, Egyptology and Psychology at the American University in Cairo. She has been a visiting scholar in Singapore (ISEAS), Kuala Lumpur, Paris (EHESS), Berlin (Wissenschaftskolleg), Leiden (IIAS), Wassenaar (NIAS) and Bellagio (Rockefeller Foundation). Her research interests are religious and cultural networks between the Middle East and Southeast Asia, the Hadhrami diaspora in Southeast Asia and consumer culture in Egypt. Her publications include: Debates on Islam and Knowledge in Malaysia and Egypt, Shifting Worlds, (RoutledgeCurzon Press, UK. 2002); Islamic Education, Perceptions and Exchanges: Indonesian Students in Cairo, (Cahier d'Archipel, 23. EHESS, Paris. 1994); The Changing Image of Women in Rural Egypt, (Cairo Papers in Social Science, The American University in Cairo, 1987). The Changing Consumer Culture of Modern Egypt, Cairo’s Urban Reshaping, (Brill/AUC Press, 2006).

izleyin, izlettirin böyle filmler sık yapıl(a)mıyor

We want first of all to say a collective yes! to the uprising in Greece. We are artists, writers and teachers who are connected in this moment by common friends and commitments. We are globally dispersed and are mostly watching, and hoping, from afar. But some of us are also there, in Athens, and have been on the streets, have felt the rage and the tear gas, and have glimpsed the dancing specter of the other world that is possible. We claim no special right to speak or be heard. Still, we have a few things to say. For this is also a global moment for speaking and sharing, for hoping and thinking together...

No one can doubt that the protest and occupation movement that has spread across Greece since the police murder of Alexis Grigoropoulos in Athens on 6 December is a social uprising whose causes reach far deeper than the obscene event that triggered it. The rage is real, and it is justified. The filled streets, strikes and walk-outs, and occupied schools, universities, union halls and television stations have refuted early official attempts to dismiss the social explosion as the work of a small number of “young people” in Exarchia, Athens or elsewhere in Greece.

What remains to be seen is whether the movement now emerging will become an effective political force – and, if it does, whether it will be contained within a liberal-reformist horizon or will aim at a more radical social and political transformation. If the movement takes the liberal-reformist path, then the most to be expected will be the replacement of one corrupt party in power by its corrupt competitor, accompanied by a few token concessions wrapped in the empty rhetoric of democracy. These would almost certainly be the smoke-screen for a reactionary wave of new repressive powers masquerading as security measures. Only radically democratic and emancipatory demands, clearly articulated and resolutely struggled for, could prevent this outcome and open the space for a rupture in a destructive global system of domination and exploitation. As we count ourselves among those who experience this system as the violent negation of human spirit and potential, we could only welcome such a rupture as a reassertion of humanity in the face of a repressive politics of fear.

Observing events in Greece and the official and corporate media discourse developing in response to them, we note the emergence of what begins to looks like a new elite consensus. The “violent unrest” in Greece, we are told with increasing frequency, is the revolt of the “700-Euro generation” – that is, of overeducated young people with too few prospects of a decent position and income. The solution, by this account, is to revitalize Greek society through more structural adjustments to make the economy more dynamic and efficient. Once all people are convinced they will be welcomed and integrated into consumer reality and rewarded with purchasing power commensurate with their educational investment, then the conditions of this “revolt” will have been eliminated. In short: everything will be fine, and everyone happy, once some adjustments have made capitalism in Greece less wasteful of its human resources.

We have seen this strategy before, in response to the uprisings in the suburbs of Paris and around the CPE “reforms” in France several years ago. Indeed, since the 1960s this has been the perennial, preferred strategy of power to all uprisings that show themselves unwilling to disappear immediately. Its functions are crystal clear: to channel the movement in a neutralizing liberal-reformist direction and to provoke divisions by means of lures and promises. Those who don’t take the bait are left isolated and can be safely targeted for repression.

We hope those in the streets and all those who sympathize with and support them in and outside of Greece will see through this strategy and expose and denounce it. We’re sure that there is much more at stake, and much more to be imagined, hoped and struggled for, than will be on offer in this neo-liberal sleeping pill. And we hope that, in the space opened up by the real rage and courage of people who have left passivity and hopelessness behind, this social movement will now organize itself into a durable political force capable of scorning such recuperative enticements.

In light of the above, we declare openly that:

1) We are moved by the courage and humanity of those who have repeatedly filled the streets and are now occupying schools and university campuses in Athens, Thessaloniki, Patras, and cities across Greece. Our solidarity with them will not be shaken by official attempts to divide the movement into “good” protesters and “bad.” In the face of the police murder of a 15-year old – only the most recent in a long series of such murders by state officers – and in the face of the grinding inhumanity and relentless militarization of everyday life under the capitalist war of all against all, the destruction of private property does not upset us. To be clear: We’re not endorsing violence blindly; in fact we’re heartened to see that actions are becoming more selective, more political, with each day. But we know how divisive fixation on the “violence” of protesters can be in moments such as these. And so we refuse to go along with attempts to isolate certain groups. Those who play along with that script allow themselves to be used in a way that delivers others to direct repression.

2) We call for the immediate liberation and unconditional amnesty for all those arrested for participating in the uprising – more than 400 people at this writing.

3) We reject all attempts to trivialize this uprising by reducing it to the revolt of an overeducated “700-Euro generation.”

4) We categorically reject any attempt to smear this uprising with the label of “terrorism.” The only terror it is appropriate to speak of here is the ongoing state terror inflicted on the autonomists of Exarchia, on immigrants, on the poor and vulnerable, and on all those who refuse to conform and submit to the bleak and violent givens of capitalist normality. We condemn any attempt, now or in the future, to apply draconian “anti-terrorism” laws and measures against those participating in this movement.

Brett Bloom (Urbana), Dimitris Bacharas (Athens), Rozalinda Borcila (Chicago), Peter Conlin (London), Alexandros Efklidis (Thessaloniki), Markus Euskirchen (Berlin), Nathalie Fixon (Paris), Bonnie Fortune (Urbana), Kirsten Forkert (London), John Fulljames (London), Jack Hirschman (San Francisco), Antoneta Kotsi (Athens), Isabella Kounidou (Nicosia), Henrik Lebuhn (San Francisco), Ed Marszewski (Chicago), Jasmin Mersmann (Berlin), Anna Papaeti (Athens), Csaba Polony (Oakland), Katja Praznik (Ljubljana), Gene Ray (Berlin), Tamas St. Auby (Budapest), Gregory Sholette (New York), G.M. Tamás (Budapest), Flora Tsilaga (Athens)

körleşme

kendi doğrusunun tüm doğrulardan üstün olduğuna inananlar hep vardır.
etraflarındaki herkesi kendi yargılarına göre okurlar da okurlar.
karşıdaki ne söylerse söylesin, onlar sadece kendi okuduklarını duyarlar.
değişmedi. değişmiyor. yakın zamanda da değişir mi bilinmez.

niye şaşırmadık acaba?

“Özür kampanyasına imza atan ve kendisini sözde aydın sanan isimler, Türkiye’den özür dilemelidir. Bu aymazlık değilse, vatan hainliğidir. Biz de bir bildiri yayınlayarak bunu kınayalım. Aydınların Cumhurbaşkanı Abdullah Gül’ün Ermenistan ziyaretinden cesaret aldılar. Cumhurbaşkanı’nın bu kampanyayı desteklediği görülüyor. Abdullah Gül, cumhurun yani Türk milletinin cumhurbaşkanlığını yapsın, etnik kökeninin değil. Cumhurbaşkanı’nın anne tarafından etnik kökenini araştırın görürsünüz.”

bir cumhuriyet kadını incisi daha. bu sözleri edebilen bir mantalitenin kendini hala sol cenahtan tanımlamasına izin veriyoruz ya, yuh olsun bize, ne diyeyim.

celine condorelli'den destek meselesi

Destek Üzerine Konuşma Dizisi Takvimi

19 Aralık 2008, Cuma / 18.30
Celine Condorelli
'Destek Nedir?'

Osmanlı Bankası Müzesi
Konferans Salonu
Bankalar Caddesi, 11, Karaköy
Konuşmalar İngilizce gerçekleştirilecektir.

Aralık 2008 - Şubat 2009 tarihleri arasında gerçekleştirilecek olan, Destek Üzerine konuşma dizisi Platform Garanti'nin İstanbul Misafirleri Programı'na davet edilen mimar ve eleştimen Celine Condorelli tarafından düzenleniyor.

'Destek' fikrini tartışmak, sanat, mimari ve kültürel pratikler için olduğu kadar Garanti Galeri ve Platform Garanti Güncel Sanat Merkezi'nin [GG ve PG] değişen vizyonu ve yeni kurumun önümüzdeki dönemdeki uygulamaları açısından temel bir gerekliliktir.

Celine Condorelli, bu konu hakkındaki araştırmasını yeni kurumun güncel ilgileri bağlamında da geliştirmektedir. "Disiplinler" ve "destek" konularıyla ilgilenen mimar, eleştirmen, sanatçı ve küratörlerden oluşan konuşmacılar İstanbul'da Condorelli ile çalışarak projeye katkıda bulunacak, çerçeveler tarif edecek, "desteklemek" ve "eklemek" nosyonları hakkında metinler üzerine çalışacaklar. Proje, GG ve PG'nin da katılımıyla Sternberg Press tarafından 2009 yılında basılacak olan "Destek Yapıları" isimli bir kitapla noktalanacak.

Bu araştırma GG ve PG'nin nasıl bir kuruma dönüşeceği üzerine yapılan tartışmalar ile aynı zamanda gerçekleşmektedir. Proje sırasında üretilecek metin ve tartışmalar yeni kurumda gerçekleşmesi düşünülen bir serginin kavramsal ve küratöryel çerçevesini oluşturacaktır.

Destek Üzerine, "destek" önermesini, eklemlenme ve temsiliyet kadar toplumsal, tarihsel ya da kurgusal körlükle de mücadele etmek için değerlendiren bir araştırma projesidir. Bu bağlamda "destek" cömertliğe dayanan bir pratik olarak algılanmalıdır. "Destek", iktidar yapıları, toplumsal gerçekler ve kurumsal biçimler arasında okumaları davet ederek aralarına yerleşmeyi sağlar. "Destek" toplumun kültürel yapılarının kesitlerinde, gelişigüzel oluşum ve karşılaşmalarında ortaya çıkabilir. Bunların farkına varmak zaman zaman zor olabilir çünkü bir arayüz olarak destek geri planda kalabilir; dolayısıyla destek bir zafiyet, müzakere ve eklemlenme pratiğidir. Bu proje, sanat ve mimarlık cemaati için, sergileme biçimleri, düzenleme, temellük etme, bağımlılık, geçicilik gibi önemli sorular barındırmaktadır; destek, mekansal pratiği siyasi bir tahayyül olarak tarif eder.

Destek Üzerine Mimar Celine Condorelli ve Sanatçı-Küratör Gavin Wade'in sürmekte olan, 'Destek Yapıları' projesi bağlamındadır. (www.supportstructure.org)

Londra'da yaşayan mimar ve sanatçı Celine Condorelli, sergi yapımı ve kamusal alan üzerine eleştirel modeller geliştirme ve destek kavramları ile ilgileniyor. London Metropolitan University'de ders veren Condorelli, Eastside Projects Birmingham'da mimar ve küratör olarak çalışmakta ve Goldsmith Universitesinin mimari bölümünde doktorasını tamamlamaktadır. Katıldığı sergiler arasında Park Nights, Serpentine (Londra, 2008) Far-West, Arnolfini (Bristol 2008), Hidden Curriculum, Casco, (Utrecht, 2007), GIL Bienali (Ghuang Zhou, Shanghai, Pekin, 2007), 4'33'', Magazin 4 Bregenzer Kunstverein (2007), Revisits (Linz 2007, Graz 2008) ve Theatre pieces, The Tate Triennial (2006) bulunmaktadır.

"Destek Üzerine", British Council tarafından kısmen destekleniyor ve ek destek Goethe Institute Istanbul tarafından sağlanıyor.

Destek Üzerine Konuşma Dizisi Takvimi

30 Aralık 2008, Salı / 18.30
Wouter Davidts
Destek Üzerine: 'Mimari ve Tahayyül'

23 Ocak 2009, Cuma / 18.30
Andrea Phillips
Destek Üzerine: 'Demokrasi İnşaa Etmek'

30 Ocak 2009, Cuma / 18.30
Jan Verwoert
Destek Üzerine: 'Metodolojiler'

12 Şubat 2009, Perşembe / 18.30
Celine Condorelli, James Langdon, Gavin Wade
Destek Üzerine: 'Destek Yapıları'

exchanging icons

Exchanging icons, occasionally dressed-up

Wednesday 17 december at 6:30 pm
Platform Garanti Contemporary Art Center

Double-sided photo-poster. 2008.
The printed edition ‘Exchanging Icons / Occasionally dressed-up’ is the result of the residency Els Vanden Meersch did in Istanbul, Turkey, and is going to be presented in Platform Garanti Contemporary Art Center, Istanbul.


‘Exchanging icons / Occasionally dressed-up’ is a montage of photos from contemporary and historical buildings into an imaginary cityscape.
The city of temporary residence, Istanbul, and the city of permanent residence, Antwerp (and other Belgian cities), are being interwoven by means of subjective associations.

One place is involved with the other through similarities and contrasting elements. In the mental act of continuously searching for possible links, apparent different locations imply and reflect one another. This mental process of connecting allows exchanging and mixing local icons in a mutual narrative.
These cities are being experienced as both obsessively changeable (transformation) and invariable (heritage). Observed public space and monumentalized buildings are part of everyday flow, hardly noticed by a preoccupied citizen but obvious for a visitor.

Buildings play their role as stone protagonists in a cityscape, both containing elements for cultural or national identity and serving as facades to increase the cities international appeal. The way buildings are being exhibited in contemporary cities is derived from the same stereotypes of city branding. This not only complies with the generic architecture of glass and iron offices, but also with national monuments that ought to give a city its uniqueness. History and modernism have become a fashion of dressing-up buildings. ‘Exchanging icons / Occasionally dressed-up’ can be seen as a temporary fashion show.

kaynak: nyt

President Bush ducked out of harm's way when a reporter threw his shoes at him during his farewell trip to Iraq.

The man, later identified as Muntadar al-Zeidi, a correspondent for Iraqi-owned Al-Baghdadiya television based in Egypt, shouted "this is the end" as he hurled them at the American leader.

Thousands of Iraqis have demanded the release of a local TV reporter who threw his shoes at US President George W Bush at a Baghdad news conference.

Crowds gathered in Baghdad's Sadr City district, calling for "hero" Muntadar al-Zaidi to be freed from custody.

ARTEAST 2000+ and...

ARTEAST 2000+, Art Works from Moderna Galerija Ljubljana Collections

Curators: Zdenka Badovinac and Bojana Piškur

The international collection Arteast 2000+ began to take shape in the 1990s under the curatorship of Moderna galerija director Zdenka Badovinac and advisors Viktor Misiano, Piotr Piotrowski, Harald Szeemann, and Igor Zabel. Hereby Moderna galerija positioned itself as the first institution in Europe to start systematically collecting works by Eastern European artists and rewriting the history of postwar art. Fundamentally, the collection Arteast 2000+ is based on works by Eastern European neo-avant-garde artists, but it also includes a number of works by prominent Western artists which were acquired in the 1990s, while Moderna galerija was intensely forging international links; some of them were purchased at the beginning of this decade, simultaneously with the majority of the other works. The purpose of the collection Arteast 2000+ is to create a dialogue between Eastern and other spaces; its first public presentation in 2000 was thus entitled The Art of Eastern Europe in Dialogue with the West. The Maribor Art Gallery will display a selection of the larger installations by some of the most globally distinguished and preeminent artists: Marina Abramović, Joseph Beuys, Braco Dimitrijević, Jenny Holzer, Cristina Iglesias, Irwin, Sanja Iveković, Ilya and Emilia Kabakov, Katarzyna Kozyra, Laibach, Kazimir Malevich, Walter de Maria, OHO, Alenka Pirman, Mladen Stilinović, Nebojša Šerić - Šoba, Raša Todosijević.

JASMINA CIBIC, Other Mythologies

Curator: Simona Vidmar

Cibic’s works posit themselves as site-specific interventions where myths are fabricated in order to disrupt the normal flow of events; space hybridisation takes place through the use of personal poetic which inserts itself directly into the existing bureaucratical apparatus, institutions and the visual field of the casual passer-by. The spectator becomes a faux tourist and the art work within its architectonical framework a souvenir object par excellence – it is namely a fetish of the Experience. The totality of the art market functions somewhat analogue to that of the tourist industry; the supply and demand in both are always new experiences, new exoticisms, where never seen places (artistic practices) take on new spectacular forms within the spectator’s visual field. Cibic’s work strives to reach directly into their mutual consciousness and purposefully abolish the performativity embedded within the process from the visible field in order to give way to the phantasmagorical production of an individual territorial claim.

Cibic’s latest special intervention Other Mythologies, which has been specifically formulated for UGM gallery, became a poetic reconstruction of a transitory space/waiting room/airport terminal, where the myths are expropriated and experience impossible – a space of airplane magazines, tourist brochures and advertisements where there is only one thing left to the passenger: wait for the promised destination.

Jasmina Cibic was born in Ljubljana, Slovenia in 1979. Graduated from the MA in Fine Art at Goldsmiths College, London in 2006. Works with the Ljubljana gallery Galerija Ganes Pratt. Recent exhibitions in 2008 include: Museum on the Street (Museum of Modern Art Ljubljana), Pilot 3 (Deptford X, London), Natural Relations (SKUC Gallery / City of Women Festival), Shining (Divus, London) and Ideologies of Display (Galerija Ganes Pratt, Ljubljana). Lives and works between Ljubljana and London.

UGM Maribor Art Gallery is the second biggest museum of modern art in Slovenia holding a collection of over 3000 works of art by Slovene artists from the beginning of the 20^th century up to the present day. With special exhibitions UGM presents the greatest names of Slovene visual arts as well as international projects, young rising stars of contemporary art and researches current topics of the art world. Providing greater experience and asking new questions the gallery offers also architecture, design, fashion and science.

casino luxemburg'ta soft manipulation

SOFT MANIPULATION - WHO IS AFRAID OF THE NEW NOW?

Alexandra Croitoru, Köken Ergun, Sagi Groner, Per Hasselberg, Saskia Holmkvist, Andreja Kulunčič, Julia Meltzer & David Thorne, Carlos Motta, Rabih Mroué, An-My Lê, Ferhat Özgür, Jenny Perlin, Lisi Raskin, Bert Theis, Måns Wrange, Carey Young, Katarina Zdjelar, Artur Žmijewski (20.12.2008 – 1.03.2009)

et JANEK SIMON - A SEQUENCE OF EVENTS IN A SPACE (Project Room : 20.12.2008 – 25.01.2009)

on Friday 19 December 2008 from 7 p.m. onwards

The evening will proceed with the performance Tipping Point (site-specific transmission written by Lisi Raskin and performed by Nina Hoffmann) at 8 p.m., followed by Enrico Lunghi’s farewell party in the cellars of Casino Luxembourg. A musical programme by stereomission and snacks will set the tone for the party.
The exhibitions may be visited until midnight.

gus van sant's milk

copy+paste
http://www.wat.tv/video/milk-gus-van-sant-avec-sean-wwdu_g92v_.html

şiddetle tavsiye: necip mahfuz kahire üçlemesi

elli yıl sonra türkçeye çevrildi.
saray gezisi, şevk sarayı, şeker sokağı
tanpınar sularında yaşar kemal hissiyatında
1920'lerde dönüşümün eşiğindeki mısır'da geleneksel bir tüccar ailesinin geçtiği yollar

Hasankeyf Kurtuluyor

Hasankeyf'i sular altında bırakacak olan Ilısu Barajı'na kredi veren ülkelerden Avusturya projeden desteğini çektiğini açıkladı. Avusturya Dışişleri Bakanı Michael Spindelegger, Avusturya ulusal televizyon kanalı ORF'nin ana haber bülteninde yaptığı açıklamada Türkiye'nin gerekli şartları yerine getirmemesi nedeni ile Ilısu Barajı Projesi'nden çekildiklerini açıkladı.

Almanya, Avusturya ve İsviçre'nin Ilısu Barajı için Türkiye'ye verdiği 'kredi desteğini çekme ültimatomunun' süresi dolmadan Avusturya baraj projesinden desteğini çektiğini açıkladı.
Baraj karşıtı aktivistlerin önceki gün Ilısu Barajı'na kredi desteği veren Avusturyalı bankayı işgal etmesinin ardından ulusal televizyon kanalı ORF'nin ana haber bültenine katılan Dışişleri Bakanı Michael Spindelegger yaptığı açıklamada, Türkiye'nin 153 şartın hiçbirini yerine getirmediğini belirterek 'Bir taraf şartları belirlediyse (150'den fazla şart belirlendi) ve bu şartlar yerine getirilmediyse proje finanse edilemez. Benim için Avusturya bu ortaklığa artık son vermiştir' dedi. Aynı programda baraja finans desteği veren Oesterreichische Kontrollbank'ın (OeKB) direktörü Rudolf Scholten de Türkiye'nin projenin şartlarını yerine getirmediğini kabul etti.

Doğa Derneği Kampanya Koordinatörü Erkut Ertürk de yaptığı açıklamada:'Bu Hasankeyf ve Dicle Vadisi'nin çok uzun zamandır beklediği bir haber. Bu karar kampanyamız açısından büyük bir dönüm noktası. Hasankeyfli'ler ile birlikte Doğa Derneği, Türkiye'nin Ilısu baraj projesini iptal ederek bu korkunç hatadan geri dönmesini ve Hasankeyf'in UNESCO'nun Dünya Miras Listesi'ne eklenmesini talep ediyor. Şimdi başta hükümet olmak üzere herkes bu tarihi mirasa ve doğal zenginliğe sahip çıkmalıdır. Başbakan Recep Tayyip Erdoğan böyle bir kararla hem Türkiye'nin doğal ve tarihi mirasına sahip çıkmış, hem de alternatif bir kalkınma vizyonu ortaya koymuş olacaktır' dedi.

curiosity to survive fm: always on the way ama yine ve hep

kudüs doğumlu bir sanatçı arkadaşım şehirden on beş yıl önce göçen annesinin şabat'ta otobüs olmadığına inanamadığını söyledi. şimdi kudüs'te öğrenciler, bürokratlar (başbakan ve cumhurbaşkanının evlerinin önünden geçtim) ve köktendinciler dışında kimse yaşa(ya)mıyor.
bu arkadaşım duvar ötesine geçmiş; her zaman farklı yollar var, bilmek isteyen buluyor.
kalandiya kapısında başımdan geçen iki farklı kontrol olayını anlattığımda işte hep böyle rasgele, düzensiz, yarım bu işler dedi.
bir tarafına bakıyorsun tam anlamıyla "control freak": kibbutzların etrafında iki sıra dikenli tel ve hendek. (bu arada yunanistan polisi atina'daki öğrenci ayaklanmalarını bastırmak için elindeki göz yaşartıcı bomba stoğunu tüketmiş, israil'den alım yapacakmış. israil kontrol teknikleri uzmanı ülke)
öte yanına bakıyorsun duvar var, duvarda delikler var ve insanlar bu delikleri giriş çıkış için kullanıyorlar.
kontrol bazen sıkı, bazen gevşek. bazen yarım saat bazen üç.
öyle de akdeniz lakaytlığı.

yine de olayın iki tarafına da bakabilmek gerekiyor. gazze'ye bir buçuk km uzakta bir kibbutz'da evlerin içindeki çelik duvarlı acil durum odalarını, dışarda bombadan koruyan sığınakları görünce ve 'kimseyi öldürmeyen' bombalardan en günlük olay olarak bahsedilmesini duyunca...

tekrar nereden mi geldi. (zaten hiç aklımdan çıkmıyor da) doha uçağında (tel-aviv'de tanıştığım) aljazeera'da yapımcılık yapan ve birtakım toplantılar için aljazeera merkezine gitmekte olan bir arkadaşımla karşılaşınca.

urban makers book launch at liverpool

Urban Makers – Parallel Narratives of Grassroots Practices and Tensions

Thursday 11th December 2008

Static, Roscoe Lane, Liverpool, L1 9JD

5pm – 6pm

Book Launch of Urban Makers – Parallel Narratives of Grassroots Practices and Tensions, followed by Panel Discussion (please see following page)

Urban Makers – Parallel Narratives of Grassroots Practices and Tensions presents research based on the case-study cities – Istanbul, Liverpool, Marseille and Naples – through essays and projects by artists, architects, urbanists, anthropologists, cultural planners and activists. The four cities were the starting point for the development of a multi-voice discourse that seeks to highlight the complexity of urban space and numerous problematic aspects of its production and representation.

The project analyses the spontaneous and informal practices developed in the urban sphere which are affecting the imaginaries through which the four cities are perceived: parallel economies, temporary occupations of public spaces, unauthorized inhabiting solutions as well as the self-organized actions against gentrification processes. Individuals or small 'communities of circumstance' perform those everyday tactics and acts of resistance within an ever-changing landscape, in which opportunities for spontaneous and unfiltered dialogue with the city are being narrowed down day by day.

Thus, it is by understanding the city dwellers as potential storytellers that the research capitalizes on the specific knowledge carried by people who remain largely invisible within dense urban fabrics. A specific knowledge that, on emerging, is able to re-subjectivise and re-configure the territory.

In this sense these city dwellers can be defined as urban makers, for they are the producers of a fluid, invisible urbanity that stratifies day after day, changes the face of the city, and contributes to building its imaginaries. Moving outside of official circles and mechanisms, they escape statistical analysis and exist as an instance of street-level politics, in constant tension with official policies.

The project has been part-funded by Liverpool Culture Company under the Cities on the Edge Programme. Cities on the Edge (CoTE) is a unique partnership of six European cities: Bremen, Gdansk, Istanbul, Liverpool, Marseilles and Naples. It is a major strand of our cultural celebrations during Liverpool`s year as European Capital of Culture and our major transnational project. These six cities have come together to explore their roles as historic ports and their sense of themselves as city-states, as islands within their nation.

Contributors: Can Altay, Deniz Altay, Cecilia Andersson, Olivier Bedu, Franco Bianchini, Jude Bloomfield, Stéphane Brenier, Danilo Capasso, Martine Derain, Orhan Esen, Deniz Gül, Fabrizia Ippolito, Francesco Jodice, Diana Marrone, Michel Peraldi, Till Roeskens, Imogen Stidworthy, Paul Sullivan

Edited by Emanuele Guidi

Published by b_books Berlin . www.bbooks.de

ISBN 978-3-933557-92-6

Distribution: verlag@bbooksz.de; fax +49(0)30 618 58 10

kutsalın kökü al quds mudur?

A series of recent Israeli actions in the mainly Arab neighborhoods of East Jerusalem have raised tensions there, with Palestinian and Israeli critics contending that they are part of a wider plan to “Judaize” historically charged areas around the Old City.

Baz Ratner/Reuters

Palestinian boys watched as Jerusalem municipal workers demolished a house in Silwan, where tensions are running high.

The actions, ostensibly unconnected, include the demolition of two Arab homes in Silwan, a neighborhood adjacent to the Old City above the ruins of an ancient Jewish site; the start of a controversial infrastructure project there; and the eviction of a Palestinian family from its home in Sheik Jarrah, another neighborhood coveted by Jewish nationalists near the Old City.

None of these actions in themselves are that unusual here. But the spate of high-profile, highly symbolic moves in the past few weeks has reignited concerns that an increasing Jewish presence in Arab areas will further complicate the chances of reaching an Israeli-Palestinian political agreement based on a two-state solution, which calls for a division of powers in a shared capital.

And they come as a new Jerusalem mayor who has vocally supported expansion of Jewish settlements in East Jerusalem takes office.

“East Jerusalem must be the capital of the Palestinian state,” said Hatem Abdel Qader, an adviser on Jerusalem affairs to the Palestinian Authority prime minister, Salam Fayyad. “Israel is trying to create facts on the ground and determine the results before we reach any solution.”

Some believe that the Israeli authorities and Jewish nationalists, who are increasingly gaining footholds in the Arab neighborhoods, are intentionally exploiting the period of political transition in the United States, as well as the political vacuum in Israel before the February elections.

şahane!

extramücadele'nin barış ormanı'nı akıldan çıkarmamalı...
http://www.extrastruggle.com/default.asp?Films=2

www.ramallahunderground.com

günün haberi

yörsan tek gıda-iş'e üye olduğu için 376 işçisini çıkarmış, işçiler de yörsan'a dava açmıştı.
işçilerden 336'sı davayı kazanmış.
mahkeme yörsan'ın inkarına rağmen işten çıkarılma nedeninin sendika üyeliği olduğuna karar verip, işçilerin işe iadelerine hükmetmiş, yargıtay da onamış. yörsan işçileri geri almayı kabul etmezse sıkı bir tazminat ödeyecekmiş.

iyi şeyler de oluyor. ara sıra.
halas.

dere ve nejat satı İDDİALI- 49A'da

bu sefer gidemiyorum ama gürçeşme'ye selam olsun.
49-a.blogspot.com

curiosity to survive fm israil 4: her girişin bir çıkışı var

"ramallah'a international art academy palestine'la tanışmak için,
bethlehem'e isa'nın doğduğu yeri görmek için
nablus'a da künefe yemek için
gittim." ben gurion'dan çıkışta filistin topraklarına girdiniz mi sorusu gelseydi cevabımı hazırlamıştım. kısa bir sorgulamayla durumu atlattık.

nablus'ta da hakikaten künefe yedik, ulviydi. dükkanın adı al-aqsa'ydı.
nablus'a girerken de kontrol kapısından yaya geçip içeriden servislerle şehre devam ediliyor.
iki yüksek tepe arasına kurulmuş şehrin mümkün olan her çıkışında kontrol noktası var.
intifadadan önce en önemli ticaret merkeziymiş.
bankalardan ürdün doları çekip sonra şekele çevirmek gerekiyor.
bana saida'yı hatırlatan eski şehirin labirent sokaklarının her yerinde şehitlerin ve elinde silahla poz vermek isteyen çocukların posterleri var.
şehrin abluka altına alınmasının nedeni kovalamacanın hala devam etmesi. tabii ki israilliller giremiyor nablus'a.
şehri bize gezdiren gönüllü rehberimiz burada her evin israil askerleriyle mutlak bir hikayesi vardır, benim kuzenlerim ve en yakın arkadaşım öldürüldü diye anlattı.
handala hatıratı almak için girdiğimiz dükkanda, hatıratların yanı sıra poşular, silahlar, dvd ve cdler, bir de şehitlerin fotograflarını taşıyan kolyeler satılıyordu.
(kimliği anonim) rehberimiz de en iyi arkadaşının fotoğrafını taşıdığı kolyesini gösterdi. yalnızca çok sinirli olduğu bir keresinde kontrol kapısında kolyesini sorduklarında onu siz öldürdünüz diye ağız dalaşına girmiş.

nablus'ta etraftaki köy ve kasabalardan gençlerin geldiği büyük bir üniversite var. o yüzden çıkıştaki kuyrukta elinde defteri kitabı bir sürü öğrenci vardı. genç erkekler sağ tarafa, kadınlar ve orta yaşlı erkekler de sol tarafa ayrılıp, eli silahlı yüzü sivilceli çocuklar tarafından kontrol edilmek üzere "sürü" halinde bekletiliyor. yarım saat bekledik ama iki üç saat beklemek de olasıymış.

nablus'tan ramallah'a, ramallah'tan kudüs'e, kudüs'ten tel aviv'e yolculuk iki buçuk saat sürdü. arada tepelerin üzerine yerleşmiş, sıkı güvenlik altındaki "yerleşim"ler ve yerleşimlere gitmek için vasıta bekleyenlere öfke...niçin dilini, kültürünü bilmedikleri bu yerdeler; neden buradaki insanları yerlerinden etmek için bu kadar hınçlılar ve zalimler? filistinliler için onlar askerlerden daha da tehlikeli, bir numaralı düşman.
ramallah kontrol noktasında bu sefer otobüste kaldık ne olacağını görmek için (malum benim giriş damgam yok). içeriye şöyle bir bakıp geçirdiler arabayı, öyle gelişi güzel. geri kalan yolcuları bekledik. duvarın öte yanına geçtiğimizde kudüs gerçekliğine alışmak için biraz zaman gerekti. bütün bunlardan steril tel-aviv. gamsız hayat, herkese başka sunar garip oyunlarını.

diane arbus retrospective at kadist

Diane Arbus:
a printed retrospective, 1960—1971

december 6, 2008 — february 8, 2009
This retrospective of the works by Diane Arbus (1923–1971), featured by Pierre Leguillon, is the first organized in France since an exhibition at Centre Pompidou in 1980. It brings together a collection of the New York photographer’s images commissioned by the Anglo-American press in the 1960s.

The exhibition presents the original pages, from the magazines in which the images were published, including Harper’s Bazaar, Esquire, Nova and The Sunday Times Magazine.

The exhibition, a selection from a collection of more than 150 photographs, reveals this particular part of the artist’s work, less known in France, and shows the great variety of subjects dealt with: photo journalism, anonymous and celebrity portraits (Norman Mailer, Jorge Luis Borges, Lilian and Dorothy Gish, Marcello Mastroianni, Mrs. Martin Luther King...), children’s fashion and several “photographic essays”— the images are captioned or commented on by the photographer herself. The choice of presenting the original magazines in the exhibition emphasizes the formal layout choices, and displays the photographs within the original social or political context of that time.

The Printed Retrospective presents itself as an artwork/exhibition/collection, placing the history of photography at the center of reflection, as well as the concepts of original and copy. We can see these images exactly as they were conceived and created by the photographer: in their original format, frame, and relation to the texts.

In addition, Pierre Leguillon creates parallels between these works and a selection of texts or images by other photographers (Walker Evans, Annie Leibovitz, Victor Burgin, Wolfgang Tillmans, Documentation Céline Duval, Matthieu Laurette, Bill Owens) which are direct, or indirect, references to the images displayed in the exhibition, thus underlining the contemporaneousness of this major 20th century work.

curiosity to survive fm israil 3: bethlehem

köken'le batı şeria'nın gidebildiğimiz yerlerini dolaştık son günlerde.
en büyük kent olan hebron'a gidemedik.
gerçi öbür kentler de çekiyor ama hebron'da özellikle yerleşimci işgali büyük sorun.
eski kentte yerleşimcilerin işgal ettiği, israil otoritelerinin çıkaramadığı bir ev üzerine
olaylar, sorunlar devam ediyor.cumartesi günü hebron'daki yerleşimcilere destek vermek için öbür kentlerden gelen üç bin yerleşimci gösteri yapacaktı. kulağına güvendiğimiz kişilerin gitmeyin uyarısı üzerine rotamızı bethlehem'e (beytüllahim) çevirdik.
bethlehem'e taşıtla girilmiyor. kontrol noktasından yaya geçip başka bir vasıta bulmak gerekiyor.
kontrol geçidi tam bir bezdirme mimarisi olarak kurgulanmış. bethlehem'le kudüs arasını duvar ayırıyor. görünen o ki betlehem'e gelen turistler nativity kilisesini ziyaret ettikten sonra betlehem etrafındaki kutsal alanlara gidiyor ve hristiyanların hac yeri sayılan şehir kendi başına getto yaşamına devam ediyor.
ramallah'ta bir sürü faaliyet film festivalleri, kitap fuarı, sanat akademisi projesi, NGO aktiviteleri. bethlehem'de ise blogda daha önce beyrut postaları sırasında andığım "decolonizing architecture" projesi var. (Sandi Hilal ve Alessandro Petti)

http://www.decolonizing.ps/site/
http://movingcities.org/movingmemos/beit-sahour-bethlehem/
http://www.statelessnation.org/

duvarın fotograflarını çektiğimizi gören bir filistinli istanbullu olduğumuzu öğrenince şöyle devam etti sohbete "ben senin elindeki kamerayı alsam senin olan bir şeyi aldığımı bildiğim için uyuyamam. israillilerin bu kadar huzursuz olmalarının nedeni de bizim olan bir şeyi aldıklarını bilmeleri." duvarın her yanındaki "made in usa" graffitilerinin önünde amerikan parası buradan elini çekerse, sanayisi üretimi kendini çekip çevirecek halde olmayan bütün bu sistemin nasıl devam edemeyeceğinden bahsettik. işler tersine döner mi döner.

hikayeleri duyduktan sonra tepelerin üzerinde görünen her ışıl ışıl prefabrik "settlement" (yerleşim) filistin'deki şiddetin gerçek kaynağını gösteriyor. belirlenen sınırların ötesinde yaşayan her israilli "yerleşimci", devletten destek alıyor, gidip gelirken askerler tarafından eskort ediliyor. elektriği suyu bedava alıyor. onlar da mümkün olduğu kadar çok filistinliyi kaçırıp daha geniş alanlara yayılmaya çalışıyorlar. yöntemleri içme sularını zehirlemekten, yolları yerleşimlerinin önünden geçen okullu çocukları taciz etmeye, zeytin ağaçlarını sökmeye kadar varıyor, düşünün.

ps: bir türkiye'deniz istanbulluyuz bu kadar mı yüz güldürür? hep aynı soru "muhannad ve nur'u biliyor musunuz?" ilk başta ayılmadık. hani şu arapların çok sevdiği gümüş dizisi. geçen yıldan beri böyleymiş. hakikaten her yerde kıvanç tatlıtuğ fotoğrafı posteri etiketi, tişörtü, çarşafı ıvırı zıvırı. yazdığı kadar var.

videozone 4 (CCA Tel Aviv)+ koken ergun's tanklove lecture

meet the artist series:
koken ergun presenting tanklove
http://videozone4.divi8.com/eng/Lectures.aspx
+
guy ben ner, hito steyerl, yael bartana and koken ergun on their video collective AFAVA.
http://www.afava.org/beta/

Opening of Videozone 4 at the Israeli Center for Digital Art

VideoZone4, The 4th International Video Art Biennial in Israel will open on Tuesday, 25 November 2008, 8:00 p.m., at the Israeli Center for Digital Art with the exhibition "Speed of Ligh", featuring artists: Romy Achituv, Neil Beloufa, Ohad Fishof, Mark Formanek with Datenstrudel, Leigh Orpaz, the Sala-Manca collective, Guido van der Werve, Guy Bar Amotz.
Curators: Galit Eilat and Eyal Danon

The works in the exhibition"Speed of Light" explore time in the context of time-based art. Video, more than any other artistic medium, addresses and confronts "duration." The very fact that the viewer must observe the work from beginning to end, alongside the fact that a video work, much like a sound piece, has duration demands a different viewing mode than in works which are not operated by either analog, electronic or digital devices. Other works in the exhibition deal with acceleration and deceleration of time and movement, raising questions about time's modes of representation and the cultural and social meanings of our contemporary accelerated society

The new Internet-radio station of the Israeli Center for Digital Art, Radio Halas (www.halas.am), will be launched on opening night

Radio Halas broadcasts programs written by artists, musicians, intellectuals in various disciplines, activists, and critics, reflecting the ongoings in the local field of culture while emphasizing the importance of connecting with various fields operating in the area. The station is a unique, web-based meeting point for the creative wealth and diversity in Israel. It is intended as a channel of discovery, exposure, and contact, setting out to provide a public platform for artistic creation which is denied entry to the usual communication channels, to introduce new, original programs, and concurrently, to serve as archive for previous materials. The radio will operate as a virtual art center which will link the local and the global, while maintaining freshness in all processes of experimentation and investigation

Opening night will also feature the following performances, starting at 21:00, which will be broadcast live on Radio Halas:
Avi Baleli Trio; Uri Katzenstein; Binya Reches; Noam Rotem; Ohad Fishof; Eran Sachs; Assif Tzahar; "Gazezet" - Rani Zager & Nir Levi.

kontrol noktası

servisle kudüs'e geri dönerken turnikelerden geçtik. yabancılar arabadan inmeden de kontrolden geçebiliyorlar da biz o geçiş durumunu paylaşmak istedik.
yazması zor.
turnikelerin önünde kuyruk oluyor. sayıyla içerideki kontrol odasına görünülüyor.
bu arada çantalar aranıyor.
eller scan ediliyor.
insanlar makinadan düzgün geçmedikleri için azarlanıyor
kontrol odası daha şok edici
içeride askerliğini yapan bir grup teenager (biliyorsunuz erkekler üç yıl kadınlar iki yıl yapıyor. her yerde eli beli silahlı üniformalı çocuk görmek baya normal bir durum)
yaptıklarının ne olduğunu anlamadıkları her hallerinden belli

pasaportum ileride yapacağım başka yolculukları zorlaştırmamak için damgasız
yolum kısa evrak-i metrukemin rengi yeşil oldugu icin vizem de yok
haliyle nereden geldin sorusu geldi
gördüğüm bütün karşısında o kadar kanım çekildi ki
karşımdaki teenager kızın
peki biz sizin ne zaman, nasil buraya geldiginizi nasil bileceğiz sorularına zor cevap toparladım
yanımdaki bu durumlara alışık arkadaşım destek verdi sağolsun
insanlar sayılıyor, aranıyor, elleri scan ediliyor
içerideki kontrol çocukları birbirine ipoddan şarkı dinletiyor, sakız şaklatıyor vs...

hacılığın böylesi

doğu kudüs'ten servise binin.
sol tarafına oturun ki duvarla iyice bir yüz yüze gelin.
üç metre yüksekliği, tepesinde elektrikli teller
sürüyor da sürüyor, insanın içi sıkışıyor.
kontrol noktasına yaklaşırken "israel now palestine never"
duvarın öbür tarafı başka
kendi yağıyla kavrulup gidiyor, öbür kentlere göre daha huzurlu olduğu söyleniyor.
ramallah'ın merkez meydanının ortasında eski bir sütun etrafında dört aslan
akşamları yanan mavi elektrik kablolarıyla sütuna bağlı
sütunun tepesinde karpuz bir lamba
üzerinde arafat posterleri (2. ölüm yıldönümü 12 kasımdı)
aslanların üzerinde oturan bir grup erkek tayfa
karşısında 'stars and bucks' kahve dükkanı
meydanın etrafı piyasa
filistin poşusu da hediyelik dükkanlarında satılmaya başlamış.

judith butler'dan obama uzerine

ve de bu vesileyle çok sağlam bir blog

Uncritical Exuberance?
Judith Butler

Very few of us are immune to the exhilaration of this time. My friends on the left write to me that they feel something akin to "redemption" or that "the country has been returned to us" or that "we finally have one of us in the White House." Of course, like them, I discover myself feeling overwhelmed with disbelief and excitement throughout the day, since the thought of having the regime of George W. Bush over and gone is an enormous relief. And the thought of Obama, a thoughtful and progressive black candidate, shifts the historical ground, and we feel that cataclysm as it produces a new terrain. But let us try to think carefully about the shifted terrain, although we cannot fully know its contours at this time. The election of Barack Obama is historically significant in ways that are yet to be gauged, but it is not, and cannot be, a redemption, and if we subscribe to the heightened modes of identification that he proposes ("we are all united") or that we propose ("he is one of us"), we risk believing that this political moment can overcome the antagonisms that are constitutive of political life, especially political life in these times. There have always been good reasons not to embrace "national unity" as an ideal, and to nurse suspicions toward absolute and seamless identification with any political leader. After all, fascism relied in part on that seamless identification with the leader, and Republicans engage this same effort to organize political affect when, for instance, Elizabeth Dole looks out on her audience and says, "I love each and every one of you."

It becomes all the more important to think about the politics of exuberant identification with the election of Obama when we consider that support for Obama has coincided with support for conservative causes. In a way, this accounts for his "cross-over" success. In California, he won by 60% of the vote, and yet some significant portion of those who voted for him also voted against the legalization of gay marriage (52%). How do we understand this apparent disjunction? First, let us remember that Obama has not explicitly supported gay marriage rights. Further, as Wendy Brown has argued, the Republicans have found that the electorate is not as galvanized by "moral" issues as they were in recent elections; the reasons given for why people voted for Obama seem to be predominantly economic, and their reasoning seems more fully structured by neo-liberal rationality than by religious concerns. This is clearly one reason why Palin's assigned public function to galvanize the majority of the electorate on moral issues finally failed. But if "moral" issues such as gun control, abortion rights and gay rights were not as determinative as they once were, perhaps that is because they are thriving in a separate compartment of the political mind. In other words, we are faced with new configurations of political belief that make it possible to hold apparently discrepant views at the same time: someone can, for instance, disagree with Obama on certain issues, but still have voted for him. This became most salient in the emergence of the counter Bradley-effect, when voters could and did explicitly own up to their own racism, but said they would vote for Obama anyway. Anecdotes from the field include claims like the following: "I know that Obama is a Muslim and a Terrorist, but I will vote for him anyway; he is probably better for the economy." Such voters got to keep their racism and vote for Obama, sheltering their split beliefs without having to resolve them.

Along with strong economic motivations, less empirically discernible factors have come into play in these election results. We cannot underestimate the force of dis-identification in this election, a sense of revulsion that George W. has "represented" the United States to the rest of the world, a sense of shame about our practices of torture and illegal detention, a sense of disgust that we have waged war on false grounds and propagated racist views of Islam, a sense of alarm and horror that the extremes of economic deregulation have led to a global economic crisis. Is it despite his race, or because of his race, that Obama finally emerged as a preferred representative of the nation? Fulfilling that representative-function, he is at once black and not-black (some say "not black enough" and others say "too black"), and, as a result, he can appeal to voters who not only have no way of resolving their ambivalence on this issue, but do not want one. The public figure who allows the populace to sustain and mask its ambivalence nevertheless appears as a figure of "unity": this is surely an ideological function. Such moments are intensely imaginary, but not for that reason without their political force.

As the election approached, there has been an increased focus on the person of Obama: his gravity, his deliberateness, his ability not to lose his temper, his way of modeling a certain evenness in the face of hurtful attacks and vile political rhetoric, his promise to reinstate a version of the nation that will overcome its current shame. Of course, the promise is alluring, but what if the embrace of Obama leads to the belief that we might overcome all dissonance, that unity is actually possible? What is the chance that we may end up suffering a certain inevitable disappointment when this charismatic leader displays his fallibility, his willingness to compromise, even to sell out minorities? He has, in fact, already done this in certain ways, but many of us "set aside" our concerns in order to enjoy the extreme un-ambivalence of this moment, risking an uncritical exuberance even when we know better. Obama is, after all, hardly a leftist, regardless of the attributions of "socialism" proffered by his conservative opponents. In what ways will his actions be constrained by party politics, economic interests, and state power; in what ways have they been compromised already? If we seek through this presidency to overcome a sense of dissonance, then we will have jettisoned critical politics in favor of an exuberance whose phantasmatic dimensions will prove consequential. Maybe we cannot avoid this phantasmatic moment, but let us be mindful about how temporary it is. If there are avowed racists who have said, "I know that he is a Muslim and a terrorist, but I will vote for him anyway," there are surely also people on the left who say, "I know that he has sold out gay rights and Palestine, but he is still our redemption." I know very well, but still: this is the classic formulation of disavowal. Through what means do we sustain and mask conflicting beliefs of this sort? And at what political cost?

There is no doubt that Obama's success will have significant effects on the economic course of the nation, and it seems reasonable to assume that we will see a new rationale for economic regulation and for an approach to economics that resembles social democratic forms in Europe; in foreign affairs, we will doubtless see a renewal of multi-lateral relations, the reversal of a fatal trend of destroying multilateral accords that the Bush administration has undertaken. And there will doubtless also be a more generally liberal trend on social issues, though it is important to remember that Obama has not supported universal health care, and has failed to explicitly support gay marriage rights. And there is not yet much reason to hope that he will formulate a just policy for the United States in the Middle East, even though it is a relief, to be sure, that he knows Rashid Khalidi.

The indisputable significance of his election has everything to do with overcoming the limits implicitly imposed on African-American achievement; it has and will inspire and overwhelm young African-Americans; it will, at the same time, precipitate a change in the self-definition of the United States. If the election of Obama signals a willingness on the part of the majority of voters to be "represented" by this man, then it follows that who "we" are is constituted anew: we are a nation of many races, of mixed races; and he offers us the occasion to recognize who we have become and what we have yet to be, and in this way a certain split between the representative function of the presidency and the populace represented appears to be overcome. That is an exhilarating moment, to be sure. But can it last, and should it?

To what consequences will this nearly messianic expectation invested in this man lead? In order for this presidency to be successful, it will have to lead to some disappointment, and to survive disappointment: the man will become human, will prove less powerful than we might wish, and politics will cease to be a celebration without ambivalence and caution; indeed, politics will prove to be less of a messianic experience than a venue for robust debate, public criticism, and necessary antagonism. The election of Obama means that the terrain for debate and struggle has shifted, and it is a better terrain, to be sure. But it is not the end of struggle, and we would be very unwise to regard it that way, even provisionally. We will doubtless agree and disagree with various actions he takes and fails to take. But if the initial expectation is that he is and will be "redemption" itself, then we will punish him mercilessly when he fails us (or we will find ways to deny or suppress that disappointment in order to keep alive the experience of unity and unambivalent love).

If a consequential and dramatic disappointment is to be averted, he will have to act quickly and well. Perhaps the only way to avert a "crash" – a disappointment of serious proportions that would turn political will against him – will be to take decisive actions within the first two months of his presidency. The first would be to close Guantanamo and find ways to transfer the cases of detainees to legitimate courts; the second would be to forge a plan for the withdrawal of troops from Iraq and to begin to implement that plan. The third would be to retract his bellicose remarks about escalating war in Afghanistan and pursue diplomatic, multilateral solutions in that arena. If he fails to take these steps, his support on the left will clearly deteriorate, and we will see the reconfiguration of the split between liberal hawks and the anti-war left. If he appoints the likes of Lawrence Summers to key cabinet positions, or continues the failed economic polices of Clinton and Bush, then at some point the messiah will be scorned as a false prophet. In the place of an impossible promise, we need a series of concrete actions that can begin to reverse the terrible abrogation of justice committed by the Bush regime; anything less will lead to a dramatic and consequential disillusionment. The question is what measure of dis-illusion is necessary in order to retrieve a critical politics, and what more dramatic form of dis-illusionment will return us to the intense political cynicism of the last years. Some relief from illusion is necessary, so that we might remember that politics is less about the person and the impossible and beautiful promise he represents than it is about the concrete changes in policy that might begin, over time, and with difficulty, bring about conditions of greater justice.

emily jacir wins hugo boss prize

Carol Vogel reports in the New York Times that Emily Jacir has won the Hugo Boss Prize. Jacir, a thirty-seven-year-old artist of Palestinian descent who produces photographs, videos, sculptures, and drawings that address themes of belonging and displacement as they relate to Palestinian identity, will be awarded one hundred thousand dollars. The Hugo Boss Prize was established in 1996 by the Guggenheim Museum and is given every two years for significant achievement in contemporary art. In addition to the monetary award, the prize includes an exhibition of the winner’s work, which will be shown at the Guggenheim from February 6 to April 15.

The other finalists this year included two Swiss artists: Christoph Büchel and Roman Signer; two Americans: Patty Chang and Sam Durant; and the Danish artist Joachim Koester. Jacir, who divides her time between Ramallah and New York, won the Golden Lion Award for an artist under forty at the 2007 Venice Biennale. Her work there, a room-size installation in the Italian Pavilion, documented the assassination of the Palestinian intellectual Wael Zwaiter by Israeli agents in Rome for what they believed was his role in the massacre of Israeli athletes in the 1972 Summer Olympics. Using photographs, objects, texts, and interviews, Jacir created a narrative that reflects on her own anguish over the Middle East. Nancy Spector, the Guggenheim’s chief curator and a member of the Boss Prize jury, said, “Although her work is clearly very political, she deals with her topic in a sophisticated, unique fashion that transcends politicized art. It’s complex, poetic, and open-ended. And the fact that she can operate from both Palestine and the United States allows her to have a broader overview, which I think is really important.”

heavy juxtapositions

curiosity to survive fm will broadcast more from israel very soon.

gunun sozu

where there is no life lies a possibility of new life, teaches the dead sea...

yes to ACTION! yes men's fake ny times edition

A fake edition of the New York Times announcing the end of the Iraq war has been handed out to commuters in the US.

More than 1m free copies of the 14-page "special edition" newspaper were distributed mainly in the cities of New York and Los Angeles.

Another bogus story was about all Americans being given free health care.

A liberal group called the Yes Men, well known in the US for its practical jokes, claimed responsibility for the elaborate prank.

The fake paper - dated 4 July 2009 - had a motto on its front page which read "all the news we hope to print".

The hoax was accompanied by a web site that mimicked the look of The New York Times's real website.

A page of the spoof site contained links to dozens of liberal organisations, which were also listed in the print edition.

The fake edition surprised commuters, many of whom took the free copies thinking they were legitimate.

Later, the Yes Men issued a statement claiming responsibility.

"In an elaborate operation six months in the planning, 1.2m papers were printed at six different presses and driven to pre-arranged pickup locations."

The statement added that thousands of volunteers helped to distribute the fake edition.

A spokeswoman for the newspaper, Catherine Mathis said "This is obviously a fake issue of The Times. We are in the process of finding out more about it."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7725973.stm

saturday supplement: jeremy deller interview on the occasion of "d'une révolution a l'autre"

jeremy deller her ne kadar kendisi siradan bir sergi dese de palais de tokyo gibi bir yere "bir devrimden bir baskasina" gibi bir sergi yerlestirerek kurumsal sanatsal beyaz kup estetigine meydan okuyan bir tavir koyuyor. geleneksel dedigine, gunluk ve gorunmeyene bir kere daha donup bakmamiza sebep oluyor.

sergi ingiltere'deki geleneksel halk performanslarindan, hapishanede cizilen resimlere, yine ingiltere'deki alternatif halk hareketlerinin flamalarindan, fransiz pop-rocki icin pek kiymetli olan golf druot arsivinden, sovyetlerde elektronik muzik yapma denemelerine, ziggy stardust endustri devrimi baglantisindan, "bilinmedik" bir sanatcinin birtakim gunluk utopya yaratma eylemlerine ziplayarak kafa aciyor. fotograflari yakinda burada...

www.zerodeux.fr

In 1996, Jeremy Deller was part of the group exhibition Life/Live at the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris. His participation was rather quiet : a few posters were hung in the cafeteria but also outside the museum on the notice board that now belongs to the Palais de Tokyo. This spot was a lucky one. Twelve years later, the Palais is giving him a “carte blanche” for an exhibition. In the meantime, Deller won the prestigious Turner Prize in 2004 and created with Alan Kane, the Folk Archive, a detailed and surprising documentation of contemporary British popular practices.

You were given a carte blanche for your coming exhibition at the Palais de Tokyo. How did it happen ? Were you entirely free?

I was approached by the director of the Palais de Tokyo a few years back but I didn’t really think about it seriously until last year. You do have artistic freedom more or less but I think the major curtailment on the artist is the budget.

In 1996, Hans Ulrich Obrist invited you to exhibit just in front of the Palais de Tokyo at the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris. The small booklet of the show was made of photographs and mysterious quotations in French like “L’oreille est le chemin du cœur”. What was it about?

Those were quotes by philosophers about music, religion with images from pop music and pop culture. In the cafeteria, I displayed posters advertising forthcoming shows that existed in my mind. It had the look of a student notice board, it was messy basically. This project was part of the exhibition Life/Live about artist-run spaces in the UK. Now that I think about it, I also displayed alternative posters outside of the museum on the notice board right in front of the Palais de Tokyo.

At the Palais de Tokyo you’re going to show the Folk Archive which is a collection of objects and photographs from the British folk culture. Can such an archive travel and be understood in another country such as France?

Yes of course it can be appreciated. It’s like saying ‘can Delacroix be understood by the English?’ Because something is very English/French whatever doesn’t mean it does not translate, this is a different language to the written word. The Folk Archive already travelled to Serbia and Switzerland and people enjoyed it and found it very entertaining. There is a universal element to it, you don’t need a translation. And some things in the archive are unusual for English people as well.

Why did you decide to show the Folk Archive in Paris?

Well, for practical reasons it is a big ready made exhibition that could at least begin to fill the huge space that is the Palais de Tokyo, so it seemed natural to do. It is also interesting to show a very British thing outside of the Motherland as it were.

Will this Folk Archive be different from the one you exhibited in 2005 at the Barbican in London?

The display will be the same, the order might change a little. The version for Paris is an expanded version, there will be six shows in total. Ed Hall, a banner maker, is getting his own retrospective of banners made in the last twenty five-years. Most banners are for trade unions and pressure groups and in some respects tell a story about social history of the last twenty years. There will be an exhibition on the French rock scene and the story of Golf-Drouot, a Parisian night club from the early sixties late fifties, another one about the industrial revolution in Britain and its relationship to pop music and also a show about early electronic music in Russia.

The Folk Archive is often described as objects made by amateurs, not by artists. Does the status of these objects matter to you?

I’m not interested in getting into authorship, amateur, folk, etc arguments. That’s probably because I didn’t go to any art school, for me the rules for being an artist did not exist. I think there is a massive snobbery about art and who is and who isn’t an artist. For example, State Britain by Mark Wallinger was restaged as an artwork but the critics loved it. But if for example they had the original object in Tate, a lot of those critics wouln’t have liked it. That’s the kind of snobbery you’re against when you’re showing the Folk Archive and you’re actually showing the original thing, you’re not showing an artist’s interpretation of it.

Do you think that’s the reason why the Folk Archive got really bad critics in the UK?

Absolutely so, they could not believe they had to review a show of artworks by people they didn’t know and who were anonymous. They lost some kind of authority and in a way it threatened themselves. One reviewer was so angry that she said “By showing this work in London in a gallery you are depriving real artists for space to show their work”. We couldn’t think she was being serious but she was. There is a real moment where you think, oh shit, that’s what the art world is really about…

Did some critics think you were actually making fun of the people shown in the Folk Archive ?

You always get that ! That’s the first thing they say, that we are exploiting those people and that they don’t realize what’s happening when they have their work shown. But the people you see in the archive know their work is funny. Most critics think those people are not as intelligent as everyone else because they’re not artists or in the artworld or in London. In the exhibition, there will be one show about the industrial revolution in Britain and in some way, it’s about loosing contact with the countryside. There is a suspicion of things made in the countryside.

Any favorite objects or pictures from the archive?

The mechanical elephant was a moment of revelation when we both saw it, also we got to know the person that made it. The sick notes too I like, an unexpected find for the show. But on the whole, the things we remember most and we liked most is when we met the people who made things and spent time with them, that was the biggest bonus.

Were you already politically engaged during your studies in the eighties?

Not particularily, the college was not political and the whole atmosphere was a bit depressing in the UK, there was no end in sight. Politically, the eighties were really tough in America and in Britain. We were basically under some kind of weird dictatorship by accident. We were led by a person who was very unsympathetic and who disliked a lot of people in the country and made it clear. The eighties were just grim. There was massive unemployment, the music scene was very bad, popular music after 1985 was awful. It was just not very glamourous.

Then you met Andy Warhol in 1986…

That was my equivalent of three years in art college compressed into three weeks. I was at the Factory and I just absorbed what he could achieve as an artist. It was amazing, this man just did what he wanted. Forty years ago, I probably could never have become an artist but now I can and that’s because people like Andy Warhol allowed it. He just showed what being a 21st century artist meant.

Parades are a recurring motif in your work. You seem to enjoy public events.

I’m just drawn to public displays of any kind, parades are very appealing because of the music and also they hold a mirror up to daily reality. It’s not unusal. I think everyone enjoy public events, we’re all curious people. It’s part of human nature to be curious and interested in something happening in the streets or in the public sphere in general, it’s part of our social makeup.

Parades and exhibitions are both public events. Do they have something in common for you?

Not really, exhibitions are only semi public in my opinion. For instance, the entrance is not free. And then on the other hand, art exhibitions are now treated like spectacular events, people expect that from art exhibitions. This exhibition in Paris is definitively not spectacular, it is a very traditionnal exhibition with just objects and images.

Most of your projects involve people from different background such as fans of the Manic Street Preachers and more recently miners for your film The Battle of Orgreave.How do you connect with such a wide range of people?

I just try to get on with them and to be honest, that makes me sound horrible! Its not unusual it’s something a lot of people have to do on a daily basis, maybe I should have been a priest !

Jeremy Deller, D’une révolution à l’autre, exhibition at the Palais de Tokyo, Paris, 26 September 2008 - 4 January 2009.