Jayce Salloum : There Was and There Was Not (Kan ya ma Kan)

Ra'ad shows how Salloum's installation multiplies formal, political, and social relationships within objects collected during a sojourn in Lebanon in 1992-1993. In an interview with Dion, the artist comments on his working process and the importance of the "conceptualization of the perceived political and social exigence." 1 bibl. ref

...East of Here... (Re)Imagining the "Orient"

Salloum provides a general context for "...East of Here..." by examining the political and cultural relations between the Middle East and the West. Bringing together works by artists from diverse backgrounds creates a multi-layered exhibition concerned with issues of cultural identity, postcolonialism, and neocolonialism. Kawaja's paper focuses on how representations of "Arab" women affect women's rights activists in the Middle East and North America. Marks questions the stereotypical representations of the "Orient" produced in the West. Hassan's analysis of the relationship between cultural production and economics focuses on questions concerning ideology, authoritarianism, and neo-orientalism. Artist's projects by Vogwill and Thorne. Brief descriptions of videotapes, films, and installations. Biographical notes. 54 bibl. ref

Settler-Colonialism, Memoricide and Indigenous Toponymic Memory: The Appropriation of Palestinian Place Names by the Israeli State

Cartography, place-naming and state-sponsored explorations were central to the modern European conquest of the earth, empire building and settler-colonisation projects. Scholars often assume that place names provide clues to the historical and cultural heritage of places and regions. This article uses social memory theory to analyse the cultural politics of place-naming in Israel. Drawing on Maurice Halbwachs’ study of the construction of social memory by the Latin Crusaders and Christian medieval pilgrims, the article shows Zionists’ toponymic strategies in Palestine, their superimposition of Biblical and Talmudic toponyms was designed to erase the indigenous Palestinian and Arabo-Islamic heritage of the land. In the pre-Nakba period Zionist toponymic schemes utilised nineteenth century Western explorations of Biblical ‘names’ and ‘places’ and appropriated Palestinian toponyms. Following the ethnic cleansing of Palestine in 1948, the Israeli state, now in control of 78 percent of the land, accelerated its toponymic project and pursued methods whose main features were memoricide and erasure. Continuing into the post-1967 occupation, these colonial methods threaten the destruction of the diverse historical cultural heritage of the land

Interarchive : Archivarische Praktiken und Handlungsräumr im zeitgenössischen Kunstfeld = Interarchive : Archival Practices and Sites in the Contemporary Art Field

The archive is examined as facility and metaphor in this publication documenting the exhibition-project “Interarchiv” organised by Obrist and Feldmann in co-operation with the Kunstraum der Universität Lüneburg. In the book’s three sections, the first documents the exhibition and its organisation, the second contains reflections on the archive from different disciplinary perspectives, and the third presents 63 instances of contemporary archiving practices in the field of art. Texts in German and English, with three in French and German. Biographical notes. Circa 500 bibl. ref