Samah Hijawi and Reem Shilleh took the Ramallah Clubs Network (of the Palestinian diaspora in the USA) as a starting point to reflect on the intricacies and complexities of the Palestinian diaspora and their manifestations. They will explore the experience of being in diaspora and exile and how this formulates one’s relationship to home and homeland. Often, members of the diaspora reconnect through community centres, festivals and events in order to continue their cultural practices, and keep the community connected. But beyond sharing food, dance and conversation, what intangible elements do these gatherings transmit? What are the other forms and tools that are used to understand this convoluted relationship between here and there? In the face of Palestine’s settler colonial reality how have they contributed to direct and indirect forms of resistance, narrative formations and acts of remembering?

In a series of conversations broadcast online on Radio Al Hara every Thursday of the month of October, Hijawi and Shilleh will be speaking with colleagues, artists, filmmakers, social activists, and friends from different geographies, whose work is connected to or influenced by their diasporic/exilic experience and desire to reconnect.

EN - In the fourth conversation of the The Ramallah Club Network Reem Shilleh and Samah Hijawi are speaking with Rasha Salti and Kristine Khouri about the complex relationship between the diaspora and solidarity networks in the 1970’s that were built around, through and beyond the Palestinian struggle for liberation. Rasha and Kristine are curators of the documentary and archival exhibition Past Disquiet in its multiple iterations, which is based on their extensive research of the art and exhibition making in the 1960's and 1970's that exist well outside the canon, and namely the 1978 International Art Exhibition for Palestine, a number of museums in exile, Chilean and South African amongst others.

FR - Dans cette quatrième conversation de The Ramallah Club Network Reem Shilleh and Samah Hijawi s’entretiennent avec Rasha Salti et Kristine Khouri à propos des relations complexes entre la diaspora et les réseaux de solidarité des années 1970 qui se sont construits autour, à travers et au-delà de la lutte pour la libération de la Palestine. Rasha Salti et Kristine Khouri sont les commissaires du documentaire et de l’exposition archivistique Past Disquiet, qui a connu différentes occurrences. Ce projet est basé sur leurs recherches à propos de l’art et des expositions produites en dehors des canons esthétiques en vigueur dans les années 1960 et 1970, et plus particulièrement sur l’International Art Exhibition for Palestine de 1978, ainsi que sur un certain nombre de musées en exil, chiliens et Sud-Africains notamment.

NL - In het vierde gesprek van de The Ramallah Club Network onderhouden Reem Shilleh en Samah Hijawi zich met Rasha Salti en Kristine Khouri over de complexe relatie tussen de diaspora en solidaire netwerken die zich in de jaren ’70 rond, door en buiten de Palestijnse vrijheidsstrijd ontwikkelden. Rasha en Kristine zijn curatoren van de documentaire en archieftentoonstelling Past Disquiet die herhaaldelijk te zien was en die gebaseerd is op hun diepgaand onderzoek van de kunsten en de tentoonstellingsopbouw die zich ook buiten de canon ontwikkelden in de jaren ’60 en ’70.  Voorbeelden hiervan zijn de International Art Exhibition for Palestine uit 1978, een aantal museums in ballingschap, waaronder de Chileense en de Zuid-Afrikaanse.

A project by Samah Hijawi and Reem Shilleh, initiated and coproduced by Kunstenfestivaldesarts 2020 in the context of The Diasporic Schools / Production: Kunstenwerkplaats

More info: https://kfda.be/en/festivals/2020-edition/programme/the-ramallah-club-network/