Casa Árabe has organized a round table discussion to mark the presence in Madrid of artists Motasem Siam and Lara Salous, three days before the closing of the exhibition.

With over 13,000 visits since it was first opened in Madrid in the fall of 2023, the exhibition “Tadafuq: Palestinian artists in motion" will be coming to an end on the upcoming date of February 11. The fifteen artists were selected from among over 100 candidates by way of a contemporary art initiative held in Palestine as part of the prestigious European program “European Spaces for Culture” by the EUNIC, which has three local partners: Alhoash (Jerusalem), Sakakini (Ramallah) and GUCC (Gaza), along with three international partners: The Consulate of Spain in Jerusalem/AECID, The French Institute in Palestine and The British Council in the Occupied Territories, in close collaboration with the EU Delegation in Palestine.

Casa Árabe has organized a round table discussion to mark the presence in Madrid of Motasem Siam and Lara Salous, who are currently taking part in artist-in-residency programs as a part of the TEJA Program, a network of artist-in-residency programs which welcomes men and women creators in situations of vulnerability resulting from armed conflicts or emergency situations. Taking part in the round table discussion are Nicolás Combarro, the exhibition curator, and Robert Kieft, a representative of EUNIC’s “European Culture Spaces. It will be presented by Karim Hauser, coordinator of Casa Árabe’s Cultural Programs.

Lara Salous’ work reflects on the craft of spinning, in a series of interviews with several women from different regions in Palestine, showing the skill in making handicrafts and the wealth of their oral storytelling. She also addresses the threat to this local craft as a result of the colonization of the material realm, constituting a widespread form of Israeli occupation in Palestine. At the same time, in Motasem Siam’s work exhibited at Casa Árabe, the artist creates a sincere, moving portrait that examines the diverse realities and challenges faced by the new generations of Palestinians forced into exile, in this case in relation with queer identity.

Lara Salous is a Palestinian multimedia artist and design researcher based in Ramallah. She uses painting, graphics, videos and artistic installations in her works. She is concerned with the intersection between Palestinian interiors, local materials and industry. For the past two years, Salous has used wool as a forgotten raw material once essential in the local Palestinian heritage. She has shed light on contemporary designs that can be made locally from this fabric. The result came in the form of wool chairs and loom chairs that combine originality with the contemporary nature of the material and traditional weaving patterns.

Motasem Siam is a contemporary Palestinian artist based in al-Quds/Jerusalem, where he settle and continues to reside. With a bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts from the Bezalel Art and Design Academy earned in 2020, Siam stands out for using a wide range of media, including videos, performance art, objects and sound media, to create installation pieces that include prefabricated and found sequences, films and digital media. Open to the diverse media of our era, he often turns to materials themselves and the richness of materiality. To find inspiration, he turns to the concept of identity and to the dreams and memories of his childhood, whether triggered by nostalgia, special events or others which are self-explanatory.

Further information: https://en.casaarabe.es/event/closing-round-table-“tadafuq-palestinian-artists-in-motion”