ALTO EL FOC #5. Destruction; workshop with Adania Shibli and Shareef Sarhan

We present the fifth session of Alto el Foc, a series of gatherings driven by artists, resident projects, and Hangar to continue sustaining a space of attention, denunciation, and action in the face of the genocide that the state of Israel is carrying out in Gaza and its siege on the Palestinian population in the West Bank. We continue to insist on the urgent need for a ceasefire and the condemnation of the unbearable crimes against the Palestinian community and the land of Gaza, which seem increasingly irreversible and irreparable. We continue to strive to keep spaces open for conversation and mobilization against disaffection.

Destruction; workshop with Adania Shibli and Shareef Sarhan
Sixth-century Arabic epic poetry required each poet to begin their poem from a site of destruction. For this workshop, Adania Shibli (writer) and Shareef Sarhan (artist) suggest taking the concept of ‘destruction’ to look beyond the idea or pretense of reconstruction, as an inspiration to work and reflect together on how to embark from destruction towards new possibilities of engagement and consideration. Taking destruction as a place to explore new possibilities, especially artistic ones, appears as a vital concept right now given the razing of Gaza and the destruction of Shabaeebk, an art centre co-founded by Shareef Sharnan and one of the two most important art centres offering support and space to artists in the strip.

Adania Shibli
Adania Shibli was born in Palestine in 1974. She has been writing novels, plays, short stories and narrative essays, which were published in various anthologies, art books, and literary and cultural magazines in different languages. She has twice been awarded with the Qattan Young Writerʼs Award-Palestine in 2001 for her novel ‘Masaas’ (En. ‘Touch’, 2009), and in 2003 for her novel ‘Kulluna Ba’id bethat al Miqdar aan el-Hub’ (En. ‘We Are All Equally Far from Love’, 2012). As a co-curator of the symposium ‘A Journey of Ideas Across: In Dialogue with Edward Said’, which took place in 2013 in the House of World Cultures in Berlin, she invited artists and thinkers to reflect on the work and legacy of the literary theorist and critic Edward Said, and was the editor of a multimedia publication with the same title.

Shibli’s latest novel, تفصيل ثانوي‎, ‘Tafṣīl Thānawī’, (2017; cat ‘Un detall menor’ Navona Ed, 2024; Sp. ‘Un detalle menor’ Hoja de lata Ed.2019, En. ‘Minor Detail’ Fitzcarraldo Ed., 2020) begins in the summer of 1949, one year after the ‘Nakba’ (this word is used in Arabic to describe the expulsion of more than 700,000 Palestinians from Palestine in the aftermath of the establishment of the state of Israel). Israeli soldiers capture a young Bedouin teenage girl, rape and kill her, and then bury her body in the sand. Many years later, it is this ‘minor detail’ that captivates a woman in Ramallah while stumbling across this story. ‘Tafsil Thanawi’ is a reflection on language, war, violence, and the Palestinian experience of displacement and life under occupation.

Shareef Sarhan
Shareef Sarhan was born in Gaza in 1976 and is a visual artist and photographer. He is a founding member of the collective Shababeek for Contemporary Art and a member of the Association of Palestinian Artists. Sarhan received his diploma in Arts from the University of ICS in the United States. He participated in Darat Al Funun Academy in Jordan under the supervision of the artist Marwan Kassab Bachi. He received the Bronze Award from the Festival of Arab Photographers in 2008 and the Recognition Award in 2007. Sarhan produced the photobook ‘Gaza Live’ in 2012. His work was exhibited in 2022 in Berlin, Gaza, Ramallah, Bethlehem, Jerusalem, Amman, Britain, and the United States.

About Shababeek Contemporary
Shababeek for Contemporary Art was an artist-founded space specializing in the exhibition of contemporary art. It was a non-profit art space that was established in 2009 by young professional artists. It supported Palestinian artists residing in the Gaza Strip and presented Palestinian art to the world. It also worked on strengthening the role of young artists and developing their contemporary tools and mediums through their participation in exhibitions, workshops, meetings, residences and through offering production grants. Shababeek Contemporary was destroyed since the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip (2023–present).

Practical Information
Date: Tuesday, June 4th
Time: from 6:30 to 8:30 pm
Location: Former offices / Ricson Room, Hangar
Participants: 15 to 50 people
Language: English
Registration fee: Pay what you want – The fundraising will be donated to solidarity and support projects for Palestine.
Pre-registration required here.

– This workshop is aimed at the community of artists and writers.
– To attend the workshop, you will need to bring in advance a paragraph about preliminary reactions to the workshop proposal.

 

Image: Destroyed site of Shababeek

Simultaneously, La Escocesa is organizing another Alto el Foc meeting: on the upcoming May 31, they will present “Palestinian Resistance,” a special session with Tariq Al7arir “the Silk Road” and Kleo La Faraona. The meeting will focus on Palestinian resistance, aiming to explore different types of resistance and for each person, from their own place, to reflect on what individual or collective resistance dynamics can be exercised.