FAAH 229E Project Interview Questions, Spring 2012

1-In your work, Where We Come from, Memorial to 418 Villages, Lydda Airport, Servees, Material for a Film…you have addressed a Palestinian history in all aspects like cultural, political, existential and social. Do you believe that your art carries the responsibility of changing existing socio- political perceptions? Do you believe that your art addresses a historical amnesia concerning the Palestinian people, given that they are always viewed in association with political conflict and not as a people who have a heritage or even who are simply human? 2-In your work, life and art intersect. You reconcile art with activism, the aesthetic with the political, the social ,and the existential, but you do it within such simplicity that it engages not only artists or professionals, but also a wide variety of publics as well. For example, the contrast between Crossing Surda and From Texas with Love is deeply moving, simple but intense. Clearly, it is not political propaganda and draws attention to basic human rights, the ability to move, freedom and maybe even human dignity. How doWhat are some of the formal, aesthetic and conceptual strategies with which you achieve this link between reality and art or thought and action and convey a complex issue through such simplicity? 3-Since your work is internationally viewed, is it always correctly understood by the West? I will quote Walid Sadek’s comment concerning how the West viewed some Lebanese works when he said, “Form and not necessarily the content was often the forum for a Western audience. I know a few instances where the familiarity of the form allowed a kind of interpretation that is completely irrelevant to the work and the content in which it was made”. Have you ever faced such situations with your work? 4-A very intriguing work is Translate Allah. I noticed that your work is not religious, so Translate Allah definitely has a different message. Is the Palestinian God different? 5-Your work, especially in the US, such as the Sexy Semite or even Christmas 2000, are very daring and can lead to great controversy. I am interested to know how these works were received by the Western audience. (I read about the lobbying effects concerning your works at the Ulrich museum of art in Wichita state university, Kansas). 6- Your work shows that you are not against art outside galleries. For example Servees is site-specific. Do you think art is viewed differently in a gallery and outside? Who is your audience in Servees? Does it go beyond the generation who lived the age of free mobility? 7-You create dramatic impact and present the Palestinian’s cruel conditions of life without resorting to violent images. On the contrary, you use peaceful images. For example, in Where we Come from the innocent wishes and violence free photos, or even the book pages pierced by bullets, in Material for a Film, stray away from revenge and are rather eye-openers. At the same time, these works have a dramatic impact on the viewer in that they engage him emotionally, and lead him to rise above the emotional level and form an opinion. Some artists (for example Abbas who? and the Iranian revolution) resort to very violent images to achieve this. How do you achieve such dramatic impacts, or what inspires you to achieve such moving impacts through such simple and nonviolent art?Do you think this strategy of using non-violent images is more effective? 8-What or where in your opinion is the dividing line between art and documentation? How do you produce art that carries or conveys the history of your people, but at the same time is individualistic and not simply a mirror to events? 9- In you Creative Time’s Global Residency speech, it is evident that you are not just a Palestinian or a US citizen. You are a citizen of the world. You are involved in issues like the Bangladeshi conditions of life in Italy, racism, the Mafia…Do you consider creating art in these contexts or may be extend your art to the present conditions in the Arab world? 10-In the same speech, I noticed the Arabic writings on the street signs, which reminded me of Stazione and the Arabic translations of the names of the stations and which was canceled. Did these writings surprise you? Why was Stazione canceled? Do you think Italian or maybe Western dialogue with Palestinians in particular is a taboo? 11-Your work deals with the before (past), and the now (present). What about the after (future)? Do you have a future vision? Can art break the Green Line?