On Friendship/ (Collateral Damage) III - The Third GaLUT: Baghdad, Jerusalem, Amsterdam
7 September 2019 - 19 January 2020
On Friendship/(Collateral Damage) III – The Third GaLUT: Baghdad, Jerusalem, Amsterdam (7 september 2019-19 januari 2020) is an aesthetic and poetic research into the cities Baghdad, Jerusalem and Amsterdam, which has been conceived by artist Joseph Sassoon Semah and curated by Linda Bouws (Metropool International Art Projects). All these cities are said to have been tolerant at some time in their history, but how does that relate to ‘otherness’ and what does it mean today?
The project focuses on two lines of thought. The first is what Semah calls ‘The Third GaLUT’, the third Exile, a metaphor for disconnectedness. The second is ‘The Guest’ - someone who is allowed to live and work in a foreign context tests his surroundings by articulating his particular position in exile without any reservations. The Guest becomes Host. By this process Semah investigates one of the greatest achievements of human civilisation: hospitality. Joseph Sassoon Semah translates his cultural and visual heritage, and its subtext, into contemporary art. While doing so he reassesses and redefines lost heritages.
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The project will translate the cultural heritage of Baghdad, Jerusalem, and Amsterdam, with the help of the different ‘Guests’, into a meaningful experience for a broad audience.
In On Friendship/(Collateral Damage) III - The Third GaLUT: Baghdad, Jerusalem, Amsterdam, Joseph Sassoon Semah shares his lost rich Babylonian cultural heritage and asks the public to review their own art, culture, traditions and identity. This will take place mainly in 36 public locations in Amsterdam.
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There will be new pieces of art, performances, debates, lectures, round-table discussions, video-interviews, a publication in English, articles on diverse platforms, and a research report as well as a video report. Simultaneously in Amsterdam (The Hermitage), Baghdad (in front of the Meir Tweig Synangogue) and Jerusalem (Jerusalem Biennale 2019) a small house will be built: MaKOM in MaKOM.
On Friendship/(Collateral Damage) III – The Third GaLUT: Baghdad, Jerusalem, Amsterdam was realised in part with the support of AFK, BPD Cultuurfonds, Lumen Travo Gallery, Mondriaan Fonds and Redstone Natuursteen & Projecten.
http://rozenbergquarterly.com/category/meritis_makom/and http://www.josephsemah.nl/onfriendship3/index.html
Photo: Ilya Rabinovich
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