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Qalandiya International 2018 Launch Date And Theme Released
By Phoebe Tam
The fourth edition of Palestinian biennial art festival Qalandiya International will open on October 3, 2018, under the theme of
On June 12, Qalandiya International announced in a press release that its fourth edition will open on October 3, 2018, under the theme of “solidarity.”
The Palestinian biennial contemporary art event, which comprises exhibitions, performances, talks, film screenings, workshops and walking tours, will be spread across multiple sites, including Jerusalem, Gaza, Ramallah, Al Bireh, Birzeit, and a number of Palestinian villages. Occurring alongside the biennial will be collateral events in New York, London, Beijing, Düsseldorf and Johannesburg.
Founded in 2012, Qalandiya International aims to “place Palestine on the world’s cultural map and open up channels of dialogue and exchange, both locally and internationally,” as well as to “work collectively to join forces to unify a fragmented geography,” the official website states. Qalandiya International is partnered with a number of non-profit contemporary art organizations, such as the AM Qattan Foundation, based in London and Ramallah, and Darat al-Funun – Khalid Shoman Foundation in Amman.
On this year’s theme, Qalandiya International commented: “The notion of ‘solidarity’ has been synchronic with the history of the Palestinian struggle against successive colonial structures and regimes, although not always in perfect tandem with it. In Palestine, the term ‘solidarity’ has been, and still is, a buzzword in the struggle for liberation from consecutive colonial administrations. Its forms and ideological stances have morphed over time and geography, rising and sinking with the tides of change in the form of the struggle for freedom. The notion of the shared thoughts, values and objectives that bind us is stirred to re-energize and re-investigate meanings of solidarity and collectivism—values that have allowed Palestinian society to resist and stay alive for decades.”
According to the organizers, dozens of Palestinian and international artists are set to participate in Qalandiya International 2018, though a list of names is yet to be released.
The fourth edition of Qalandiya International will run until October 30, 2018.
Phoebe Tam is an editorial intern of ArtAsiaPacific.
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