ArtZone Palestine
(In memory of Layan Shawabkeh)The establishment of this independent platform came in the midst of the brutal genocidal war on Gaza, which, with its brutality and lawlessness, shook the little remaining faith that the peoples of the world had in the “international order” founded by the West after World War II. This war has undermined all that has come from this order—its institutions, charters, laws, values, literature and rhetorics—as their credibility shattered before the official explicit and implicit support of the West for this war, its complicity, and its silence regarding its crimes, along with its denial of the Palestinian people's long-standing resistance and struggle for freedom and liberation from the settler colonialism of their country.
The horrors witnessed globally- killing, starvation, extreme violence, and deep wounds inflicted on Palestinian blood and dignity, broadcast live as humanity witnessed them in real-time, also has the potential to unsettle many dominant cultural, ethical, and aesthetic concepts and to prompt a reevaluation of the attachment to Western cultural centrality, especially in the Global South, and particularly in Palestine. Inevitably, this shift will impact future alliances, partnerships, and models of cultural and artistic production—not only in Palestine but potentially in broader circles.
ArtZone Palestine seeks to reflect on the evolution of Palestinian art through exploring multiple artistic experiences, particularly those marginalized within the cultural and artistic framework, due to various reasons. These may include the dominance of a particular cultural discourse, particular aesthetic norms, or the ability of or the institutional capacity to capture and engage with alternative perspectives. The goal is to retrieve and reconsider these works, including those that were destroyed, stolen, or obliterated in wars or in the context of resisting occupation, to restore their deliberately lost existence.
ArtZone Palestine will also seek to capture any indications of transformations that the field of Palestinian visual arts is bound to witness in the wake of the genocidal war, a second turning point in Palestinian history. These transformations may first appear in other creative fields that may be more capable of processing this harsh collective human experience, marked by unprecedented images of pain, suffering, resilience, resistance, and solidarity, and the potential disruption, devastation, and destruction that have shaken the core and conscience of humanity.
Just as the Nakba represented a critical turning point and a severe rapture in the trajectory of Palestinian culture and a break with the discourse that led to it, so too must this war mark a new critical shift, whose cultural and artistic manifestations are still too early to predict.
Therefore, through the efforts of its dedicated team, ArtZone Palestine will offer space to present a variety of artistic experiences, that illuminate the complex layers of the cultural landscape, Palestinian art history, and its evolution. It will also raise questions about specific moments in contemporary Palestinian history, building a body of reflective and critical literature to enrich dialogue on relevant artistic and cultural concepts and phenomena.
The platform sees itself as an initiative open to development and collaboration with all parties and initiatives that share the same orientation, even if their tools and approaches differ, through cooperation, networking, and creating new openings, it aspires to advance the Palestinian visual arts scene and deepen available knowledge about it.
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Razan Shawabka | Founder and Director
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Dalia Taha
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Eman Sharabati
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Mahmoud Abu HashHash
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Salman Nawati
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Taghrid Abdelal