The Third Mediterranean Biennale. Out of Place

The Third Mediterranean Biennale. Out of Place
June 30–December 16, 2017
Opening: June 29, 2017

"Some men see things as they are and they ask why Others dream things that never were and ask why not."
–Bernard Shaw

The Mediterranean Biennale vision is to promote peace through art activities for building a mutual trust in the area by strengthening co-operation based on equality and reciprocity.

The idea of the Mediterranean Biennale is to bring a new approach in the area through artistic activity hoping to create a base for human dialogue and coexistence between communities that live in conflict promoting peace education, tolerance and non-violence.

The Biennale's aim is to bridge gaps in the perception of the other and encourage diversity in order to create an environment where individuals and groups of diverse religion and ethnicity share common values and coexist peacefully. Through art we hope to overpass regional politics and disputes by emphasizing artistic creation and universal human feelings based on vision, human respect with the hope of coexistence in peace for a better future for life.

The Third Mediterranean Biennale offers an alternative platform which emphasizes the local processes being created in the region and enhances their cultural impact by means of art directed toward the community, art that bridges cultures, emerges from the museum walls, integrates into the city and turns the city into a museum.

The Mediterranean Biennale will serve as a venue for raising issues such as: How to restore art to the public; what is the relevance of art in today's consumer society; and art as a bridge between cultures.

The Mediterranean Biennale is held in the Sakhnin Valley, in Israel in the communities of Misgav, Sakhnin, Arraba and Deir-Hanna creating a course of various places, people and congregations that are exposed to the general public by means of art while instigating a platform for dialogue. Widening the Biennale creates a channel for cooperation between communities living in the area under the concept of a face-to-face rather than a back-to-back situation.

The Mediterranean Biennale will take place under the title Out of Place.

Out of Place relates to issues of identity, place, time and individualty in an era of global culture while critically addressing the topics of place, local identity and culture in view of the changes occurring today. The exhibition Out of Place aims to establish a dialogue between people and create a place where everyone can have their say in a discussion where there are no winners or losers. The exhibition reminds us that we are not independent of the manner in which the present refugee crisis is developing: we are part of the crisis but we are also part of its possible solution. The nature of the exhibition Out of Place can be one that highlights disillusionment and hopelessness, or on the contrary one that opens up possibilities of acting against current incitement by means of solidarity, common ideals and sense of community.

The Mediterranean Biennale is organized by AMOCA The Arab Museum Of Contemporary Art, Sakhnin, Israel.

List of artists:
Hamra Abbas, Adel Abdessemed, Rashid Al-Khalifa, Lela Ahmadzai, Hazem Alzoubi, Carlos Amorales, Samar Awadieh, Mahmoud Badarny, Yto Barrada, Avital Bar-shay, Nathalie Bikoro, Daniele Buetti, Jordi Colomer, Abdulla Dehabra, Burak Delier, Elmgreen & Dragset, Belu-Simion Fainaru, Günther Förg, Thomas Galler, Moshe Gershuni, Tal Granit&Sharon Maimon, Majooda Halabi, Damien Hirst, Jenny Holzer, Pierre Huyghe, Muhammad Kallash, Bouchra Khalili, Lisbeth Kovacic, Jannis Kounellis, Moshe Kupferman, Sigalit Landau, Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Shahar Marcus, Olivia Mihălţianu, Nardina Mugaizel, Sener Ozmen, Walid Raad, Pipilotti Rist, Şerban Savu, Meinrad Schade, Zineb Sedira, Angelika Sher, Sudarshan Shetty, Fiona Tan, Sérgio Téfaut, Cengiz Tekin, Isam Telhami, Lisa Trutman, Yigal Tumarkin, Samira Wahabi, Jola Wieczorek, Kai Wiedenhöfer, Tomasz Wendland, Rui Xavier, Akram Zaatari

Director & curator: Belu-Simion Fainaru
Co-director & curator: Avital Bar-shay

Belu-Simion Fainaru artist, curator and initiator of the Mediterranean Biennale since 2008. In 2015 he initiated AMOCA, the Arab museum of contemporary art in Sakhnin. Belu-Simion Fainaru‘s works were exhibited at the Documenta in Kassel, the Venice Biennale, the Sonsbeek Biennale in Holland and the Biennale in Havana, Cuba. Previous solo exhibitions include Israel Museum in Jerusalem, S.M.A.K. Museum in Ghent, M HKA in Antwerpen, Lehmbruck Museum in Germany and Saitama Museum in Japan. He is a guest lecturer at universities in Belgium and Japan, and is teaching at the Wizo Art Academy, Haifa, Israel.

Avital Bar-shay artist, curator and initiator of the Mediterranean Biennale since 2008. In 2015 she initiated AMOCA, the Arab museum of contemporary art in Sakhnin. Avital Bar-shay exhibited in Israel and abroad. She has vast experience in public space projects and works as a cultural entrepreneur. She is teaching at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology .