Our Concept

Our Concept

At the turn of the 20th century, the Hejaz, a narrow-gauge railway built south from Damascus to transport pilgrims to Mecca during the Hajj, represented a tangible, if utopic, dream of a united region during Ottoman rule. Part divine aspiration, part vehicle for political gain, the train was designed to extend existing railways from Istanbul through present-day Turkey to Syria, Jordan, Palestine and Saudi Arabia and, finally, to the holiest cities of Islam. A decade later, the British, eager to replace the Ottoman Empire with its own, initiated what would become decades of European battles in the region. The dream was finally obliterated: Lawrence of Arabia and a Bedouin army repeatedly blew the railway apart during WWI. It never recovered but the tracks still remain.

We Have Woven the Motherlands with Nets of Iron investigates what is left of the withered dream to transcend physical and metaphysical borders after the rise and fall of empires. Having endured wars and conquests, the trains persist, limping along, rented out to nostalgic tourists and enthusiasts. Trains, like Arab unity itself, have a romantic geography: nearly obsolete, valued for historical symbolism, begging to be updated or made once again relevant. In contrast, various countries in the region are initiating modern railway systems that can reconnect citizens to the landscape.

In examining dichotomies between history and current nationalisms, the exhibition We Have Woven the Motherlands with Nets of Iron will make use of contributions from artists and historians from each of the five countries of the Hejaz (from Jordan, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Syria) to produce performances on movable platforms, archival projects using remnants of the rail lines and other installations, all of which will take place on the rails in Jordan.

The exhibition is part of Apexart’s Franchise project for 2011, and will run from the 4th of May until the 4thth of June 2011. The exhibition is curated by Eric Gottesman and Toleen Touq.

Photo of the train wreck in the Nefud Desert of Saudi Arabia by Jerry Miller, 70images.com

Thursday, February 24, 2011

A different kind of border

To go to Palestine from you Jordan, you should:


  1. Take a shared sarvees taxi from the Tabarbour station in north Amman to the King Hussein Bridge crossing in the Jordan valley. Time: approx 30 minutes
  2. Register your passport and wait for the minibus to take over to the Israeli side
  3. Arrive at the Israeli side, check in your luggage for mass inspection, move into the main building and check your hand luggage into X-Ray machine and yourself into electromagnetic bars.
  4. Move into the queue for ID checks. The officer stamps your exit permit from the last time you left Palestine. You might be told to update your ID card if your picture on it was taken when you were 15 years old.
  5. After that, move into queue for another passport and ID check.
  6. Pick up your luggage and exit Israeli building.
  7. Buy bus ticket from Israeli building to Jericho and board the bus
  8. On the way to Jericho rest house, stop at Palestinian Authority check point. Palestinian officer enters bus and collects everyone’s ID cards.
  9. Wait for around 15 minutes inside the bus, or go out for some fresh air or a cigarette. While there, Palestinian officer might come to you and ask for your Jordanian passport and where you live.
  10. Palestinian officer comes back into bus and hands everyone their IDs back by calling out their names.
  11. Continue with the bus to the Jericho rest house. Leave bus and head to taxi stop. Take a shared taxi to the city you need, in my case, Ramallah, with 5 other passengers. Time to Ramallah: approx 1 hour 15 minutes

To return to Jordan from Palestine, it’s even more complicated:


  1. Before leaving Ramallah, you must issue a permit to leave Palestine. You need to pay 65 Shekels and have a passport photo to attach to the orange and white form.
  2. Take shared taxi from Ramallah to Jericho rest house (and possibly get fined for not wearing your seatbelt in the back seat by surprise Israeli police check)
  3. Pay Israeli exit fee of 146 Shekels.
  4. Queue for ID exit permit check with Palestinian officers. They stamp permit.
  5. Wait for bus to take you to the Israeli side.
  6. Board bus and pay your bus ticket.
  7. Arrive at Israeli checkpoint. Leave bus and remove all metal items and enter electromagnetic bars. Go back to bus.
  8. Arrive at Israeli building. Enter electromagnetic bars at entrance.
  9. Queue for X-ray machine check.
  10. Proceed to ID and exit permit check. Stamps on permit.
  11. Leave and board Israeli bus. At some point before this the Israelis take your exit fee receipt but I don’t remember when.
  12. Ride with Israeli bus to luggage stop, exit, pay bus fee for the next bus, pick up your luggage if you had checked it in on the Israeli side, board another Israeli bus to Jordanian side. On this bus you have to put your luggage inside the special compartment in the bus. The Jordanians will not allow you to exit the bus on their side with your luggage.
  13. Ride through the border and no man’s land, where you might see Israeli soldiers conducting land mine sweeps.
  14. Arrive at Jordanian side. Exit as Jordanian officers checks your passport and bridge crossing card. This is yellow if you are a permanent Jordanian passport holder or green if you are a temporary Jordanian passport holder or a Palestinian passport holder.
  15. Pick up a number and wait to be called to Jordanian ID and passport check counter.
  16. Answer questions about where you live to Jordanian officers. No stamps here except marking date of your entry on your bridge crossing card.
  17. Proceed to pick up luggage but get your passport checked one last time by Jordanian officer while joking about whether you are Palestinian or Jordanian.
  18. Pick up luggage. Pay 25 fils for luggage handling.
  19. Pass by custom officers drinking tea and smoking cigarettes.
  20. Exit building and take shared taxi to Amman with your friend that you saw last night by coincidence in Ramallah and that has accompanied you on this trip.
  21. Arrive home.
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