This guy is inspirational.
"There were two abnormalities in the last century in our region. The first abnormality was colonialism. And the second abnormality was the Cold War, which divided the societies, the countries, which divided our region. The first abnormality, colonialism, in the 1930s, 40s and 50s, divided the region into colonial entities and separated the natural links between tribes and communities. For example, Syria was a French colony, while Iraq was a British colony. The link between Damascus and Baghdad, the historical link, was cut off. The economic links were cut....
"If we understand this natural flow of history, that there is a need to reconnect societies, communities, tribes, ethnicities, sects in our region, they will lose the momentum of the history. Those who understand correctly, they will be the leading force of the history....
"If these are the principles - self-confidence as a psychology principle, change and transformation as a sociological principle, balance between security and freedom, transparency, accountability, rule of law, continuity of social and political institutions, protecting the territorial integrity of our countries. If these are the principles for how to respond to this transformation then what is the long term strategy - the vision for our region? When Middle East as a concept is being used in international forum, the reference will usually be there - tensions, conflicts, Middle Eastern tensions, Middle Eastern conflicts, underdevelopment etcetera. In fact, this is not true.
"This is a typical orientalism. Our region has been the centre of civilizations for not decades, not centuries, for millenniums. No city in our region has a history less than 2,000 years. We had a strong civilisational backgrounds. When there was political authorities or political systems in our region, there was not even village and town in some parts of Europe. We have a strong civilisational background in the sense of the formation of political system, political thought, political philosophy. We have strong economic resources. If today, there is no use of natural resources of the Middle East, world economy would collapse. And we have a strong experience of multicultural life experience in our region so we have all the potentials of political and economic background."
Research for an exhibition in Amman, Jordan from May 4 - June 4, 2011. Co-curated for apexart by Toleen Touq and Eric Gottesman.
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
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