JiscMail Logo
Email discussion lists for the UK Education and Research communities

Help for POETRYETC Archives


POETRYETC Archives

POETRYETC Archives


POETRYETC@JISCMAIL.AC.UK


View:

Message:

[

First

|

Previous

|

Next

|

Last

]

By Topic:

[

First

|

Previous

|

Next

|

Last

]

By Author:

[

First

|

Previous

|

Next

|

Last

]

Font:

Proportional Font

LISTSERV Archives

LISTSERV Archives

POETRYETC Home

POETRYETC Home

POETRYETC  April 2011

POETRYETC April 2011

Options

Subscribe or Unsubscribe

Subscribe or Unsubscribe

Log In

Log In

Get Password

Get Password

Subject:

Re: Sharjah Director Jack Perekian's dismissal

From:

Patrick McManus <[log in to unmask]>

Reply-To:

Poetryetc: poetry and poetics

Date:

Wed, 13 Apr 2011 15:37:42 +0100

Content-Type:

text/plain

Parts/Attachments:

Parts/Attachments

text/plain (63 lines)

The petition thingy would not open :-(

-----Original Message-----
From: Poetryetc: poetry and poetics [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Stephen Vincent
Sent: 12 April 2011 21:38
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Sharjah Director Jack Perekian's dismissal

This may be of interest to this list: 

As you know by now, the director of the Sharjah Biennial, Jack Persekian, who was widely respected by many artists and curators, was fired �on orders from Sheik Sultan bin Muhammad al-Qasimi,
the ruler of Sharjah,
because of the local outcry (read: misunderstanding) surrounding Mustapha Benfodil�s installation. Here is a very touching and eloquent letter from the artist in response:
�
Because art is free to be impolite�



��������It is with a profound astonishment that I have heard that Mr. Jack Persekian, director of Sharjah Art Foundation, has been dismissed as �punishment� for allowing an artist invited to the Sharjah Biennial total freedom of expression. I am the artist
 in question. In this thrust, my installation � Ecritures sauvages � [It has no importance/Wild Writings] has been censored and removed from the Biennial. In writing this press release, I wish to express my profound indignation after this shameful act and my
 solidarity towards Mr Persekian and his fantastic team.


���������I would like to clarify matters concerning the piece I presented at the Sharjah Biennial. Since the central theme of this 10th edition is betrayal, I wanted to question through my installation the resonance and dissonance between a writer and his society.
 As such, the installation works on three levels: texts, sound and graffiti. The central piece is a parody of a football match involving 23 headless mannequins. The T-shirts worn by one team are printed with extracts of my writings (novels, theatre, poetry),
 whereas the other team contains a hybrid of material taken from Algerian popular culture and other urban signifiers (songs, jokes, popular poetry, recipes, board games, etc). Of course, my texts (particularly the graffiti) are not terribly �polite�. In fact,
 I refer to the extent of social and political violence that surrounds me. This is what my literature feeds off.



It is perhaps a fault of mine to have naively believed that life is not polite. And that art is free to be impolite and impertinent.



��������The incriminated text is a monologue (The Soliloquy of Sherifa) which is taken from my play � Les Borgnes � [One-Eyed People], which has been performed in many countries, cities, festivals, in Paris, Marseille, Aix-en-Provence, Montreal, and in Algiers
 also (part of my series �� Pi�ces d�tach�es � Lectures sauvages � / Spare Parts-Wild Readings). Audience member and a part of the organisers have criticised this text as obscene and blasphemous. May be the words and the description can be interpreted as pornographical.
 The truth is that this sequence is an hallucinatory account of a young woman�s rape by fanatic Djihadists claiming to be of the same radical Islamism experienced in my country at the culminating point of the Civil War in the 1990s. The words may be chocking
 but that is because nothing is more shocking than the rape itself and all the words of the world can not tell the atrocious suffering of a mutilated body � and what is told here is sadly not a fiction. This has been interpreted as an attack against Islam.
 Allow me to clarify that Sherifa�s complaint refers to a phallocratic, barbarian and fundamentally liberticidal god. It is the god of the GIA, the Armed Islamic Group, this sinister sect which has raped, violated, massacred, tens of thousands of Sherifa in
 the name of a pathological revolutionary paradigm, supposedly inspired by the Coraniq ethics. Without wanting to justify myself, I must simply underline that my own Allah has nothing to do with the devastating destructive divinities claimed by the Algerian
 millenarian movements, those legions of Barbarian Beards who have decimated my people with the active complicity of our security apparatus.



Finally, I would like to add that at this particularly intense juncture for Arab societies, it appears rather regrettable to spoil this opportunity to place Liberty at the heart of the debate and deal with the future from this point. Indeed, the curatorial
 team of the Sharjah Biennale highlighted the impact and pertinence of this challenge in tandem with the march of Arab peoples towards democracy. As such, I would like to pay homage to the curators, Rasha Salti, Suzanne Cotter and Haig Aivazian for their exceptional
 work and for trusting me.



It seems to me a good sign of the cultural and political healthiness if Art meets the street and artists listen to the whispering of the real life. Moreover, a bit of imagination in positions of power is rather welcome. I really hope that, in its impetuous
 course, this cycle of Arab revolutions, which has shaken our tyrannical and medieval political regimes, will challenge our imaginaries, tastes, aesthetic canons and thought processes. May it contribute to refresh our signs and words. Our guardians of virtue
 would rather meditate this beautiful arab Democratic Spring and stop repainting the walls every time a kid draws on his insolent dreams.



Mustapha Benfodil, Writer.

Algiers 6 April 2011
There is a petition that you can sign here�http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/sharjahcall4action/�if
 you would like to show your support.�
�

Top of Message | Previous Page | Permalink

JiscMail Tools


RSS Feeds and Sharing


Advanced Options


Archives

March 2024
February 2024
January 2024
December 2023
November 2023
October 2023
September 2023
August 2023
July 2023
June 2023
May 2023
April 2023
March 2023
February 2023
January 2023
December 2022
November 2022
October 2022
September 2022
August 2022
July 2022
June 2022
May 2022
April 2022
March 2022
February 2022
January 2022
December 2021
November 2021
October 2021
September 2021
August 2021
July 2021
June 2021
May 2021
April 2021
March 2021
February 2021
January 2021
December 2020
November 2020
October 2020
September 2020
August 2020
July 2020
June 2020
May 2020
April 2020
March 2020
February 2020
January 2020
December 2019
November 2019
October 2019
September 2019
August 2019
July 2019
June 2019
May 2019
April 2019
March 2019
February 2019
January 2019
December 2018
November 2018
October 2018
September 2018
August 2018
July 2018
June 2018
May 2018
April 2018
March 2018
February 2018
January 2018
December 2017
November 2017
October 2017
September 2017
August 2017
July 2017
June 2017
May 2017
April 2017
March 2017
February 2017
January 2017
December 2016
November 2016
October 2016
September 2016
August 2016
July 2016
June 2016
May 2016
April 2016
March 2016
February 2016
January 2016
December 2015
November 2015
October 2015
September 2015
August 2015
July 2015
June 2015
May 2015
April 2015
March 2015
February 2015
January 2015
December 2014
November 2014
October 2014
September 2014
August 2014
July 2014
June 2014
May 2014
April 2014
March 2014
February 2014
January 2014
December 2013
November 2013
October 2013
September 2013
August 2013
July 2013
June 2013
May 2013
April 2013
March 2013
February 2013
January 2013
December 2012
November 2012
October 2012
September 2012
August 2012
July 2012
June 2012
May 2012
April 2012
March 2012
February 2012
January 2012
December 2011
November 2011
October 2011
September 2011
August 2011
July 2011
June 2011
May 2011
April 2011
March 2011
February 2011
January 2011
December 2010
November 2010
October 2010
September 2010
August 2010
July 2010
June 2010
May 2010
April 2010
March 2010
February 2010
January 2010
December 2009
November 2009
October 2009
September 2009
August 2009
July 2009
June 2009
May 2009
April 2009
March 2009
February 2009
January 2009
December 2008
November 2008
October 2008
September 2008
August 2008
July 2008
June 2008
May 2008
April 2008
March 2008
February 2008
January 2008
December 2007
November 2007
October 2007
September 2007
August 2007
July 2007
June 2007
May 2007
April 2007
March 2007
February 2007
January 2007
December 2006
November 2006
October 2006
September 2006
August 2006
July 2006
June 2006
May 2006
April 2006
March 2006
February 2006
January 2006
2005
2004
2003
2002
2001
2000


JiscMail is a Jisc service.

View our service policies at https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/policyandsecurity/ and Jisc's privacy policy at https://www.jisc.ac.uk/website/privacy-notice

For help and support help@jisc.ac.uk

Secured by F-Secure Anti-Virus CataList Email List Search Powered by the LISTSERV Email List Manager