The Iraq Pavilion
at the 53rd Venice Biennale
June 4 - 6, 2009
Giardini, Arsenale and urban space
I Need Love
art communication and survey by Kadhum
curator: Riccardo Lisi
Iraq Pavilion, founded in 2003 during the Venice Biennale
as individual artistic project, presents I NEED LOVE, art
communication by Kadhum, Milan-based artist born in Iraq
(1961).
His performance will be carried out in the entire Biennale
and urban space and will include tools of art communication
and social survey.
A deafening cry has risen since the civilization of man
was born. A sharp cry, but it seems that no ear is able
to perceive it. Love Love Love. Everything was based on
this noble “sentiment”. Upon it were born religions,
novels were written and billions of words were wasted. Life
is born from a simple instinctive gesture of love. The earth
needs the sun to continue to live, the sun also needs the
earth to continue to exist. We can create an endless list
of exchanges of unselfish love, from which a seed becomes
a tree, the bees produce honey having loved a flower. Only
the society of mankind is incapable of applying this natural
concept and has diverted its existence to the reasoned thinking
and away from their instinct. It is the primary need for
all that lives to confirm their existence: “Amo ergo
sum”.
The artist will perform “begging for love”,
with a cardboard bearing the inscription “I NEED LOVE”,
wandering in the Biennale during the opening days. The visitors
will have a questionnaire to be filled out. To the love
request they will answer: I can give:
A handshake / A hug / A kiss / Sex / Money / Nothing / My
life / Other ...
The collected data will be processed also by demographic
and social cluster (age range, sex, domicile nation, ethnical
group, work, and so on). All the collected information’s
will be published on www.artnow.it
where the project is already present in the form of
poll.
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Italiano
Iraq Pavilion, istituito nel 2003 durante la Biennale di
Venezia come progetto artistico individuale, presenta I
NEED LOVE, intervento di art communication realizzato da
Kadhum, artista di Milano, nato in Iraq (1961).
La performance sarà eseguita nell’intera area
della Biennale e nello spazio urbano di Venezia e comprende
strumenti di comunicazione e di indagine sociale.
Un grido assordante si alza da quando è nata la
civiltà degli uomini. Un grido forte, ma sembra che
nessun orecchio sia in grado di percepirlo. Amore Amore
Amore. Tutto si è basato su questo nobile "sentimento".
Su di esso sono nate le religioni, si sono scritti romanzi
e si sono sprecate miliardi di parole.
La vita nasce semplicemente da un gesto istintivo d'amore.
La terra ha bisogno dell'amore del sole per continuare a
vivere, e reciprocamente il sole ha bisogno dell'amore della
terra per continuare ad esistere. Si può creare un
elenco infinito di scambi d'amore disinteressato: dal seme
che diventa albero, alle api nel produrre il miele dopo
aver amato un fiore.
Solo la società degli uomini è incapace di
applicare questo naturale concetto ed ha deviato la sua
esistenza verso il pensiero ragionato, allontanandosi dal
proprio istinto.
E' il bisogno primario per tutto ciò che vive ed
indispensabile per confermarne l'esistenza: "Amo ergo
sum".
L’artista eseguirà la performance “mendicando
amore”, con un cartello recante la scritta “I
NEED LOVE" e percorrendo la Biennale durante i giorni
d'inaugurazione. Al pubblico verrà distribuito un
brevissimo questionario da compilare, la cui risposta alla
richiesta d’amore sarà:
Posso dare:
una stretta di mano / un abbraccio / un bacio / sesso /
denaro / niente / la mia vita / altro…
Le informazioni raccolte verranno poi elaborate anche in
base alle caratteristiche demografiche e sociali dei rispondenti
(fascia di età, sesso, nazione di residenza, etnia,
professione, …). Tutte le informazioni saranno poi
pubblicate su www.artnow.it
dove il progetto è già presente in forma di
sondaggio.
info:
info@iraqpavilion.com
info@artnow.it
+39 335 354589
Photo by Max Falsetta Spina 2009
Shifting Identities - (Swiss) Art Now
Curator:Mirjam Varadinis
Kunsthaus Zürich
6.6 - 31.8.2008
Permit F
A performance with a group of refugees
A project by Al Fadhil
With the collaboration of Hayder Almusawi
Saturday August 30th 2008
Starting point: Zürich HB exit Bahnhofstrasse at 2pm
The Swiss confederation is known as a land of asylum. Because
of its neutral policy and its solidarity laws, the land
has hosted in its cantons many people who have left their
countries of origin for political or religious reasons,
or because they belong to ethnic and racial groups. In the
Swiss Parliament, particular decrees were established in
order to regulate the temporary admittance of refugees according
to their situation. The permit granted to the refuge-seekers
falls within category F.
Having sought a refuge in Switzerland, in the hope of having
peace, they have found themselves holding the controversial
class “F” permit, which allows only limited
freedom. According to chapter 11 of article 83, certain
rights are granted to the refugee, but actually these are
rules of control, which often contradict the principles
of transparency and solidarity.
The artist breaks the circle and invites the exiles to
a peaceful and creative public demonstration inside the
museum. Art is a free territory, it offers the possibility
of reflection. Its power conveys a sense of belonging, of
being a citizen of a world without permits and frontiers.
Saturday August the 30th, at 2pm, a group of refugees with
their relatives and friends, from different nationalities
and all with an armband bearing the symbol of the project,
will walk from the Zurich central station, crossing the
Bahnhofstraße, and proceed towards the Kunsthaus.
Each person will carry a sign with a slogan referring to
permit F, the Swiss flag or various symbols of the associations
engaged in the defence of their rights.
Many thanks to:
the inspirer of the project Hayder Almusawi, Lugano
the refugees with permit f and their friends
my counsellor Riccardo Lisi
Franco Marinotti / PLAY platform for Film & Video, Lugano
& Berlin
Daniela and Guido Guidici / ConsArc Gallery, Chiasso
The people at the Museo Cantonale d’Arte di Lugano
TSI Televisione della Svizzera Italiana, Lugano
Giona Mattei, Soccorso Operaio, Lugano
ZBA Züricher Betratungsstelle für Asylsuschende
Giuditta, Lugano
and my teachers, friends and relatives dead or surviving
in Iraq
Further information: www.shifting-identities.ch www.alfadhilhussain.blogspot.com/
info@iraqpavilion.com
An idea, a course of action, an communicative
act based on the reality of the facts. I Repeat A Question
is a legitimate interrogation that seeks its space in our
mind amidst a daily life a in transformation so rapid as to
make us forget our own kind, our neighbours. If the contemporary
world stimulates us continually with its messages and its
communication, there must still exist the possibility of repeating
a question. The same question as always. The world transforms
itself, even Iraq transforms itself, moves in a direction
that is more and more tragic and becomes more and more forgotten
by the world artistic scene, but unforgotten of course by
war profiteers. We would have liked to show an empty petrol-tanker
in dock, entitled “Iraq Issue Pavilion” in this
biennale, but politics wouldn’t allow it, so the only
thing that remains is to repeat the same question: I Repeat
A Question.
