The Mobile Archive at Parsons

The Mobile Archive: The Israeli Center for Digital Art, Holon
Tuesday, September 15, 2009 - 6:30-8:00 p.m.
Parsons The New School for Design
Kellen Auditorium, Sheila C. Johnson Design Center
66 Fifth Avenue, New York City
Admission: Free
www.newschool.edu/vlc

In conjunction with the North American debut of the Israeli Center for Digital Art’s Mobile Archive, Art in General and the Vera List Center for Art and Politics co-host a conversation between Galit Eilat, founder of the archive and director of the Israeli Center for Digital Art, and Ramallah-based curator and art historian, Reem Fadda.

Eilat and Fadda consider the role of art as a tool for civil disobedience and passive resistance that affects its surroundings, wielded by individuals during times of social or political distress. Within this context they discuss Liminal Spaces, a long-term project examining the possibility of joint action in light of the ever-growing existential hardship of Palestinians living under Israeli occupation. Video works that were produced during this project will be on view at Art in General as part of the Mobile Archive, a cross-national library of video art.

Galit Eilat is a writer, curator, and the founding director of the Israeli Center for Digital Art, Holon. She is co-editor in chief of Maarav, an online arts and culture magazine, as well as academic advisor of the curatorial program at the Technion Extension, Institute of Technology Israel. She lives and works in Tel Aviv. Recently, she has curated and co-curated exhibitions including: Speed of Light, VideoZone, the Fourth International Video Art Biennial in Israel; Never Looked Better, the Nahum Goldmann Museum of the Jewish Diaspora Tel-Aviv; and Chosen, a collaboration between Wyspa Institute of Art and the Israeli Center for Digital Art. Eilat has written for several books, catalogues, and magazines such as ArtPress, Vector Magazine, Lettre International and more. She has co-edited the books 'Never Looked Better' and the recently published 'Liminal Spaces'. She has participated in numerous panel discussions and given lectures and screening programs at Kuda, Centre Pompidou, Van Abbemuseum, Nova Gallery, and other venues and festivals.

Reem Fadda is a Ramallah-based curator and art historian. Fadda was Director of the Palestinian Association for Contemporary Art (PACA) between 2005-07 and worked as Academic Director to the International Academy of Art – Palestine, which she helped found in 2006, as part of her approach in broadening the perimeters of curatorial experience towards education. She co-curated and been involved in many projects revolving on contemporary topics in the Middle East, especially those pertaining to architecture, space and geopolitics, such as Liminal Spaces 2005-08, Ramallah Syndrome, which is showcased in the Venice Biennial 2009 and Tarjama/Translation currently on view in the Queens Museum of Art. She is the author of "Palestinian Women Artists: The Land = The Body = The Narrative", 2007. She received her MA in Curating from Goldsmiths College, London and was currently awarded the Fulbright Scholarship to pursue her PhD in History of Art and Visual Studies at Cornell University, where her research focus is contemporary aesthetic theory and practice of the Middle East.

About the Mobile Archive exhibition at Art in General
From September 24 to October 17, 2009, Art in General will present the North American debut of the Mobile Archive, an international collection of hundreds of video artworks assembled by the Israeli Center for Digital Art, Holon. The Mobile Archive has been traveling the world since its first stop at the Kunstverein in Hamburg in 2007 and includes artists such as Candice Breitz, Koken Ergun, Guy Ben-Ner, Jumana Emil Abboud, Omer Fast, Ruti Sela, Yoshua Okon, Yael Bartana, and Mark Lewis.

Art in General is the only U.S. venue for the Mobile Archive. The exhibition will be presented in multiple formats: visitors will be able to select and watch any video from the archive in the Project Space; view specially curated screenings by independent curators Regine Basha, Adina Popescu and Chen Tamir; as well as attend daily screenings of work by featured artists from the archive.

Opening Reception Thursday, September 24, 2009 from 6-9 pm
Please check www.artingeneral.org for further information.