Sous la plage
Marc Villanueva and Gerard Valverde with Mohammad Bitari
Marc Villanueva and Gerard Valverde. Art Jove 2016 action project. Mentoring process: Mireia Sallarès
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At first, the Arab Spring uprisings were viewed sympathetically in the West, which associated them with its own movements on behalf of democracy and freedom (such as the Prague Spring and May ’68), or it took them as the inspiration for its own movements today (15-M and Occupy Wall Street). With the subsequent turn of events, these hopes were utterly dashed: the outbreak of civil wars with a high degree of international participation, mass migrations to Europe, an even direr threat of terrorism... What discourses are produced or mobilised based on these events? How do these discourses and the images behind them grab hold of public opinion?
This piece strives to articulate an artistic space in the guise of a performance, featuring the Syrian-Palestinian journalist Mohammad Bitari, in which these discourses are analysed and questioned. The piece starts with the tension between the discourses and images of power (created and disseminated by the media) and the intimate, subjective discourse of the performer, who casts doubt on them. The piece therefore confronts the distance between the European interpretation of the conflict and Bitari’s personal experience, as his life is permeated by these events.
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Bòlit Centre d'Art Contempoani Girona, in conjunction with the Sala d’Art Jove of the Government of Catalonia, presents the action project chosen in the Art Jove 2016 call for proposals, Sous la plage.
Sala d’Art Jove presents their 2016 collaborations with the art centres of Catalonia via the SALA D'ART JOVE ONLINE.
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