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written
Jan. 20, 2007 All
of us have shared concerns and reservations for this project. The political
circumstances in the UAE are by no means the worst in the world; however,
at least when one reads about the Emirates, it appears as though there
could be no more ideal situation for corporations. A state as not only
a shelter for corporations, but a state as a corporation. Its citizens,
the few, its shareholders. Foreign workers (who have little or no rights)
comprise the majority of the workers in the country. For these same
reasons, however, we have been extremely curious about Sharjah and Dubai
and the social, ecological, political, and economic conditions in the
area. We have by now made our preliminary visit in the beginning of this year. Over 95% of the workforce in the UAE is foreign, non-national, non-citizen. For us, this is a staggering fact which points a very awkward and ominous direction for the future. Our work will focus on the voices of these legal and undocumented workers. We also hope to shed some light on the very concept of voice. We begin our work with the simple concept of recording songs from the workers - from pakistan, india, afghanistan, bangladesh, china, iran, egypt, syria, palestine, iraq, phillipines, ... to call attention to their voices, which politically speaking remain unheard. What unfolds in the process is a series of encounters and disjointed glimpses into the possible future of laborers worldwide. More about Sharjah Biennial 8 For a great article on Dubai please read Mike Davis's: FEAR
AND MONEY IN DUBAI The Sharjah Biennial 8 (SB8) will present various attempts in visual arts and film that address the growing social, political and environmental challenges the world is facing due to excessive urban development, pollution, political ambitions, and the thoughtless misuse, abuse and exhaustion of natural resources. SB8
will focus on the renewed role of art in addressing a wide range of
issues that directly and radically affect, and in an alarming magnitude
the human existence on this earth (man's relation to earth and earth's
relation to man). The biennial will not only stand for these issues
as a venue and a platform for presentations, exhibits and discussions,
but will take an active role in commissioning artists to produce new
work corresponding to the topic at hand and will also partner with institutions
to stimulate wider involvement with the issues brought up particularly
amongst educational institutions. : http://www.sharjahbiennial.org/
We
have been invited to develop a new work for an exhibition that will
focus on the Hansaviertel/Berlin. The Hansaviertel is a quarter in the
Tiergarten borough of Berlin. As the conventional narrative goes, it
was almost completely destroyed during World War II. It was rebuilt
from 1957 to 1961 as a project of international master architects (Alvar
Aalto, Egon Eiermann, Walter Gropius, Oscar Niemeyer, etc.) called "Interbau".
Our interest does not stray too far from what we have been engaged with since we began our work together. We would like to explore through various forms of inquiry the historical, material, and discursive layers which construct what we identify as the Hansviertel. Moreover, to discover the connections between this development- the logic which invested in and constructed it - with other more contemporary developments which attempt to offer a (capitalistic) vision of the future via architecture and urban planning. http://www.diestadtvonmorgen.de/ Other artists in the show include: Oliver Croy, Mark Dion, Sabine Hornig, Sofia Hultén, Korpys/Löffler, Folke Köbberling/Martin, Kaltwasser, Annette Kisling, Dorit Margreiter, Ute Richter, Eran Schaerf.
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