ArtRole is a UK-based contemporary arts
organisation developing international
culture exchanges with the Middle East.
Cultural Exchange, UK – Kurdistan- Iraq
2007-2009
ArtRole is running a cultural exchange programme between UK and Kurdistan-Iraq, developed in three phases:
Phase 1:Kurdish Contemporary Art and Culture from Iraq
Phase 2:British and American contemporary artists visiting Kurdistan/ Iraq
Phase 3:Exhibitions, residencies and talks
Funded and supported by:
British Council
Arts Council England (Yorkshire)
Foreign and Commonwealth Officeand in collaboration with the Kurdistan-UK Friendship Association
www.kukfa.org/index.html
Through this programme, ArtRole hopes to help to build mutual understanding and to develop links between both cultures and regions.
Knowledge in the UK of Kurdish culture and indeed the broader heritage of the Middle East is little known. This cultural exchange programme, comprising visits, lectures, presentations and exhibitions is one of the first opportunities for a UK audience and British artists to get introduced to Kurdish culture, as well as its contemporary art scene and to broaden their awareness of modern culture in Iraq away from the dominant reporting of conflict and deprivation. The project also provides the Kurdish-Iraqi artists, public and art institutions with extensive access to British culture and contemporary art, developing a better understanding.
Phase 1
• Kurdish Contemporary Art and Culture from Iraq
16th – 28th February 2007
A group of Kurdish artists (Wahby Rasul, Ali Raza, Sami Muemin, Man Ahmad Hamid from
Kurdistan- Iraq and Afan Sediq from Germany) were invited to the UK, to meet British audience and artists, visit relevant sites and institutions to research British culture and introduce Kurdish culture and the state of art in the region.
The events took place in London and Yorkshire between the 16th and the 28th of February at Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Serpentine Gallery, Ferens Gallery, Life Arts Development Agency, Royal College of Art, Slade School of Art and SOAS.
Phase 2
• British and American contemporary artists visiting Kurdistan/ Iraq
October 2007
A similar programme with British and American artists traveling to Kurdistan/ Iraq is going to take place at the end of 2007. The selected artists are Anne Bean, Clare Charnley, Richard Wilson, Rob Gawthrop and Adalet R. Garmiany from the UK and Susan Meiselas from the USA. During this visit the artists will share aspects of Western contemporary art, with particular reference to current approaches of art education and the impact of new technologies.
Phase 3
• Exhibitions/ Residencies/ Talks
2008-09
A touring exhibition of work from both regions, as well as work realised following the exchange visits will be developed for both the UK and Kurdistan/ Iraq in 2008/9. Through the exchange, resulting exhibitions, events and talks in the UK and Kurdistan/ Iraq, audiences and artists in both regions will experience contemporary work that will inevitably be different due to the cultural context from which it evolved.
ArtRole
47 Sykes Street
Hull HU2 8AZ
East Yorkshire
UK
Information
info@artrole.org
Adalet R. Garmiany (Director)
adalet@artrole.org
http://www.adaletg.net/
Rob Gawthrop
rob@artrole.org
Justine Blau
justine@artrole.org
Mark Terry
mark@artrole.org
Dreck Productions and the Austrian Cultural Forum are proud to present a NYC revival of Dirt, the European award-winning one-man show written by Robert Schneider, which went on to become a critically acclaimed production at the 2007 NY International Fringe Festival. Dirt is directed by David Robinson and performed by Christopher Domig. Performances run from April 2 – 26, 2008 in a limited engagement at Under St. Marks in NYC. Previews begin April 2 for an April 5 opening. For more info and to view selected scenes from the play visit http://www.dirt-nyc.com.
Dirt was the most frequently performed solo show in Austria, Germany and Switzerland in the 1990’s. The influential German theatre magazine Theaterheute awarded Robert Schneider Best New Playwright Of The Year (1993) for Dirt. The play centers on Sad, a desperately alienated illegal immigrant from Iraq, who confronts xenophobia, latent racism and ethnocentrism as he sells roses on the streets to make ends meet. He is charming, cynical, humorous, violent and sad. Although he loves the English language and American culture he misses his homeland. As Sad continues to talk it becomes increasingly clear that he has a love-hate relationship with himself, his heritage and the western world he currently lives in. Haunting and compelling, Dirt is a telling story about racism and the havoc it wreaks upon the human soul. The play will be performed this August in Scotland as part of the 2008 Edinburgh Fringe.
Dirt ("Dreck"), written by Austrian playwright and novelist Robert Schneider, premiered in 1992 in Vienna, where it was performed in German, its original language. In 1993, Dirt premiered in Hamburg, Germany at the Thalia Theater and was awarded the Dramatist’s Prize at the "Potsdam Theater Days", selected by the jury as the "best contemporary stage work." Schneider’s first novel Schlafes Bruder ("Brother of Sleep") was published in 1992 and immediately became a worldwide success, with translations into 24 languages. He received numerous awards including the Premio Grinzane Cavour (the most important literary prize in Italy for foreign-language literature) and the Prix Médicis (Paris, France).
America-Mideast Educational and Training Services, Inc aims to strengthen mutual understanding and cooperation between Americans and the peoples of the Middle East and North Africa.
