2nd Qalandiya International

Archives, Lived and Shared

22 October – 15 November 2014

Qalandiya International (QI) is a biennial event that takes place across Palestinian cities, towns, and villages. It focuses on exhibiting contemporary Palestinian and international art, highlighting valuable architectural sites, and includes talks, walks and performances. The 2nd edition gathers works by over 100 Palestinian and international artists, presented in Palestinian towns and villages across the divide, including Jerusalem, Haifa, Ramallah, Hebron and Gaza.

Running alongside these exhibitions will be a series of different events, including public performances, installations, interventions, conceptual and video art, and talks from the artists, as well as seminars with local and international speakers. Field trips and walks will allow visitors to explore significant Palestinian architectural sites.

This year’s event will highlight the role of archives in shaping Palestine’s past and present. Mahmoud Abu Hashhash, Director of the Culture and the Arts Programme at the A. M. Qattan Foundation, explains that Qalandiya International 2014 is designed to encourage new forms of interaction with archives in Palestine. ‘We are proposing an engagement with archives that is creative as well as critical; their role in preserving and shaping national identity, and the importance of public access to them, will serve as the theme and inspiration for this year’s events. Along the way, we also hope to address some of the more problematic ways in which archives have previously been discussed and dealt with.’