Under the theme of Solidarity, the fourth edition of Qalandiya International art festival kicks off on the 3rd October 2018 and continues with a program of exhibitions, film screenings, performances, talks and walks until 30th October. Qi program of events will launch in Jerusalem and will take place in several locations including Gaza, Ramallah, Birzeit, Haifa and Majdal Shams in addition to several Palestinian villages with the participation of dozens of artists from Palestine and the world.  A program of collateral events will be announced with several activities taking place in major cities around the world under the same theme including New York, London, Dusseldorf, Beijing and Johannesburg. 

By means of discursive engagement events across the entire programme will probe the term “solidarity” through different lenses, by opening up for global experiences, yet forging local experimentations and contemporary definitions.

The notion of ‘solidarity’ has been synchronic with the history of the Palestinian struggle against successive colonial structures and regimes, although not always in perfect tandem with it. 

In Palestine, the term ‘solidarity’ has been, and still is, a buzzword in the struggle for liberation from consecutive colonial administrations. Its forms and ideological stances have morphed over time and geography, rising and sinking with the tides of change in the form of the struggle for freedom.

The notion of the shared thoughts, values and objectives that bind us is stirred to re-energise and re-investigate meanings of solidarity and collectivism – values that have allowed Palestinian society to resist and stay alive for decades.