SHATANA, International Artists Workshop
Text by: Mehr Jawed
Photography:
OPEN DAY SHATANA
About 70 kilometers away from the limestone city of Amman is the small historic village of Shatana. Shatana allegedly received its name from old children’s stories, about devils (shaitan) residing in the vast landscape. Today, it is a Christian village with three functioning churches, sprawling oak and olive plantations scattered a top a few hills, and a population of about 150 residents – the numbers constantly dwindling. Quite a few of its standing houses are unoccupied, as their residents have migrated to bigger towns or other countries, in search for better economic prospects.
In an attempt to draw attention to this half-abandoned village, and support its remaining residents, a group of young Jordanian artists and curators took on the task to host an artist’s residency here. This also suited their agenda to deliberately take the ‘making and displaying’ of the art object out of the gallery, into a more real, less constructed space.
The first Shatana International Artists Workshop was set up with the assistance of the Triangle Arts Trust Network – encouraging ‘experimentation, artist’s mobility, exchange, and fresh thinking; with an emphasis on process and professional development’. Holding true to its vision, the workshop this year was a melting pot for 22 mid career and emerging artists with diverse backgrounds, both geographically and art practice wise. As anticipated, an interesting mix of individuals working in similar surroundings led to a very engaging Open day, culminating the two-week workshop on July 18th, 08.
The Open day was an attraction for many families not only living in Shatana village, but for people from the nearby towns of Al-Husun, Irbid and even the Capital Amman (many of whom are Ex-Shatanawis). With a hand drawn map of the area (accompanied by an elaborate legend) the viewers could walk through the small village to different sites where the artists had displayed their works.
A community center near the main church had been transformed into a makeshift video display room. Videos by several participating artists ran on a loop here. Willum Greets (Netherlands) presented a 2 min silent video of a bust-shot of himself, standing before a pale limestone mountain bordered by a bright blue sky in the background. The stillness within the compositional elements of this perfect postcard shot, took on a humorous and unexpected twist when a thick cloud of dust rose from the mountain, engulfing most of the background and soon even the artist himself. This video was shot at the limestone quarries a few kilometers away from the village, at the time of an extraction blast.
Stephan Apicella Hitchcock (USA) and Ben Washington (UK) shared a passion for kite flying. It is this common interest that led to a collaborative project, where both artists constructed a kite suitable for carrying a small portable camera device. After quite a few failed attempts (and kite crashes), they finally managed to get the camera air-borne. What resulted was a bird’s eye view footage of the village landscape, where the sky met the land in rapid swivels and swirls, erratic jerks and sudden dips turning the viewer’s perspective topsy-turvy.
Ben Washington (UK) had an impressive portfolio displaying a very skilled handling of paper as a modeling medium for three-dimensional forms. However, for his second project at the workshop he worked with wood and objects he found in church in the storage area.
‘Untitled with Viceroy Riech’, was a multiple legged, open sculptural form supporting a cardboard landscape on top. The second sculpture (as part of this triptych) was perhaps the most enjoyable one; an idealized landscape painting overwhelming in its idyllic abundance was propped up horizontally on a pedestal, frame and all. The flat surface of the framed painting (found object) supported a geometric antenna-like structure with a sphere and cuboid – a quiet confrontation of the archaic and futuristic, excessive yet simplistic.
It was interesting to see how the co-relation between some works and the environment, either in site-specificity or concept, was crucial to the explication of the project – such that they could only be fully understood and enjoyed while keeping in mind that particular context.
Samantha Jones, a British artist, displayed an immaculately edited, crisp sound piece in one of the abandoned village houses. The house was locked and entry barred. Hence the viewers had to peer in or put an ear to the door to catch the multi-layered sound narrative; recordings of an inhabited household, inundating an obviously forsaken domestic space. The elements of time, displacement and absence came off fairly strongly in this piece, adding a psychological intensity to the tension created between visual space and that implied by sound.
Another project that heavily incorporated the village surroundings and materials was Rheim Alkhadhi’s (Iraq/USA) ‘House of The Match Maker’. Scores of worn out shoes collected from her regular walks in and around Shatana, were displayed in the ruin of a typical village house in the vicinity. In the quietness of their new abode, this regiment of dust-ridden shabby shoes was a gathering of individual tales, segregated from the activity outside.
Moroccan Artist, Mohamed El Mahdaoui’s temporary map of Jordan attracted quite a bit of a crowd through out the Open day. Mahdaoui converted the entire stipend amount he received at the workshop into one piastre coins (1 Dinar = 100 piastres). These he arranged together, the monarch’s relief facing upwards, in a large map of Jordan. The audience was invited to take a coin from the area in map they belonged to, carrying away a piece of the drawing that symbolized ‘home’ for them. By nightfall the map was attacked by a mob of enthusiastic children who scooped coins in makeshift pouches, shirts and hats leaving no trace of the copper map that was laid out on the road earlier.
Most other projects, installed all over the village met with similar enthusiasm. It was commented that within a decade, Shatana would have an independent contemporary art collection, boasting many international names, displayed with much care in the villagers’ drawing rooms.
As the intense two-week period came to an end, it left everyone, participants and villagers alike, with much food for thought. Participating Palestinian artists from this year and the last held meetings with the Shatana organizers team, and are in the process of setting up a similar workshop, as part of the Triangle Trust network in Ramallah as well. This is exactly how the Shatana workshop originally came into being also. A ripple effect like this can be extremely important in spreading and connecting the global arts network, but one wonders if there is some ‘quality-control’ that keeps a tab on the program’s progress, or if its just an unmonitored proliferation of a residency-resort plan.
Mehr Javed is a recent graduate from the Beaconhouse National University, Lahore and was one of the participating artists at the Shatana International Artists Workshop this year.
Photography:
OPEN DAY SHATANA
About 70 kilometers away from the limestone city of Amman is the small historic village of Shatana. Shatana allegedly received its name from old children’s stories, about devils (shaitan) residing in the vast landscape. Today, it is a Christian village with three functioning churches, sprawling oak and olive plantations scattered a top a few hills, and a population of about 150 residents – the numbers constantly dwindling. Quite a few of its standing houses are unoccupied, as their residents have migrated to bigger towns or other countries, in search for better economic prospects.
In an attempt to draw attention to this half-abandoned village, and support its remaining residents, a group of young Jordanian artists and curators took on the task to host an artist’s residency here. This also suited their agenda to deliberately take the ‘making and displaying’ of the art object out of the gallery, into a more real, less constructed space.
The first Shatana International Artists Workshop was set up with the assistance of the Triangle Arts Trust Network – encouraging ‘experimentation, artist’s mobility, exchange, and fresh thinking; with an emphasis on process and professional development’. Holding true to its vision, the workshop this year was a melting pot for 22 mid career and emerging artists with diverse backgrounds, both geographically and art practice wise. As anticipated, an interesting mix of individuals working in similar surroundings led to a very engaging Open day, culminating the two-week workshop on July 18th, 08.
The Open day was an attraction for many families not only living in Shatana village, but for people from the nearby towns of Al-Husun, Irbid and even the Capital Amman (many of whom are Ex-Shatanawis). With a hand drawn map of the area (accompanied by an elaborate legend) the viewers could walk through the small village to different sites where the artists had displayed their works.
A community center near the main church had been transformed into a makeshift video display room. Videos by several participating artists ran on a loop here. Willum Greets (Netherlands) presented a 2 min silent video of a bust-shot of himself, standing before a pale limestone mountain bordered by a bright blue sky in the background. The stillness within the compositional elements of this perfect postcard shot, took on a humorous and unexpected twist when a thick cloud of dust rose from the mountain, engulfing most of the background and soon even the artist himself. This video was shot at the limestone quarries a few kilometers away from the village, at the time of an extraction blast.
Stephan Apicella Hitchcock (USA) and Ben Washington (UK) shared a passion for kite flying. It is this common interest that led to a collaborative project, where both artists constructed a kite suitable for carrying a small portable camera device. After quite a few failed attempts (and kite crashes), they finally managed to get the camera air-borne. What resulted was a bird’s eye view footage of the village landscape, where the sky met the land in rapid swivels and swirls, erratic jerks and sudden dips turning the viewer’s perspective topsy-turvy.
Ben Washington (UK) had an impressive portfolio displaying a very skilled handling of paper as a modeling medium for three-dimensional forms. However, for his second project at the workshop he worked with wood and objects he found in church in the storage area.
‘Untitled with Viceroy Riech’, was a multiple legged, open sculptural form supporting a cardboard landscape on top. The second sculpture (as part of this triptych) was perhaps the most enjoyable one; an idealized landscape painting overwhelming in its idyllic abundance was propped up horizontally on a pedestal, frame and all. The flat surface of the framed painting (found object) supported a geometric antenna-like structure with a sphere and cuboid – a quiet confrontation of the archaic and futuristic, excessive yet simplistic.
It was interesting to see how the co-relation between some works and the environment, either in site-specificity or concept, was crucial to the explication of the project – such that they could only be fully understood and enjoyed while keeping in mind that particular context.
Samantha Jones, a British artist, displayed an immaculately edited, crisp sound piece in one of the abandoned village houses. The house was locked and entry barred. Hence the viewers had to peer in or put an ear to the door to catch the multi-layered sound narrative; recordings of an inhabited household, inundating an obviously forsaken domestic space. The elements of time, displacement and absence came off fairly strongly in this piece, adding a psychological intensity to the tension created between visual space and that implied by sound.
Another project that heavily incorporated the village surroundings and materials was Rheim Alkhadhi’s (Iraq/USA) ‘House of The Match Maker’. Scores of worn out shoes collected from her regular walks in and around Shatana, were displayed in the ruin of a typical village house in the vicinity. In the quietness of their new abode, this regiment of dust-ridden shabby shoes was a gathering of individual tales, segregated from the activity outside.
Moroccan Artist, Mohamed El Mahdaoui’s temporary map of Jordan attracted quite a bit of a crowd through out the Open day. Mahdaoui converted the entire stipend amount he received at the workshop into one piastre coins (1 Dinar = 100 piastres). These he arranged together, the monarch’s relief facing upwards, in a large map of Jordan. The audience was invited to take a coin from the area in map they belonged to, carrying away a piece of the drawing that symbolized ‘home’ for them. By nightfall the map was attacked by a mob of enthusiastic children who scooped coins in makeshift pouches, shirts and hats leaving no trace of the copper map that was laid out on the road earlier.
Most other projects, installed all over the village met with similar enthusiasm. It was commented that within a decade, Shatana would have an independent contemporary art collection, boasting many international names, displayed with much care in the villagers’ drawing rooms.
As the intense two-week period came to an end, it left everyone, participants and villagers alike, with much food for thought. Participating Palestinian artists from this year and the last held meetings with the Shatana organizers team, and are in the process of setting up a similar workshop, as part of the Triangle Trust network in Ramallah as well. This is exactly how the Shatana workshop originally came into being also. A ripple effect like this can be extremely important in spreading and connecting the global arts network, but one wonders if there is some ‘quality-control’ that keeps a tab on the program’s progress, or if its just an unmonitored proliferation of a residency-resort plan.
Mehr Javed is a recent graduate from the Beaconhouse National University, Lahore and was one of the participating artists at the Shatana International Artists Workshop this year.
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