Collection of the Arab Museum of Contemporary Art, Umm el-Fahem

Curator: Farid Abu Shakra

A survey of the works in the Arab Museum of Contemporary Art’s collection reveals that each artist’s distinctiveness — their Palestinian identity and Arab cultural heritage — is a recurring theme in their work. Whether this identity is expressed through coding, allusion, or dark satire, the works track the stability, upheavals and developments of Palestinian cultural and artistic discourse, in which visual art is one instrument. In their work, each artist translates, expresses and documents the changes that have shaped the Palestinian cultural landscape — from the displacement of the Palestinian people, through the Intifadas and the struggle for their rights, to their presence in political and international arenas.

The collapse of authoritarian regimes in many Arab countries has led to new dynamics in shaping Arab society’s political and social paths. The demand for social justice has led to dialogue between different political movements and has driven a dynamic process of rebuilding the national-public sphere. Concurrently, since 1948, a “culture of defeat” has emerged — a culture that has assumed a central role in containing and mitigating the shocks experienced by Palestinian intellectuals. This culture of defeat gave rise to a new generation of Arab artists and intellectuals who grew up in organized, revolutionary frameworks, calling for change, liberation from the spirit of submission and dependence, and renewed action on behalf of thought and creation, in an effort to rise up from the ruins and shake off stagnation and disintegration.

The imposed, unsettling sense of absurdity dictated by political reality guides the Arab Museum of Contemporary Art’s collection to examine the inner world of each artist, Palestinian or otherwise, through their works and how they express themselves in the face of the assemblage of contradictions and influences of an artificial, unstable, vague, unpredictable and changing world where the artists’ thoughts and feelings are no different
from those of any other person, Eastern or Western — for they emanate from this land, from this place, from the hearts of the artists themselves.

How does this reality translate to the creative language of the artists, whose works carry with them an echo of continuing history — from 1948 through 1967, the 1970s, the Oslo Accords, two Intifadas, invasions of Gaza, Jenin, Nablus and Ramallah, up through the Arab Spring, which offered the liberal-minded elites an opening to anchor new perceptions and ideas in local Arab culture? The ideas are translated into works in a broad conceptual language, grounded in expressive and symbolic foundations, and accompanied by aesthetic qualities that provoke, unsettle, and arouse curiosity, thereby drawing viewers into the dialectic of layered historical events etched into the consciousness of those who experienced it. This event’s penetration into the structure of the collection’s works demands a reexamination of the relationship between past and present while preserving the elements of identity.

The dialogue between the eye and aesthetic expression is another facet of the discourse that traces the history of Palestinian memory as it is transmitted from generation to generation. This voice, which invites artists to engage with the collective narrative through their personal stories and strives to create a new cultural discourse among those who are different and “other,” holds the potential for renewal and hope for the entire region.

The Arab Museum of Contemporary Art’s collection, with its multitude of works by artists of diverse identities and nationalities, aspires to become a quality cultural-documentary hub, enabling the museum to position itself on the world stage and spark discussion about social, political and cultural issues that many societies have failed to address. The works included in the collection offer new interpretations of the stories of both rural and urban Palestinians by documenting their ongoing tragedy from the early 20th century to the present day.