Nedim Kufi introduced us to his work-in-progress Rasheed Street, wherein a real and imagined street come together, constructed from memory, present, and dream. Cecile Landman (assisted by new media artist and researcher Federico Bonelli) connected us with Iraqi bloggers through the streamtime project, which since 2004 offers a platform for alternative media reports, journalistic accounts and personal blog postings from Iraq. Finally Saleh Faris closed the evening by performing a piece about his beloved Al-Mutanabbistreet in Baghdad, which used to be the literary heart of Baghdad.
Hosted by independent curator Nat Muller
Streets of Memory – Roads to Connectivity at Mediamatic - Rasheed street 1957
Biographies
Nedim Kufi (IQ/NL)
Is an Iraqi-born Dutch visual artist, working a.o. with
new media and 3D architectural projects. He graduated in
printmaking in Iraq, and then continued to study graphic design
in The Netherlands, where he lives and works as a film maker, animation and web designer. Daftar was established in 2004 a visual Arab-language magazine. Nedim has exhibited widely (inter)nationally in groups show such as the traveling exhibition The Iraqi Equation (curated by Catherine David), Recognise (London, 2007, curated by Predrag Pajdic), and solo in Espace SD (Beirut), Lines gallery (Amman). His forthcoming project Electrify Baghdad will be shown at Gemak in The Hague in October.
URLs:
www.daftar.nl
www.2nedim.com
Cecile Landman (NL)
Worked from 1995 to 2000 as Italy correspondent for the Dutch daily
newspaper Trouw, whilst working for other publications (amongst them Italian ones) as well. She returned to The Netherlands in 2000, and worked as a researcher for Greenpeace Int., Dutch Oxfam-Novib/Humanitas, and VVOJ.org. She publishes as a freelance journalist, and since 2004 develops streamtime.org: an experimental networking project with Iraqi and Afghani bloggers, which aim to bring authentic narratives and stories from their war-torn countries and their respective diasporas.
URL:
www.streamtime.org/
Saleh Hassan Faris (IQ/NL)
Is a playwright and writer. Since he left his native Iraq, he produces and writes his own plays, a.o. Het Mooiste Levende Wezen (The Most Beautiful Creature Alive), Omgedraaid Geheugen (Inverted Memory), Waar is daar? (Where is There?), and Aan –Uit (On-Off). He works for the culture page of the Arabic online newspaper Elaph, where he writes about (inter)national theatre and performance art in The Netherlands and in the Arab World.
URL:
www.salehhassanfaris.com/
www.elaph.com
