COOP ~ Assembling Land: Rehearsals towards Place-making from Day to Day

Seminar 3: 24 - 26 April 2024

I am of water - of water I am (after Jumana Emil Aboud)

During the confluence we will focus on the themes of place-making and (the in-crisis) water commoning, to explore entanglements with water across time and within indigenous heritage and its colonial ruptures. Who holds the rights to access and utilize water sources in different regions and how are these rights determined? We will explore these questions through site visits, film watching, walks, conversations, and following a score by Az Oor, a land artist from Marrakech. How do we build a walk?: an in-progress score opens up spaces for sensory and critical configurations of ancestrality, the ever-present cultural impact of tourism, and how we navigate in a paradigm of a colonial city. The score outlines the multiplicity of circularities we are in: the riyad, the medina and the landscape.

On the last day, we will have a day-trip to Marrakech to visit LE18 for a meeting with curator and co-founder of LE18, Laila Hida. We will then visit Darb Elaraj, which is within walking distance from LE18, and proceed to Malhoun Art Space afterwards. At each location, we are meeting artists who work around the themes of the COOP’s focus groups: 1. Land & Water, 2. Housing, and 3. Out/Institution, including Fatiha Zemmouri, Nabil Himich, and M'barek Bouhchichi. In preparation for our next trip for the Summit, we reflect on the build form of the riyad through Az Oor’s score: from architecture to the body. How do we reverse our emerging experience (and relationship) with the introverted architecture of the riyad, through tools of orality, circle formations, and exercises of positioning? 

Finally, on April 24, we are organizing a reading session as part of Palestine Teach-outs, in which we will read the Manifesto of the Palestinian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, followed by collective reading poetry (all COOPs are invited to join).

Wednesday - 24 April 

Morning 

10:00-13:00

(indoors)

- Group check-in (1h)

Warm-up games devised by the COOP participants (PAF aftermath) - hosted by Eszter Dobos.

  • Introduction to the current confluence (1h)

Opening a conversation around the theme of the confluence, and forming a core question. We will also share the format of Episode 03 (relating to the confluence’s harvesting method) which will be based on the three focus groups:  1. Land & Water, 2. Housing, and 3. Out/Institution. 

- Imagining a score (1h)

This last part of the session will be based on Az Oor’s score,  which takes the Riyad as a departure point, a build form we will be returning to at later stages of the confluence, that touch on our COOP’s interest themes.  

Afternoon

14:00-18:00

(indoors)
  • Summit Brainstorming (2h)

Introducing the Summit format based on our confluences’ harvest and in-situ observations. Collective brainstorming on how our individual and collaborative practices can be weaved in a collective (public) format for August. The COOP is invited to suggest ideas on how the format of a (durational) live-streamed event could hold a structure which activates both in physical and transmissive space.

- Summit Brainstorming continues/ student-led (2)


  • COOP one-on-one meetings: mid-term oral evaluations (30 min each)

- Noor w/ Thamyres, Tuba, Shaza, Sara 

- Marina w/ Qiao, Kivanc, Francesca, Saverio

Evening                                                         

20:00-22:00    

(indoors)
  • Palestine teach-out: What is the Future of Art?

This year, the Palestinian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale takes the form of a manifesto, presented as an A3 Xerox pamphlet. Titled "What is the Future of Art?: A Manifesto Against the State of the World," this gesture calls for urgent action in response to the ongoing genocide in Gaza. It confronts the stark realities shielded by nation-state rhetoric and imperial power. Accompanied by poetry, the manifesto resonates with the themes of dismantling nation-states, reclaiming land, and restoring art and poetry as essential tools of resistance. The unpacking of this timely manifesto, invites participants to join with a selected poem about or relevant to the Palestinian struggle (e.g. Moving Towards Home by June Jordan). 

Thursday - 25 April

Morning

10:00-13:00

(indoors)

- Film Screening: Amussu by Nadir Bouchmouch (1’38’’)

In 2011, the villagers of Imider shut down a water pipeline to Africa’s biggest silver mine to save their oasis. Eight years later, they sing and recite poems while harvesting the fruits of their militancy.

- Harvest time (1h)

- Skim through the publications series Against Monoculture 

Afternoon

14:00-18:00

(indoors)

- Aqal Cultural Center 

Visit to Aqal Cultural Center guided by Ali Aqal, followed by a walk to the “Haha forest” with Argan trees. Later, Hussien Al-Saieh (TBC) who will share with us about the history of water and its relation to the tribes in Morocco, will navigate us through the water infrastructure and water storage on site. 

Evening 

20:00-22:00

(indoors)
  • Student-led session (Summit-related)

- Roles allocation within working groups (editorial, communication, budget, production etc.) (1h)

- Recap with everyone (1h)

- COOP one-on-one meetings: mid-term oral evaluations (30 min each)

- Noor w/ Chloe, Federica, Anastasia, Eszter

- Marina w/ Foad, echo, Meii, Sille

Friday - 26 April

Morning

10:00-13:00

(indoors)
  • We will depart from Essaouira at 8:30am and the trip takes around two hours. On our way to  Marrakech we will read words by artist Jumana Emil Aboud and we will later listen to the draft of our Episode 02, while  having our-to-go breakfast and coffee.  

- First stop:  LE18, where we will be hosted with brunch, and a welcome by co-founder and curator Laila Hilda. We will receive a talk about how LE18 started, as well as an insight on the Qanat collective that Laila is part of. We will conclude the morning session with a guided tour through the new project on show. 


- Second stop: A visit to Darb Elarj درب الأعرج that is located within walking distance from LE18, joined by Laila. 

Afternoon

14:00-18:00

(indoors)

- Third stop: Meander in the medina following Az Oor’s score. COOP late lunch to follow. 


- Fourth stop: Visiting Malhoun Art Space, a newly established experimental venue combining a gallery space, an international residency program, and studios for young Moroccan artists. Here we will be introduced to the co-founders and artist in-residence, Nabil Himich. (TBC)


- Fifth Stop: A visit to Marrakkech’s Water Museum (TBC)

Evening

20:00-22:00

(indoors)

- Return to Essaouira and late dinner at the riyad.

- Farewell <3

 

Links: 

Marrakech 

Moroccan Biodiversity and Livelihoods Association

Soumeya Ait Ahmed* & Nadir Bouhmouch

Against Monoculture publication series

*Soumeya spent a few years working on apple monocultures in intersection with communitarian cultural creation in the Atlas mountains There’s also a film they co-created around this subject.

Jumana Emil Aboud

Carry Water (Thus Waves Come in Pairs in Sternberg Press)

A brother, a gazelle and moving the mountain to let the sun shine through

Eimear Walshe

The Land for the People

Seminar 2: 5 - 8 March 2024

Storytelling: Who owns the narrative? 

This assembly will focus on the notion of narrative in relation to land, housing, and institution. Who owns the narrative? How is narrative constructed, and what are the possible platforms that can host these narratives? We will explore the role of museums and archives and consider alternative forms that may be more inclusive than the institution. These questions and more will be collectively pondered through guest talks, workshops, group work, and film screenings.

During the first day, the COOP’s three working groups will finalize the construction of the narrative for the first episode. This episode will be live-streamed on Radio Al-Hara on the last day of the assembly. The editing session will be followed by a talk from our guest, Yousef Anastas, co-founder of Radio Al-Hara. Anastas will share insights into the collective work of establishing the Radio and the principles it stands for.

In addition, we will be participating in the workshop "Political Filmmaking" with Curating Positions Coop, led by Eyal Sivan. In this workshop, Sivan will discuss his films and the filmmaking process.

Throughout the PAF COOP, dramaturg and artist Dimitris Chimonas will lead a three-day workshop during the morning sessions, focusing on methodologies of the ‘Theatre of the Oppressed’. We will engage in a warm-up session to prepare ourselves to take up the role of ‘spect-actors’. Coined by Augusto Boal, this term refers to spectators who actively wield their urgencies to investigate, analyze, and reshape the reality they inhabit. This workshop will unpack creative and somatic tools in transitioning from passive observers to active participants through a series of dramaturgical games that become material for our subsequent Chronicle. 

Tuesday - 5 March 

Morning 

10:00-13:00

(indoors)
  • Group introduction: check-in

- Group work: 1. Land and water, 2. housing, and 3. Institution

- Talk by Elias & Yousef Anastas, co-founders of Radio Al-Hara  (TBC) 

Radio Al-Hara is a Palestinian online radio station broadcasting from Bethlehem since its launch in March 2020. The station grew in public notoriety when it launched a solidarity campaign with protests surrounding the Sheikh Jarrah controversy, which it termed the "Sonic Liberation Front."

Afternoon 

14:00-18:00

(indoors)
  • Collective editing: The  three groups will finalize the editing of the assembled recordings in preparation for the 1st episode to launch on Radio Al-Hara

- Reviewing our COOP’s schedule at PAF

Evening

20:00-22:00

(indoors)
  • Film screening: Palestine Teach out part 1- (Joining the COOP: Curating Positions) "IZKOR, slaves of memory 1990" , By Eyal Sivan.

Wednesday - 6 March 

Morning 

10:00-13:00

(indoors)
  •  Palestine Teach Out part 2: Workshop: Political filmmaking, with Eyal Sivan. (Joining the COOP: Curating Positions) 

Afternoon

14:00-18:00

(indoors)
  • Participating in the hive-mind: Somatics & Theatre games 

Workshop: DAY 1 with Dimitris Chimonas

The workshop’s DAY 1 consists of a series of physical games and exercises which attempt at discovering alternative strategies of working collectively. Based on intuition, impulse, and deep listening, each participant is invited to activate a state of a hive-mind, and allow decisions to not be made, but to arrive. The aim is to create an intimate gathering surface, where knowledge and experience is shared fluidly, free of linguistic limitations. Working towards an exodus of identification, capitalist function and orderly fashion, the workshop’s initiation questions structures that produce collective imaginaries, which are based on the foundations of resistance and care-work. 

  • p.s. Participants are invited to wear comfortable, loose clothing, and be well-rested.

Evening                                                         

20:00-22:00    

(indoors)
  • Film screening:"Mémoire 14"

Thursday - 7 March

Morning

10:00-13:00

(indoors)
    • Reviewing the day’s schedule
  • Interacting with the Script: Theatre of the Oppressed

Workshop: DAY 2 with Dimitris Chimonas

  • The Theatre of the Oppressed (TO) was developed by Brazilian theatre director Augusto Boal during the 1950s and 1960s. His explorations were based on the assumption that dialogue is the common, healthy dynamic between all humans, that all human beings desire and are capable of dialogue, and that when a dialogue becomes a monologue, oppression ensues. Theatre is suggested as an extraordinary tool for transforming monologue into dialogue. The COOP working groups: Land, Housing and Institution, pick a script (concept or question) they wish to engage with and bring it to this workshop. 

Afternoon

14:00-18:00

(indoors)
  • Presentation: Remembering outside the institution: The impossibility of the Palestinian Museum.

The presentation will dive into the obsession of creating the first Palestinian museum that started since the Ottoman Empire, then the British mandate, The Israeli occupation and the Palestinian Authority. It will focus also on several individual attempts of Palestinian to remember outside the institution of Museum and Archive.

  • working in groups: proposing a future museum based on the three themes: Land, housing and institutions

Evening 

20:00-22:00

(indoors)
  • Film screening: Ahmed Bouanani’s first feature film played a pivotal role in bringing experimentalism to Moroccan cinema. It’s a fable-like story of a poor young farmer who finds treasure in a flour bag. This takes him on a journey where nothing is as it seems. The film’s narrative structure frequently makes reference to mythology and literature, utilizing Morocco’s rich history and oral traditions.

Friday - 8 March

Morning

10:00-13:00

(indoors)

Inspired by Paulo Freire’s “Pedagogy of the Oppressed”, Boal evolved various forms of theatre workshops and performances which aimed to address the urgencies of the participating audiences. TO stands for interaction, dialogue, critical thinking, action, and fun. While the performance modes of Forum Theatre, Image Theatre, Cop-In-The-Head, and the vast array of the Rainbow of Desire are designed to bring audiences into active relationship with a performed event, the workshops, such as Interacting with the Script: Theatre of the Oppressed are virtually a training ground for action not only in performance forms, but for action in life. Each working group selects a performance mode from TO, which will be used in the formation of the COOP’s forthcoming episode (reflecting on tools and formats for/of the anticipated COOP Summit). 

Afternoon

14:00-18:00

(indoors)
  • Collective listening:  Listening to a live streaming of the first episode by Assembling Land COOP, harvested during our encounter at Nida Art Colony.
  • Reading session followed by a group discussion

Evening

20:00-22:00

(indoors)
  • Futurecasting the next assembly in Morocco. 

Readings: 

Films: 

 

Eyal Sivan & Michel Khleifi 2003, 272min  (You don’t have to watch the whole film) 

Route 181, offers an unusual vision of the inhabitants of Palestine-Israel, a common vision of an Israeli and a Palestinian.In the summer of 2002, for two long months, Eyal Sivan and Michel Khleifi travelled together from the south to the north of their country of birth, traced their trajectory on a map and called it Route 181. This virtual line follows the borders outlined in Resolution 181, which was adopted by the United Nations on November 29th 1947 to partition Palestine into two states.

 

Seminar 1: 23 - 26 January 2024

Rehearsal 1: Imagining Land & Water

Over the course of the four-day COOP in Nida, we’ll delve into each other’s interests and practices. Each COOP participant, alongside the tutorial team, will give short presentations relating to their work. We will further collectivize around our group’s working protocols, setting the framework of our shared process during each encounter of the year ahead. Being introduced to the lumbung* practice, known to artists and cultural workers after documenta15 in 2022, we learn of a long-standing tradition of resource redistribution and commoning in the Indonesian context. The discussion will revolve around the way in which we can activate the lumbung to better suit our group’s intentions and area of focus: land rights, housing crises and modes of co-ownership.

Departing from our encounter in Nida and the location’s environment, we engage with the local context and what its history may offer in relation to our COOP. During a visit at Thomas Mann House in Nida, we reflect on the idea of a house being converted into a cultural space, and further question: How’s the notion of co-ownership and the paradox between public-private plays out in this case? After a series of screenings, presentations and reflections, and rotating between our lumbung roles, we conclude by carving out space in the transmissible where this and every forthcoming COOP encounter is harvested in the form of a podcast episode to be released via Radio Al Hara. 

* lumbung is the Indonesian word for a communal rice-barn, where the surplus harvest is stored for the benefit of the community. The lumbung practice enables an alternative economy of collectivity, shared resource building, and equitable distribution. lumbung is anchored in the local and based on values such as humor, generosity, independence, transparency, sufficiency, and regeneration.

Tuesday - 23 January 

Morning 

10:30-13:00

(indoors)
  • Group introduction: warm-up activity
  • Introduction to lumbung practice & the COOP’s Nida Day-2-Day

Noon 

14:00-18:00

(indoors)
  • de Appel COOP presentation by tutorial team
  • Collective conversation about the COOP’s topics & directions

Evening

20:00-22:00

(indoors)
  • Short films screening: 

Cyprus is an Island (Cyprus, 1946), dir. Keene Ralph. 32’:46’’

We Began By Measuring Distance (2009), Basma Alsharif.  19’

Wednesday - 24 January 

Morning 

10:30-13:00

(indoors)
  • Reviewing the day’s schedule
  • First half of a series of 10-min presentations by the COOP participants

Noon

14:00-18:00

(indoors)
  • Second half of the 10-min presentations by the COOP participants
  • Collective reflection with Q&A addressed to all participants

Evening 

20:00-22:00

(indoors)
  • Film screening: 

Death in Venice (Italy, 1971), dir. Luchino Visconti (after Thomas Mann novel, 1912)

Thursday - 25 January 

Morning

10:30-13:00

(indoors)

Noon

14:00-18:00
  • Visit at Thomas Mann house & a drive (or walk weather permitting) to Nida city (TBC)
  • On-site discussion/ workshop around questions of ownership / private & public collections

Evening 

20:00-22:00

(indoors)
  • Evening chat & harvest on how we would like to approach Podcast Episode 1 (with invited guests/ COOP participants convo? or else?)

Friday - 26 January 

Morning

10:30-13:00

(indoors)
  • Student-led session 
  • Harvest debrief
  • Prep for Podcast Episode 1

Noon

14:00-18:00

(indoors)
  • Looking at the PAF mission for the next COOP encounter, titled: Place-making; the co-owning of a space
  • Discussion on invited guests
  • Joint evaluation of the Nida COOP & planning ahead

Evening

20:00-22:00

(indoors)
  • Wrap-up & harvest collection

Future Readings:

Abolition Geography: Essays Towards Liberation (2022) Ruth Wilson Gilmore, Chapter 20: Abolition Geography and the Problem of Innocence (22 pages)

THE FUNAMBULIST (Monthly journal)

Demonic Grounds Black Women and the Cartographies of Struggle (2006) Katherine McKittrick

New Urban Worlds: Inhabiting Dissonant Times (2017) Abdou Maliq Simone, Edgar Pieterse

Mortgaged Lives: From the housing bubble to the right to housing (2014) Ada Colau, Adrià Alemany

Links:

Collective Property: https://www.collectiefeigendom.nl/

We Are ‘Nature' Defending Itself: https://vagabonds.xyz/wandi/

LA PAH Handbook: https://www.rosalux.eu/en/article/2045.la-pah-a-handbook.html 

 

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