BZU Museum takes part in international arts festival "/si:n"

Birzeit University Museum opened recently a new exhibition titled “All the Power of Poetic Imagination” as part of the 5th edition of /si:n/ Festival of Video Art and Performance 2017. During the opening, “Instant Video” group from France will participate in the Festival with three different video works under the title “All of the Power of Poetic Imagination”.

The exhibition shows the need for poetic imagination in a world governed by quick and widely available visual images that block the reality of the world, and make us susceptible to anesthesia. The films’ performances will be supervised by the curators Naïk M'Sili and Marc Mercier.

The Acting Director of the Museum Ghadeer Awwad said that this is the Museum's second participation at the Festival. "Our participation reflects the strong active role that Birzeit plays in supporting cultural and artistic activities and encouraging new ways of insights and interaction during collective art works."

A selection of video art installations, performances and film screenings by noted local and international artists will be exhibited in multiple venues and connected through organized tours of cityscapes in the four localities.

The Projects Coordinator at the A.M. Qattan Foundation Abdel Rahman Shabaaneh pointed out that this participation aims at enhancing collaboration between different active, local cultural bodies. He said that this year’s programmed encourages festival participants to experience artworks in an urban context and thereby also explore the city through video art and performance. "Rich and diverse, the programmed engages the public in a variety of events", he commented.

The /si:n/ Festival of Video Art and Performance was established in 2009 by a group of culture and art institutions. The festival aims to create spaces for the exhibition of and research into video art and performance, and to encourage new forms of seeing and interaction. Building on cooperation among its partner institutions, it is intended to introduce new formulas of collective cultural and artistic work. Seeking to challenge both geographical and political divisions, it strives to extend the scope of its work and public outreach across all of Palestine.