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LIMINAL SPACES/ grenzraeume 
GfZK Leipzig, 28 October 2006 – 21 January 2007 
Exhibition opening: 27 October, from 19.00 pm 
Gallery Open: Tue-Sat 14.00 – 19.00 pm/ Sunday 12.00 – 19.00 pm 

Participating artists: Jumana Emil Abboud, Sameh Abboushi, Azra Aksamija, 
Ayreen Anastas und Rene Gabri, Yochai Avrahami, Yael Bartana, Peter 
Friedl, Hagar Goren, Inass Hamad, Sandi Hilal and Alessandro Petti, 
Khalid Horani, Sabine Horlitz and Oliver Clemens, Ligna, Suleiman 
Mansour, Oren Sagiv, Sala-Manca Group, Miri Segal, Sean Snyder, 
Superflex, Simon Wachsmuth 

Curatorial Advisors: Khalid Horani, Andreja Hribernik, Barbara Steiner, 
in cooperation with Interdisziplinäres Projekt-Forum (Wolfgang Knapp) 
of the University of the Arts Berlin/ Institute for Art and Context 

Curated by: Eyal Danon, Galit Eilat, Reem Fadda, Philipp Misselwitz 

LIMINAL SPACES/ grenzraeume originated from an initiative of 
individual Palestinian and Israeli artists united in their opposition to 
the destructive dynamics and ever growing hardship and deprivation 
of basic civil and political rights endured by Palestinians under Israeli 
occupation. An unprecedented network of artists, curators and cultural 
producers emerged, meeting often under difficult circumstances, 
despite the harsh context of ever increasing violence and the complete 
collapse of the political peace process. 
LIMINAL SPACES/ grenzraeume, a project by the Palestinian Association 
of Contemporary Arts (PACA), Ramallah, The Israeli Centre for Digital Art, Holon 
and the University of the Arts, Berlin wishes to support and strengthen this informal 
network and its stance. In March 2006, the project invited Palestinian, 
European and Israeli artists, architects, academics and film makers to 
examine the condition of everyday space, borders, physical 
segregation, cultural territories within a reality of occupation and 
challenge the possibilities of art as a catalyst for political and social 
change. The focus of the project is the radically divided and 
fragmented urban region of Jerusalem/ Ramallah, which has become a 
laboratory for an urbanism of radical ethnic segregation. Curators, 
cultural figures and artists developed this project through a series of 
meetings and discussions that sought to generate a more active 
political engagement of the art sector. Additionally, it is hoped that 
through participation in the project, new possibilities of contact and 
exchange will emerge on an individual basis and beyond. 

The project was launched with a conference in March, 2006, in the 
area of the Qalandiya checkpoint between Jerusalem and Ramallah, 
followed by individual residencies which gave artists the opportunity 
to research tactics and artistic strategies for addressing the 
physiognomy of specific sites and their everyday operations and
adhering to exposing spatial and contextual politics of the Israeli 
occupation. The perception of the frontiers were investigated, and 
their accessibility, permeability and potential as contact and 
communication zones challenged. Artists employed new forms of 
creative practice adopting and subverting contemporary technology 
and systems of media communication, underlining the central role 
played by technology in the shaping of the physical borders. 

The process resulted in over 20 new works, which are now being 
shown to the public for the very first time. The future library spaces of 
the Gallery for Contemporary Arts Leipzig (GfZK), including the already 
acquired shelves of Vito Acconci’s library installation at Documenta 
X, provide an unusual exhibition context and generate mutual 
resonances between LIMINAL SPACES/ grenzraeume as an evolving 
archive of research and production in the Middle East and the GfZK’s 
declared ambition to build up a public library. 

Screening program: 

2 November 2006 
20.00 pm   CINEMA: >Trespassing<, selection of Israeli short films 
and videos curated by Eyal Danon: Artists without Walls, >April 1st< 
(19'30'', 2004) //  Avi Mograbi, >Details 3&4< (9', 2004) // Annan 
Tzukerman, >Anxious Escapism< (26', 2005) //  Ruti Sela & Ma'ayan 
Amir, >Beyond guilt #2< (18', 2004) //  Ruti Sela & Ma'ayan Amir, 
>Alei Zahav after Aliza Begin< (5'30'', 2005) //  Nira Pereg, 
>Souvenir< (5', 2005) //  Ruti Sela & Clil Nadav, >Loopolice< (6'55'', 
2003). An event organized for the Friends of the GfZK Leipzig. 

7 December 2006 
20.00 pm  CINEMA: >Pasolini Pa* Palestine< by Ayreen Anastas 
(Jerusalem, 2003). An event organized for the Friends of the GfZK 
Leipzig. 

4 January 2007 
20.00 pm CINEMA: >Quelques Miettes Pour Les Oiseaux - Some 
Crumbs for the Birds< by Annemarie Jacir (France/ Jordan, 2005) and 
>Avenge But One Of My Two Eyes< by Avi Mograbi (Israel, 2005). An 
event organized for the Friends of the GfZK Leipzig.

International Workshop (28.10 – 29.10) 

The opening of the exhibition will be accompanied by an international 
workshop, which will explore political and social responsibilities of art 
production, discussing current trends that are changing the role of 
institutions, artists, curators and activists. The conference will explore 
the notion of 'responsibility' in the context of the Middle East - 
characterised by the escalation of violence and violations of human 
and civil rights, the continuation of the military occupation, the 
building of an apartheid wall and complete breakdown of the peace 
process – as well as in the context of Post-Fordist Central Europe 
where the erosion of social democratic principles challenges artists 
and institutions to survive in a harsher social climate and fight for the 
acceptance and the engagement of a wider public. 
In Hebrew, the word responsibility (acherayut) contains within it the 
word acher, which means ‘other’ or ‘different.’ It also contains the 
word achrey, which means ‘after’ or ‘following an event or act.’  In 
English, the word ‘responsibility’ contains within it the word ‘response’ 
(originating from the old French responsun meaning ‘something 
offered in return’). There is a delicacy in the English language through 
prepositions following the word ‘responsibility’ as one can be 
responsible for something or responsible to someone. In Arabic, the 
word mas’uliyah contains within it the verb su’ila, which literally 
means to require a response. In all three languages, we find a unified 
stance which states that responsibility is linked to responding or 
answering an external other. How may we respond or answer the 
contemporary demand for a responsibility to another or a different 
worldview? How may we take responsibility or act differently as 
cultural producers and/or cultural consumers? Participants will include 
the artists of the project LIMINAL SPACES/ grenzraeume as well as 
international guests. 

DAY 1 (Saturday, 28 October 2006) 

Forum 1:  Reflections on the LIMINAL SPACES project 
Moderator: Francis McKee 

11.00 am Short presentations by artists participating in the LIMINAL 
SPACES project 

13:30 pm Lunch Break (for invited participants only) 

15.00 pm Project presentation by the curators: Reem Fadda, Philipp 
Misselwitz, Eyal Danon and Galit Eilat. 

16.00 pm Open session 
         
17.00 pm Coffee Break

17.30 pm   Panel discussion - Cultural Territories: Wolfgang Knapp, 
Salwa  Mikdadi, Nina Möntmann, Erzen Shkololli, Hito 
Steyerl 

18:30 pm  Conclusion 

19:00 pm Joint dinner (for invited participants only) followed by 
party 

***** 
DAY 2 (Sunday, 29 October 2006) 

Forum 2:  Crisis and Potentials of Institutions 
(The Middle East, Near East and Europe) 
Moderator: Francis McKee 

11.00 am Nina Möntmann: Art and its Institutions – Current Conflict, 
Critique and Collaborations 

11.30 am Case study 1: Jumana Abboud: Al Mamal Foundation, East 
Jerusalem. The establishment of The Museum of 
Contemporary Art – Palestine (CAMP) 

12.00 am Case study 2: Eyal Danon: Jaffa – An Autobiography of a 
City. Untold stories of different national, ethnic, religious 
and gender groups within Israel 

12.30 am   Case study 3: Boris Buden: EIPCP – European Institute for 
Progressive Cultural Policies 

13.00 pm   Case study 4: Salwa Mikdadi: Institutionalization of Art 
Practice under Occupation/Palestinian Artists Working 
Under Siege (West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza) 

13.30 pm Case study 5: Erzen Shkololli: Exit Institute for 
Contemporary Art in Peja, Kosovo – the dramatic 
transformation of the region, connected in particular with 
the disintegration of the local totalitarian regimes during 
the 1990s 

14:00 pm    Lunch Break (for invited participants only) 

15.30 pm Open session 

16.30 pm Conclusion

Partners: 
LIMINAL SPACES/ grenzraeume has been jointly organized by the 
Palestinian Association of Contemporary Art (PACA), Digital Art Lab, 
Holon and the University of the Arts, Berlin. 
 
The Palestinian Association for Contemporary Arts - PACA 
Reem Fadda, Director 
Aref Al-Aref House 
Behind Arab Bank Al-Bireh 
Al-Nahdah Street 
Ramallah, Palestine 
T: +972 2 2951849 
F: +972 2 2967601 

The Israeli Centre for Digital Art Holon 
Galit Eilat, Director 
Digital Art Lab 
16 Yirmiyahu st 
Holon 58373 
Israel 
T +972 3 5568792 
F +972 3 5580003 

Universität der Künste Berlin 
Philipp Misselwitz (Lehrstuhl Prof. Peter Bayerer) and Wolfgang Knapp 
(Interdisziplinäres Projekt-Forum der Universität der Künste Berlin) 
Hardenbergstraße 33 
10623 Berlin 
T +49 177 4107168 

The exhibition and conference is made possible by: 
Kulturstiftung des Bundes 
Robert Bosch Stiftung 
European Cultural Foundation 
Heinrich Böll Stiftung Ramallah 
Goethe Institut Jerusalem 
American Center Foundation
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