Art Matters . Working on Art in Public Space

The INTERFERENCE Collective offers a series of activities to see, to discuss and to experiment with art in public space.

[1] ARTISTS`INTERVENTION // Context-specific light and art intervention
The German-Tunisian artists` collective Houda Ghorbel, Niklas Grun and Wadi Mhiri develop a context-specific intervention for the synagogue in La Goulette.

#Background: The Tunisian Jewish community is unique to the world and can be traced back even before the destruction of the first temple in 586 BCE. Most of the present Tunisian Jewish community can trace their ancestry all across the Mediterranean region. Over the centuries, the Tunisian Jewish communities developed a specific culture, until today they speak their own dialect of Arabic and have their own cuisine.  Metropolitan Tunis and the island of Djerba are where majority of Tunisian Jews live. In Tunis, the Grand Synagogue, on Avenue de La Liberté, is in what was the historical Jewish neighborhood of Lafayette. In addition, a small synagogue can be found in the suburb La Goulette. For this more hidden temple, the curators Aymen Gharbi and Bettina Pelz invited the artists Houda Ghorbel, Niklas Grun and Wadi Mhiri to develop a context-specific intervention. In their co-operation, they will reflect on the intercultural and interreligious interfaces.

#Audience: The artwork is open to the public.

[2] CURATORS` TALK // Context-specific light and art interventions around the world
The German-Tunisian curators` collective Aymen Gharbi and Bettina Pelz present a selection of artists that work with light interventions in public space.

#Background: Temporary artistic interventions experiment with given situations, existing architectures, sensory perception and allegorical associations. Artists read into the aesthetic vocabulary that is visible in the juxtaposition and superimposition of times, traces and interests. As much as the choice of space is part of the art work the artistic quality of the interventions develops along the depth of focus and artistic sovereignty which the artist can generate working on a chosen location. For the viewer, the known space serves as a recognizable reference. It becomes the connecting link between the everyday situation and the artistic intervention and functions as an anchor point to an art work which might, at first sight, be only fragmentary or partially understandable. The familiarity with the environment creates a kind of security and forms an Ariadne’s thread to explore the artistic position. In the workshop, Aymen Gharbi and Bettina Pelz will present and discuss examples of artistic interventions – their backgrounds, their guiding interests, their artistic results and their impact. The lecture is embedded in a discursive approach in which the participants will reflect and comment on the presented examples referring to their own creative practice.

#Audience: The workshop is open to artists, designers and architects, to students of creative disciplines and art lovers, urban explorers and social workers.

[3] ARTISTS` TALK //  Meeting the artists in the synagogue of La Goulette
The authors of the context-specific interventions will discuss their work.
Houda Ghorbel, Niklas Grun and Wadi Mhiri will reflect on their intervention in dialogue with the curators Aymen Gharbi and Bettina Pelz. In juxtaposition with different approaches of artists around the world, the focus will be artistic research and development as well as intercultural and interreligious gaps.  In addition, the Jewish artist Rafram Chadded Boaz and the light artist Hatem Ben Cheikh will join the conversation.

#Screening: part of the discussion is the screening of the documentation that the Jewish director Margaux Fitoussi did in 2016 on the Jewish culture on Tunis titled “El Hara”.  She will try to join the talk.

#Audience: The talk is open to artists, designers and architects, to students of creative disciplines and art lovers, urban explorers and social workers.

[4.] CREATIVE EXERCISES // Experimenting with materials for light and art interventions
The participants will investigate artistic materials.
Hatem Ben Cheikh, Aymen Gharbi and Bettina Pelz prepare a series of exercises to explore the ideas and the realm of public space with art interventions. Focus of the first part are materials, media and tools.

#Audience: The workshop is open to artists, designers and architects, to students of creative disciplines and art lovers, urban explorers and social workers.

[5.] CREATIVE EXERCISES // Experimenting with concepts for light and art interventions
The participants will develop new projects.
Aymen Gharbi and Bettina Pelz prepare a series of exercises to explore the ideas and the realm of public space with art interventions. Focus of the second part are concepts of artistic developments.

#Audience: The workshop is open to artists, designers and architects, to students of creative disciplines and art lovers, urban explorers and social workers.

[6.] CREATIVE CONCEPTS // Presenting ideas and testing concepts for light and art interventions
Participants present light and art interventions.
For the last part of the series, the participants will bring their own ideas, concepts and projects to discuss them with the workshop`s collective as well as with Aymen Gharbi and Bettina Pelz, Houda Ghorbel, Niklas Grun and Wadi Mhiri and Hatem Ben Cheikh.

#Audience: The workshop is open to artists, designers and architects, to students of creative disciplines and art lovers, urban explorers and social workers.