From April to May 2017, a series a talks, creative exercises and artistic interventions in public space by Aymen Gharbi and Bettina Pelz, Houda Ghorbel and Wadi Mhiri in cooperation with Niklas Grun, Rafram Chaddad Boaz, Hatem Ben Cheikh and Ibrahim Gueddich will be part of the JAOU festival. The artworks and talks are open to all audiences, the workshop is open to artists, designers, and architects, to students of creative disciplines and art lovers, urban explorers, and social workers.
ART MATTERS by GOETHE INSTITUTE TUNISIA

Launched in 2013, this concept created by Lina Lazaar, the Foundation’s Vice-President and a specialist in contemporary Arab art, gathers artists, art collectors, gallery owners, academics, art specialists, among others, around exhibitions, conferences and seminars on culture and contemporary art. It take place for the 4th time in 2017.
JAOU Tunis 2017

The fourth edition of Jaou seeks to explore the migration phenomenon in the Mediterranean. Chanted by Homer in his Odyssey, the cradle of great civilizations and a medium of cross-fertilization between the peoples of both shores (Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Greeks, Romans and Arabs), the Mediterranean, which means in Latin “between land”, has become the precipice in which are shattered the dreams of disheartened young people. Every year, thousands of persons perish there, while trying to cross the sea to reach the European shores via the island Lampedusa.
JAOU by Kamel Lazar Foundation

The German-Tunisian artists` collective Houda Ghorbel, Wadi Mhiri and Niklas Skupch develop a context-specific intervention for the Spanish Door in La Goulette (fr: “La Porte espagnole”).
(URIS id=5841)Photos: Wadi Mhiri

May 14, 2017 // 2.00 pm to 6.00 pm // Cinévog

The German-Tunisian curators` collective Aymen Gharbi and Bettina Pelz present a selection of artists that work with light interventions in public space.

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.

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

May 15, 2017 // 4.00 pm to 8.00 pm // Cinévog

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Houda Ghorbel, Wadi Mhiri and Niklas Skupchwill reflect on their intervention for the Spanish Door in La Goulette 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 the intercultural aspect of the works. In addition, and the Tunisian artist Hatem Ben Cheikh will join the conversation to talk about his artistic experimentation.
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May 16 to 19, 2017 // daily 4.00 pm to 8.00 pm
June 9 to 10, 2017 // daily 4.00 pm to 8.00 pm

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.

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(URIS id=5882)Photo: Ibrahim Gueddich, Wikipedia.
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(URIS id=5886)Photo: Ibrahim Gueddich.
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One part of the workshop will be directed by Tunisian artist Hatem Ben Cheikh. For a long time, he has been working with translucent materials. The collective work will link interplay of color and light and traditional seamless patterns. They draw their inspiration traditional glass crafting and contemporary works by artists like Ingo Wendt (INTERFERENCE 2016) or Olafur Eliasson. He will develop a large-scale site-specific, day-light intervention with the participants.

One part of the workshop will be directed by Ibrahim Gueddich. During INTERFERENCE, he experimented with the INTERFERENCE collective and with the audience with light painting technics. He is inspired by the works of Vicki Da Silva (INTERFERENCE 2016) and Karim Jabbari. With him the participants will explore the interplay of site, person, light and longtime exposure photography.

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.

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May 13 to 15, 2017 // La Goulette, Spanish Door
Art Intervention
The curators Aymen Gharbi and Bettina Pelz invited the artists Houda Ghorbel and Wadi Mhiri in cooperation with Niklas Skupch to develop a site-specific work.

May 14, 2017 // 2.00 pm to 5.00 pm // Cinévog
Curators’ Talk
The curators Aymen Gharbi and Bettina Pelz will present an international selection of artworks that refer to migration and flight.

May 15, 2017 // 4.00 pm to 8.00 pm // Cinévog
Artists’ Talk
For the roundtable talk, Aymen Gharbi and Bettina Pelz will introduce the work of Houda Ghorbel,  Wadi Mhiri, Niklas Skupch. Hatem Ben Cheikh’s focus will be on the sociocultural impact of art interventions in public space.

May 16 to 19, 2017 // daily, 4 .00 pm to 8.00 pm // Cinévog
June 9 to 10, 2017 // daily, 4.00 pm to 8.00 pm // Cinévog
Creative Exercises
Idea of the workshop is to experiment with artistic strategies in public space to address societal questions. It will be directed by Aymen Gharbi and Bettina Pelz in cooperation with Hatem Ben Cheikh.

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The Goethe Institute Tunisia supports the ART MATTERS SERIES of artistic interventions, artists’ and curators’ talks and creative exercises. Thanks to their support all parts of the series are free of charge for audience and participants.
GOETHE INSTITUTE TUNISIA

From the FLUX SERIES by GOETHE INSTITUTE
FLUX 3.0 by Lena Weisner

FLUX 3.0 by Liubov Moskvina

FLUX 3.0 by Andra Thembie Hannig

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