Exhibition Opening: School of Listening: (Im)possible Conversations

Please join us at the exhibition opening of

School of Listening: (Im)possible Conversations

with
Harald Krejci, Director
Maayan Sheleff, Guest Curator
and Christina Penetsdorfer, Curator

in the presence of the artists

Performance by Neta Weiner, Stav Marin, Samira Saraya: Beat Midras

Over the past decade, Marin, Saraya, and Weiner have collaborated on various art, education, and activism platforms, sharing the stage in numerous shows. Weiner and Saraya are part of the multilingual and bi-national band System Ali, founded in Jaffa as part of a struggle for housing rights. In their projects and in their course at the Summer Academy, they explore the relationship between language, vocal production, and movement to address language and performance as political tools, both in the Israeli-Palestinian context and in relation to gender constructs. They investigate multi-languaging and the politicization of the linguistic public sphere, via various performative and creative traditions, including spoken word, martial arts, contemporary dance, and beatboxing.

For the public program, the artists will perform segments of their performances followed by a conversation with the audience. “Beat Midras" is a word play between the Jewish concept of Beit Midrash, a Jewish religious-intellectual discursive space, madāris/madrassa, the Arabic name for an educational institution (secular or religious),

and the sonic, rhythmic, and musical meanings of the English word beat. The evening will highlight the power of creative language in building a community and its potential to encourage political change. It examines the role of art in facilitating conflictual dialogues, examining the boundaries between text, body, and voice while imagining a better tomorrow in Palestine-Israel and beyond.