With the support of Caspian Arts Foundation, Points of Departure will feature a dynamic programme of events at the ICA, including English and Arabic tours, discussions, debates and a film screening.
If you attend any of our events, please do take the time to fill out a short survey about your experience.
Programme
27 June 6:30 pm
Touring Talk in Arabic with curator Mirna Bamieh
28 June 3 pm
Friday Salon: Residencies as a liminal space
Residencies can be understood as a ‘liminal’ state between time and place. But what happens when the liminality of the residency is entwined with a place like Palestine, which is defined by its own political ambiguity and contestation? Meet the artists and curators involved in Points of Departure as they discuss the production of their work and their experiences as residents in London and Ramallah.
29 June 5 pm
Shifting Landscape
This group screening of work by Marwa Arsanios, Shuruq Harb, Jumana Manna, John Smith, Lassisa Sansour and Sharif Waked, explores sociality and nationality in the Middle East, revealing a variety of perspectives on territory, landscape and national borders.
Films by Marwa Arsanios and John Smith are set in places and buildings in transition, while Shuruq Harb and Jumana Manna look closely at historical legacies past and present. Meanwhile Larissa Sansour’s work looks at tradition and conversation around the dinner table and Sharif Waked proposes a new line of fashion for the border check point.
10 July 6:30 pm
Cultural exchange: more harm than good?
Cultural exchange is a much touted yet often rarely examined concept. In the context of the exhibition, Points of Departure, this panel discussion will explore its complex implications, and will centre on several key questions: how do artists work within culturally different and predetermined contexts? What is the role and impact of cultural marketing? Are artists and organisations simply fighting for position in an increasingly globalised world? Do nationalist distinctions perpetuate stereotype definitions and perceptions of other cultures?
Speakers will include, among others Mark Rappolt, writer and editor of Art Review, Andrea Rose, Director of Visual Arts, British Council, JJ Charlesworth, critic and writer, Omar al Qattan, filmmaker and Chair of Shubbak Festival of Contemporary Arab Culture, and Rosalind Nashashibi.
11 July 6:30 pm
Touring Talk in English with curator Rebecca Heald
12 July 1-2 pm
Culture Now: Jacqueline Rose and Mignon Nixon
As part of the exhibition Points of Departure, Jacqueline Rose will be in conversation with Mignon Nixon to discuss how literature and culture can act as a unique resource for understanding political struggle and give us new ways to think creatively about the seemingly intractable conflict in the Middle East.