{25/2/2019 - 13/3/2019}
YEAR 1 | The Body
Conducted by Shereen Talhouni, Raed Ibrahim, Diala Khaswaneh & Ola Khaldi {The Rocca Family}, and Musa Shadeedi.
Shortly after the residency, Aman had an exhibition on 3/15/2019 to exhibit the participants’ works.
About The Residency.
For the first year, the residency focused on the use of art in creating a dialogue related to notions of the body and sexuality.
The Sessions.
Session 1 | Rocca Family
The first part of the art residency at Aman Space is hosted by The Rocca Family (Diala Khasawneh and Ola Al Khalidi), a family that grows with/blends into friends and surprise connections, human and otherwise, real and fictional, an attempt to live with a spot of spontaneity, holding humor and curiosity dear. Wondering about the meanings of everyday matters such as life, immigration, home/family and such. The Family uses folkloric habits, traditional magicals and barbaghandat to step away from truth, to clear the path to indulge in confusion and real life messes. Even if constructed, assumed or/and virtual. The Family draws its powers in navigation from its feline member, who goes on secret adventures between intense and frequent sleeping and eating spells.
Session 2 | Shireen Talhouni
For the second part of the art residency at Aman Space is hosted by Shireen Talhouni , a choreographer based in Amman - Jordan. She participated as a qualified architect with prominent practices before embarking on a diploma in dance studies at the trinity laban conservatoire of music and dance in 2012. Her working process is informed by her background in architecture with a strong emphasis on spatial design and a great interest in drawing inspiration from street life.
Session 3 | Raed Ibrahim
For the Third part of the art residency at Aman Space, we got the chance to have contemporary artist Raed Ibrahim to host a session related to contemporary art and new methods for expression. Raed who was born in Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia, studied at the Fine Art Institute at the Lebanese University, Beirut. Raed is currently living and working in Amman, Jordan, where he often exhibits his work, along with countries like Lebanon, Ireland, UK, Holland and the US. Raed has had residencies in Darat al Funun, the French Cultural Center in Amman and at many other experimental space for alternative arts.
Session 4 | Musa Shadeedi
For the 4th part of the art residency at Aman Space, we got the chance to have writer and artist Musa Shadeedi. Musa studied psychology at the Al Ahliyya Amman University and is the founder and director of initiative Cinamji؛ an arab visual platform on sexuality and body in arab cinema. His latest publishings are "Non-normative sexuality in Arab Cinema" and "Oum Kulthoum's Sexuality".
After The Residency.
Due to its success, both the participants & the facilitators requested means to follow up on their work/projects after the completion of the residency period.
Artist Raed Ibrahim aimed to work in one room, where the participants gathered for 7 consecutive hours with no phones throughout the session for the participants to focus on their work and the outputs, without knowing the time or when the session would end.
As for the Rocca Family, they have rekindled some of their original workshops within the space, some got to meet again to follow up on their projects, and some were new to the workshop. Their additional session ‘Body and Alienation’ aimed to motivate the participants to know and learn about their bodies, and how to communicate with them. The session focused on the relationship between the participants and their bodies, Q&As, and also using the body as a vital art tool.
Ibrahim’s session was all about group effort, testing group dynamics and relationships when producing art work. Painting as an individual within a collective, the idea was examining the point of departure when the person no longer has control over the work while following their own intuition and being considerate to the original work. A minute was given to have the participants work on whatever is in front of them, starting with their own painting, then given another minute to move and work on their neighbour's canvas and so on; in a clockwise manner. The results were unifying; letting go off being an individual while creating a collective work.
The Rocca Family decided to take us away from Amman and sail together to a day of fun and reflection to engage as a group in new experiences while having a theater with changing contexts to practice and test the things we usually talk about.