Program May - July 2010

Exhibitions

Jananne Al Ani
photographs and videos

Witness from Baghdad
photography by Halim Al Karim

Fault Lines
photography from
JO magazine

The State of Ishamel: Jus sanguinis installation by Raed Ibrahim

May 18 - July 22, 2010

Download program in
Arabic and English
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Previous Programs
Ahlam Shibl & Raed Ibrahim 1-5/10
 Wael Shawky & Youth Salon 10-12/09
 New Media Art - Jordan 4-7/09
 Mona Hatoum 10-12/08
 60 Years 6-7/08
 Art Now in Lebanon 3-5/08
 Lens on Syria 12/07-2/08
 Spirituality & Modernity 9-11/07
 A History of European Art 5-7/07
 A History of European Art 1-5/07
 A History of European Art 9-11/06
 Out of the Desert 5-7/06
 The Wall & the Checkpoints 2-4/06

Tuesdays at the Darat

Archaeological site at 8 pm

Sunday, 23/5/2010
The Aesthetics of Disappearance: A Land Without People
Artist Talk by Jananne Al-Ani

Tuesday, 1/6/2010
Artist Lecture by Regina Mamou
Regina Mamou received her BFA in Photography from Rhode Island School of Design in 2005 and her MFA in Photography from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2007. Working in photography, video, and durational performances, Mamou explores the psychological affect of trauma and the construction of memory based on specific locations. Regina Mamou is currently a Fulbright Fellow to Jordan working on “Mapping Collected Memory,” a project interpreting Amman through methods of navigation. [Lecture is in English]

Correspondence with Iraq
Co-curated with May Muzafar

Tuesday, 8/6/2010
Said Effendi
by Kameran Hassani (Iraq) | 1957. Film screening in the presence of actor Youssef Al-Ani

“Saeed Effendi” is inspired by the novel titled “Arak” (Fight), which was written by the late Iraqi novelist Edmone Sabri, in which a dispute between neighbors erupts due to a simple problem which spirals out of control, but where nevertheless, at the end, the spirit of tolerance and harmony among the people of the neighborhood eventually prevails.

The scenes were filmed in the Baghdadi alleys of “Al-Haidar Khana” and “Al-Rashid Street” in the style of neorealist Italian cinema. It presents a picture of the living conditions of a typical Baghdadi neighborhood, depicting the social relations, daily life, and child’s play as a background to the drama. “Said Effendi” achieved outstanding success and admiration from both the audience and critics. The film participated in numerous international festivals including the Moscow International Film Festival (1958).

Kameran Hassani was born in Nasiriya in 1927; he attained both his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in cinema from the University of California. Hassani became a prominent name in Iraqi cinema upon his return from America the mid fifties, during which he published the magazine titled “Cinema” which captivated wide audiences and became a great success. During his stay in Baghdad, Hassani produced two films: “Mashrou’ Al Zawaj” (1962), and “Ghurfa Raqam 7” (1966). He left Iraq for America wherein he died in 2006.
 

Tuesday, 15/6/2010
Al Mon’ataf (The Curb)
by Jafaar Ali (Iraq) | 1975. Film screening in the presence of actor Youssef Al-Ani

The film is based on the novel “Five Voices” by the Iraqi writer Gha’eb Taama Furman. “Turning Point” focuses on three male characters that work for a newspaper agency. Saeed (played by the late artist Taama Tamimi) a distinguished journalist, who writes about general public issues, Sheriff (Youssef al-Ani), a poet and an employee at the newspaper agency, and Nabil Beck, a wealthy young gentleman. Most of the scenes are filmed at offices of “Al Nas” newspaper, a political daily. Furman did present the newspaper within a specific political framework; but merely alluded to the newspaper which deals with the general concerns of the Iraqi citizen. Filmed in Iraq in 1975, the film was screened at a number of international festivals, most notably Moscow Film Festival IX (1975).

Jafaar Ali was born in 1933; he studied English literature at Baghdad University (1956), and obtained a Master’s degree in Film and Television from the University of Iowa, (1961). In 1965, Ali Directed and wrote the script for the film “collector”, and thus completed the first feature film produced by the public sector in Iraq.

Tuesday, 22/6/2010
Al Mas’ala Al Kubra (The Great Question)
Mohamed Shukri Jameel (Iraq)| 1983 | 184 min. | Arabic / English. Film screening in the presence of the director Mohamed Shukri Jameel

During the Iraqi mandate period, Sheikh Dhari and his tribe revolt against the behaviour of the colonial officers. As a result, the British troops attack the sites of the Sheikh Dhari and consequently arrest him and accuse him of being a bandit. As the movie progresses the British plans in Iraq are revealed. Additionally, the film, which stars local actors alongside foreign actors, including the internationally acclaimed Oliver Reed, highlights the solidarity of the Iraqi people against the colonial project by showing scenes of parliament meetings and mass organization as a starting point for the 1920 Iraqi revolution which had its roots in the south of Iraq. 

Muhammad Shukri Jameel was born in Baghdad in 1937. He studied at the Higher Institute of Cinema in the United States. He began his cinematic career in 1953 producing documentaries for the Film Production Unit in Iraq.  Among his movies are: ‘Shayef Kheir’ (1968), ‘Al Thalemoon’ (1973), ‘Al Aswar’ (1979); ‘Al Muhimma Al Mustamirra’ (1982); and ‘Al Mali Ghazi’ (1991).

Under the patronage of HRH Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein and HRH Princess Rym Al Ali, and in cooperation with the Royal Film Commission, Darat al Funun - The Khalid Shoman Foundation presents the film

“Thalethun (Trente/Thirty)”
in the presence of the Tunisian director Fadhel Jaziri

Tuesday, 29/6/2010
at Al Hussein Cultural Center
reception 7:30 pm
screening 8 pm

The film, which takes place between 1924 and 1934, portrays the struggle for Freedom of three young Tunisian friends who became true myths in the Tunisian national Memory. The three characters engaged against colonialism, obscurantism, and the burden of their society: Mhamed Ali El Hammi, the founder of the first Tunisian trade union; Tahar Hadded, a rebellious freedom and Human Rights militant, pioneer of the Tunisian Family Code, who in his writings called the whole Muslim world to reform women status in the society; and Belgacem Chebbi who renewed poetry by his commitment, and initiated new language patterns. Referring to the intense atmosphere of the inter-war years, “Thalethun” depicts the awakening to Modernity of three audacious and free consciences against a conservative society; one that was unresponsive to renewal, self-absorbed, and defending its privileges against all attempts at reform. The film is in Arabic and French with English subtitles.

Historical drama | 2008 |  111 min. |  Super 35 mm more

Fadhel Jaziri (born in Tunis in 1948) is a Tunisian writer and filmmaker. Co-founder of the New Theater in 1976, Jaziri helped create a series of productions such as “The Instruction”, “Ghassalet Nouader” and “Lem”. The group engaged in film  production, with films like “The Wedding” and “Arab”. In the early nineties, Jaziri resumed his autonomy and chose to innovate the art of secular and sacred popular Musicals. In these artistic productions, Jaziri incorporated refined aesthetics, a complex stage direction style, and a new sign and body language long repressed and underestimated, which influenced the cultural Tunisian landscape.

Tuesday, 6/7/2010
Iraqi Artists in the Diaspora (The Generation of the 1980’s as a Model)
Lecture by Rafa Nasiri
This lecture summarizes the sequence of historical events which have lead to the development of Iraqi art from ancient civilization, to the Islamic era, leading to the beginning of the twentieth century with the emergence of Iraqi modern art. Nasiri will focus on the establishment of the Academic Institute of Fine Arts in the forties, and the role the artists, Faeq Hassan, and Jawad Selim in the development of contemporary trends, and their impact on subsequent generations. The talk will concentrate on the last two decades, which have witnessed the migration of Iraqi artists, particularly the eighties generation, to various parts of the world. After escaping the difficult circumstances experienced in Iraq by wars, siege and occupation, and leaving behind a void in the structure of Iraq’s culture, the central concern in their artistic expression and development remains the perception and notion of the homeland.

Tuesday, 13/7/2010
Iraqi Maqam by Hussein Al Adhami
The “Maqam” is a four hundred year old genre of music found in several countries including Iraq where it is often considered the most perfect form of Maqam. The focus is on the poem sung in classical Arabic or Iraqi dialect. It primarily consists of several passages which at times are completely improvised and heavily depends on the hearing and laryngeal sounds in a manner free from anomaly, which are created by using metric accompaniment that often lead to a medley of strophic songs.

Hussein Al Adhami was born in Baghdad in 1953. He became a prominent Maqam singer and was famously known as “The Ambassador of the Iraqi Maqam.” In 2003 Al Adhami’s research on Iraqi Maqam was inscribed in 2008 on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, UNESCO. Al Adhami excelled in the performance of the Iraqi Maqam for over thirty years, as well as being a prominent writer and researcher on the subject. His essays include: ‘The aesthetic ideal in performance”, ‘The Iraqi Maqam within the Religious Secularized World’, ‘Memory of Travel’ (multiple parts), ‘Iraqi Maqam in the Twentieth Century’, ‘The Alqubanji Approach in Iraqi Maqam” and ‘Iraqi Maqam Between the Two Methods.’
 

Tuesday, 20/7/2010
Our Feelings Took the Pictures: Open Shutters Iraq
Maysoon Pachachi (Iraq / UK) | 2008 | 102 min. | Arabic / English with English subtitles
For a month, a group of women, from 5 cities in Iraq, live and work together in a traditional courtyard house in Damascus. Everyday they are out on the streets of the Old City practicing their photography. Back in the house, they draw and present ‘life maps’ to each other, telling their stories with a rare honesty, with humor and grief and anger. They unearth memories, buried in the course of just trying to survive 30 years of war and sanctions. The experience transforms them and, back in Iraq, they shoot hundreds of photographs, each imbued with the sharp truth of lived experience.

Permanent Exhibition

"Dar Khalid"
A museum of images reflecting
Khalid Shoman's life and legacy.


Darat al Funun opening hours:

Saturday-Thursday: 10am - 7pm
Ramadan: 10am - 3pm

Darat Al Funun
P.O.Box: 5223, Amman 11183, Jordan
Tel: (962-6) 464 3251/2
Fax: (962-6) 464 3253
darat@thekhalidshomanfoundation.org
www.daratalfunun.org