Darat al Funun September 2000

In August 1999 The Summer Academy of Darat Al Funun - Khalid Shoman Foundation, was established under the supervision of the artist Marwan Kassab Bachi. Marwan is a member of the Akademie der Künste and a professor at the Berlin College of Fine Arts. The Academy makes a special effort for the purpose of discovering young talents in the Arab world and inciting them to discover their individuality in a continuous dialectical approach, that gives them hope in the name of putting art in a prominent position within the history of civilizations.

From morning till night, the days are spent in hours of production and critique. Here, the process of work and work analysis are given the same weight. Any time not devoted to art, be it through awareness, thought, research, or creation, is an unfortunate waste of time.

For Marwan, the proper approach to understanding art lies not only in the technical skills but also within the philosophy of art itself. In fact, the synthesis of the two is a top priority for students to learn. For 24 hours a day, their lives are intertwined in the workshop with one goal in mind ­ to live will full immersion in art. In this regard, to work on one's art is to work on one's psyche. To understand one's own art is to understand one's intention within oneself. The process is demanding and teaches the students to be honest with their work. This emphasis can rarely be grasped in school but requires such an intensive platform that borders between instruction and therapy. In other words, it's not just drawing and painting, it's a complete head change.

One of the main conditions of the September Academy, is that the participant artists must be from the Arab world, so that there can be artistic and cultural exchange between artists with new international experience, but deeply tied to the culture of the land they belong to.