Patchwork of Narratives – Beirut and Mostar
Group exhibition
Project Rooms, Färgfabriken
Participants: Rania Rafei, Jinane Dagher, Ali Beidoun, Antonia Ringbom, Jonatan Sundström, Lina Josefina Lindqvist samt Tomas Rajnai and Jens Nielsen (Osynliga Teatern)
The multicultural city withholds opportunities and challenges, cultural richness and fragmentation of society. The exhibition Patchwork of Narratives focuses on two cities that throughout history constantly been affected by these issues, two cities who repetitively change between interaction and fragmentation, Beirut (Lebanon) and Mostar (Bosnia and Herzegovina).
As in few other cities Beirut have risen from civil war and invasion and regained its economic development over and over again. However the huge urban development projects undertaken by private stakeholders in recent years are rarely rooted in the citizens needs. Meanwhile Beiruts city map and its development is strongly characterized by a division between the country’s different ethnic groups.
Mostar is also a city strongly defined by physical and mental fragmentation, under many years the Bosnien War divided the city between Bosniaks and Croats. The legacy of the war is still very present and undoubtedly most distinctly in the very central no man’s land, the District, a hollow urban buffer zone between the city’s ethnic communities.
By enabling cultural institutions and cultural actors to take a more active and strategic role within the framework of urbanization issues the project will promote sustainable and democratic urban development in Mostar and Beirut. The project creates, for the first time, the so necessary and requested cross-border dialogue within the city and between the cities different social sectors.
The experiences from Beirut and Mostar are presented during autumn 2014 in exhibitions in each city, portraying urbanization processes and emphasizing urban solutions that enable integration. A joint exhibition at Färgfabriken in autumn 2014 will highlight and capture the issues, ideas and experiences raised in Beirut and Mostar, and other cities whose experience also actively are included in the project.
Press
Perlentaucher.de Das Kulturmagazine has reviewed the essay by Arna Mackic in the book Patchwork of Narratives. All essays in the book have been public in Eurozine.
Related
Färgfabriken has since 2010 been part of an international culture cooperation in the project New Urban Topologies. The experience and knowledge that has been generated in New Urban Topologies is fundamental for Patchwork of Narratives.
Supported by
The Swedish Postcode Lottery
