There is no region of the world from which we receive more media coverage than the Middle East. The images are of places completely destroyed by war. Some may still remember that the cradle of our culture lies between the Euphrates and Tigris. However, it is nearly impossible for most people to imagine that between bomb attacks and ruins there exists young, contemporary art which continues to develop, which both attaches importance to the preservation of its culture and seeks connection to the Western world.
We move at the borders of cultures, the past and the future. What of humanity remains, what do people want to preserve or throw overboard? Is there an intelligent way of globalization in which the positive aspects of mixed cultures can be conserved and negative ones abolished? Do similarities lead to mutual understanding instead of differences to distrust? In pictures, in sound and video, with artists from Iraq, Kurdistan and Europe, we will tell a story.
Credits:
Goethe Institut Erbil
Engineers without borders Austria
C.Rockefeller Center, Dresden
Galerie Genscher
Riso Club Leipzig
Nani Cooper
