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DISTANT SUFFERING #XIX | dissection of a disappearing cloud set up in the studio on May 30, 2023
photo courtesy of ©2023Giel Louws
DISTANT SUFFERING XIX | dissection of a disappearing cloud differenceandrepetition#2 work in progress | 2018 - 20 . .
REMEMBERING THE SAID AL-MISHAL CULTURAL CENTRE GAZA CITY
OBLITERATED BY THE ISRAELIAN DEFENCE FORCE
ON AUGUST 9, 2018
Without memory there is no limit to radical evil
Hannah Arendt
An object that tells of loss, destruction, disappearance of objects. Does not speak of itself. Tells of others. Will it include them?
Jasper Johns
Quoted in Susan Sontag | On Photography
Foreword
Presentation of the work poster block version 'departure' version single presentation version
Foreword
Middelburg, September 28, 2024
Last night, the apartheid state of Israel extended its zone of destruction to Lebanon. As a kind of lunch break in the genocidal carnage it is inflicting on Gaza; a one-sided, state-of-the-art massacre of civilians that the media still refers to as ‘war’.
After Hamas and others decided on 17 October 2023 to reshape their resistance to the occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza concentration camp in a different - indeed very radical - way, the paria state of Israël new that this was the moment that most governments would look away from genocide; which they did.
According to the Palestinian Health Ministry*, the ‘conflict’ has already killed 35,000 Palestinians, or 250 people a day. The number of children killed is estimated at least 14,100. More than 78,800 Palestinians, including 12,000 children, were injured. These numbers are rising every day.
Some 300 aid workers have been killed in Gaza, more than 500 health workers and at least 113 journalists. Some 60 per cent of all buildings have been destroyed. Only 16 of 36 hospitals are still functioning (partially). 1.9 Million Gazans have been displaced.
As Hannah Arendt taught me, people may be the subject of their own life story, they play and undergo it, but they are strictly speaking never the author of it. This is because any selfdisclosure is dependent on others, each with their own life story. To be seen and heard requires a public sphere that can only thrive through a multiplicity and variety of diverse stories and perspectives.
Memorial material has the power to bind communities, societies and nations in the present. Yet it can also operate as sites of resistance or points of contestation. Therefore, ownership of social memory inevitably comes around to questions of domination and the uneven access to a society’s political and economic resources.
When those in power continue to succeed in eliminating the most important story-tellers ‘on the ground’ actual events and the experiences of those involved and affected by these events will remain in the dark and will never contribute to possible memory formation.
The annihilated al-Mishal Cultural Centre in Gaza City was such a place of collective storytelling, of collective memory, but also of joy of the creation itself. Where every day different generations worked together, sweating, laughing , crying, touching each other. In short, a place of life itself.
Of course, the occupier Israel could not tolerate this and destroyed the al-Mishal Cultural. Entirely in touch with Zionism which simply denies Palestinians as a political entity.
Thus, silencing memory as and in itself. Which is a war crime.
In this respect you can and may read DISTANT SUFFERING XIX as a general j’accuse . . .
* In the past, the information from the Palestinian Health Ministry in proved to be of very reliable.
presentation ‘poster block’ version
Apart from the numerous presentations of single pieces, diptychs and triptychs of the work in different exhibitions, I also made a version covering the entire project.
The one at the Verbeke Foundation (November 20224) integrates the nine-piece version from London from 2019.
Work
On May31, 2023
31 paintings with the rubble of the the annihilated al-Mishal Cultural Centre - by the occupying army of the apartheid state of Israel - blended with dust from the exhibition spaces where parts of the art-series DISTANT SUFFERING were displayed. Mixed with extremely little East-Indian ink & Arabic gum on Simili Japon, 225 grs. 96,0 x 65,0 cm.
Presented in a wooden frame, measuring 97,9 x 66,3 x 4,5 cm.
Poster rack
oiled and steamed beech wood, wheels
100 x 87 x 58 cm. (height x width x depth )
Filing cabinet
zinc-coated metal, hardboard 5 mm.
90 x 51 x 51 cm. (height x width x depth )
36 plastic jars with metal lids, Ø 7 cm, 8cm. (height)
Courtesy of Mohammed Al hawajri, Suzanne Groothuis, Ingrid Rollema
All the exhibition venues and their curators and staff who exhibited my work. Please see from page 26 on.
Photos ©2019Dani Ploeger, ©2023Giel Louws
DISTANT SUFFERING XIX 0 | dissection of a disappearing cloud
REMEMBERING THE AL-MISHAL CULTURAL CENTRE
nine parts
March 26 - April 26, 2019
total dimensions work | h x w x d - 287,7 x 192,9 x 4,5 cm.
Cloud, painted with the actual rubble from the spot in Gaza City where the annihilated al-Mishal Cultural Centre was situated, in extremely diluted East-Indian ink & Arabic gum on Simili Japon, 225 grs. 96,0 x 65,0 cm. in nine wooden frames, each measuring 97,9 x 66,3 x 4,5 cm.
Connecting the Said al-Mishal Cultural Centre Gaza - obliterated in a bomb strike by the Israel Defence Forces on August 9, 2018 with the Watermans Arts Centre in London. Shown in the exhibition
RADICAL IMMERSIONS. Curated by Klio Krajewska.
For this opening piece of the art-series I asked my friend and colleague Mohammed Al hawajri in Gaza City to collect dust and dirt from the spot with the remains of the building and send this to me. I used the rubble to paint a large scale representation of the dust cloud that accompanied the explosion of the centre, partly based on a photo I saw in the news when I learned about the bombardment.
The painting consists of nine panels. The plastic supermarket bag in which the dust was collected is presented in front of the paintings.
The exhibition took place from 6 - 20 September 2019 and ran in parallel with the D.R.H.A. conference.
Photos courtesy of ©2019Dani Ploeger.
DISTANT SUFFERING XIX 0 | September 6-20, 2019 Watermans Arts Centre, London.
DISTANT SUFFERING XIX 0 September 6-20, 2019 Watermans Arts Centre, London.
‘single’ versions
Selection from the presentations of single pieces, diptychs and triptychs of the work in different exhibitions.
selection from all the works
Cloud, painted with the actual rubble from the spot in Gaza City where the annihilated Mishal Cultural Centre was situated, mixed with the dust from exhibition spaces where my art work within the art-series
DISTANT SUFFERING was exhibited, in extremely diluted East-Indian ink and Arabic gum on Simili Japon, 225 grs. 96,0 x 65,0 cm.
SUFFERING XIX 0 | September 6-20, 2019
- Watermans Arts Centre, LondonUK
1 | April - May 2018
SUFFERING XIX 15 | February 2022
SUFFERING XIX 16 | April 2022
Institute for Palestine Studies, Beirut, Lebanon
distant suffering XIX 23 | December 2022
Dokumenta Archive, Kassel, Germany, 2022.
SUFFERING XIX 25 | February 2023
DISTANT SUFFERING #XIX
dissection of a disappearing cloud | difference and repetition*
On August 9, 2018 in Gaza City the Said al-Mishal Cultural Centre Gaza was obliterated in a bomb strike by the Israel Defence Forces. Of course under the pretext that the building was used by ‘the Hamas terror organization for military purposes’, a common lie, always used in acts of war like this one. In truth of course it is a war against every part of the Palestinian identity.
Since its establishment in 2004, Al-Mishal served as a home for hundreds of plays, exhibits, musical performances and national ceremonies. It was the venue of choice for theatre companies in Gaza and a space for Gaza’s top musical acts. The centre also included recreational activities for children who were affected by three successive wars in Gaza, including the first (dance)school for some 250 children. It is a devastating loss for the isolated, incarcerated Palestinian community.
And of course there was hardly any international protest response. Neither from ‘politicians’ nor from ‘governments’, nor from the ( international ) art scene.
Only in Great Britain, fourteen leading playwrights and theatre directors, including Mike Bartlett, Caryl Churchill, Vicky Featherstone and Rufus Norris, described the great rage and deep pain of their Palestinian friends and colleagues. The rest of the art world non-acted in deafening silence.
So, this event mainly existed as a media event, embedded in a web of interrelated, opposing, contradictory political readings and interests and thereby was embedded in different networks of meaning involved in the broader conflict.
But the visual documentation of the explosion and its consequences often play only an illustrative role in the virtual media. Although the explosion is also a real, physical event, in which material is destroyed and people are hurt. This aspect is easy to downplay when watching the images online in the context of news reports.
The explosion is quickly perceived merely as an image, a set of information, a cloud of data that is contained by the digital platform that one watches on a small screen. The image hardly provokes an embodied experience, is easy to watch as an 'effect' or semiotic as in ‘a movie’ and more or less take for granted as 'another' violent event.
The work DISTANT SUFFERING #XIX / 0 | dissection of a disappearing cloud functions as the starting point of a work in progress. It uses non-digital, paper based and thereby physical media to foreground materiality and scale of the event. The cloud of the explosion is isolated, and due to its seize, becomes an immersive world of its own for a moment.
This composed work measures 293,7 x 198,9 x 4,4 cm.; it towers high above you. The image is fragmented into nine parts. The analogy of the small screen emerges.
The use of water on not clamped paper, tinted with actual debris from the ruins of the Said al-Mishal Cultural Centre Gaza – including the plastic bag in which it was collected - gives the art work a material dimension that exceeds its representative qualities.
One needs to spend some time with it: it's large but the details of the dust are fine. The dirt gives a sense of an indexical, rather than symbolic, connection with the site of the horrific explosion. It creates an immersive, material environment that opposes the easy framing as information detached from physical and possi It
It easy framing as information detached from physical and possibly empathetic experience that is facilitated by the presentation of a digital image on a screen while reading a news website.
The image itself is described quite ambiguously by beholders who reflected on the work: some see an explosion, others see a tree.
I am rather glad with this ambiguity. After all, if we specify 'tree' as 'olive tree', this not only leads us to an age-old international peace symbol, but also to the symbol of the Israeli oppression in the occupied territories: the illegal up-rooting of sometimes century old olive gardens. In Palestinian Al Walaja stands the oldest olive tree in the world, the Al-Badawi.
Over time, the olive tree has become a symbol of peace, wisdom and prosperity. Since the Israeli occupation, a specific meaning has been added for Palestinians: the olive tree has mainly become a symbol for the connection with the land and for steadfastness.
The association of 'olive tree' also lead to a niche in the Dutch protest movement: 'Plant an Olive Tree'. Here people buy an olive tree that is then, in coordination with partners in Palestine, planted in the occupied territories of the West Bank and the Gaza strip.
With the art series DISTANT SUFFERING #V | dissection of a disappearing cloud, I want to connect the art places both physically and mentally in which where I worked in and/or where I exhibited my art work. Because people have locked themselves in the difference: the ethnic, sexual, religious, gender and clan differences - and the world looks more ominous than ever. So by this project I want to connect and at the same time preserve memory on this
to connect and at the same time preserve memory on this horrendous event that took place on August 9th, 2018.
The #0 of the art-series dissection of a disappearing cloud is painted with the rubble of the Said al-Mishal Cultural Centre Gaza, dissolved in extremely diluted East-Indian ink, strengthened wit a little Arabic gum, painted on on Simili Japon, 225 grs. 9 Panels, total dimensions h x w x d - 287,7 x 192,9 x 4,5 cm.
For the footage of the destruction of the Centre, please see also https://youtu.be/vutHocL1ZYo and https://youtu.be/QVOnuK85MYA
* The subtitle difference and repetition | title of the dissertation by G. Deleuze, 1968 (Presses Universitaires de France)
Gaza City | January 26, 2018 the spot where the SAID AL-MISHAL CULTURAL CENTER stood photo’s ©2019 courtesy of Mohammed Al hawajri
Soil collected by Suzanne Groothuis.
Plastic bag | Mohammed Al hawajri postiljon d’amour | Ingrid Rollema
DISTANT SUFFERING #XIX | dissection of a disappearing cloud, from an art historical perspective is, of course, also inspired by the paintings of the Dutch masters from the 17th century, in which the 'Dutch skies' dominated their landscapes. Born in Leiden, I every day walk to my primary school crossing the streets with the names of these painters . . .
DISTANT SUFFERING | the project
Since 2013, by means of the ongoing art-series DISTANT SUFFERING, the Dutch artist Hans Overvliet (Leiden, 1952) investigates the role of the media in their representation of (military) violence. This, in the context of themes as perception, memory and identity formation. Overvliet uses a various range of media, symbols and codes, bringing together dichotomies like beauty and violence, refinement and brutality, the sublime and the vulgar.
As a reporter, Overvliet was an eyewitness to the events in the Middle East during the 1980s. Of course these experiences resonate in DISTANT SUFFERING. So aspects of power, politics, exclusion, censorship and the connection between artist, artwork and viewer infiltrate his multifaceted conceptual oeuvre.
Martha Jager, curator Vleeshal in Middelburg about the oeuvre: The dedication to art as a relational verb is central to Overvliet's work. On the one hand, the balance between poetry and criticism is special, so that the work never becomes bitter or pedantic, while at the same time the dialogue with the viewer is actively maintained. It is a tender form of activism that moves and urges action and also continuously questions the role of art.
Elements of DISTANT SUFFERING were exhibited in the Netherlands, Belgium, Pakistan, England, Italy, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Lebanon, Germany, the U.S.A. , France and Sweden.
Hans Overvliet was born in Leiden in 1952; he lives in Middelburg and works in Vlissingen, both in the province of Zeeland in the South-West of the Netherlands.
Next to his art-work he is, together with his wife Willy van Houtum, the founder and every day guardian of the 27-year old space for contemporary art: ruimteCAESUUR.
Here you’ll find his extended portfolio. Here you’ll find a kind of summary of his oeuvre.
acknowledgement individual works
DISTANT SUFFERING XIX 0 was exhibited in London from 6 - 20 September 2019 and ran in parallel with the D.R.H.A. conference in the Watermans Arts Centre.
Special thanks to Mohammed Al hawajri, Suzanne Groothuis, Ingrid Rollema, Giel Louws, Willy van Houtum & Dani Ploeger.
Curator: Klio Krajewska.
DISTANT SUFFERING XIX 1 in September 2018 was selected by a jury to participate in the M5-art project ‘Art from the Low Lands’ in Arsis Gallery in Bergen op Zoom in April - May 2019. In cooperation with Museum Gouda, the Markiezenhof in Bergen op Zoom, Gemeentemuseum Het Hannemahuis in Harlingen, the Westfries Museum in Hoorn and the Stedelijk Museum Zutphen.
Special thanks to Arsis: Maarten van ’t Hof & Christine Veraart.
DISTANT SUFFERING XIX 2 was exhibited in art space
ruimteCAESUUR in Middelburg on September 14, 2018.
Special thanks to Willy van Houtum.
DISTANT SUFFERING XIX 3 was exhibited in the Sea foundation in Tilburg in October 2018 during the 3-days performance DISTANT
SUFFERING XIV i.d. of a shared cloud #2 | the ‘book’.
Special thanks to the participants Julia Fidder and Pim Steinman. Thanks to Jan Willem van Rijnberk, Rinus Roepman, Jasper Steutel en Giel Louws.
Curator: Riet van Gerven.
DISTANT SUFFERING XIX 4 was exhibited in de Roofprintpers in Middelburg in February 2019.
Special thanks to Leni van den Berge.
DISTANT SUFFERING XIX 5 was created in KUNSTHAL 45 in Den Helder in June 2019 during the 3-days performance DISTANT
SUFFERING XIV | i.d. of a shared cloud #2 | the ‘book’.
Special thanks: Margo van der Pool, curator.
DISTANT SUFFERING XIX 6 was created due to the exhibitions in the INDEPENDENT ARTISTS GALLERY in Busto Garolfo / Milano in Italy where I participated in the art projects KABUTAR and (MEN OF) STREET ART, respectively in August 2019 and in October 2020.
Special thanks to curators / organizers Mehreen Hashmi, Manuel Zoia & Martina Buttiglieri.
DISTANT SUFFERING XIX 7 was exhibited in art space Brugotta Hal Biekorf in May in Bruges in Belgium in June 2020 during AiR Biekorf 4.0: Comédie de la condition humaine. Special thanks to curator Jan Verhaeghe.
DISTANT SUFFERING XIX 8 was created to connect with art initiative Arsis, exhibition in the Markiezenhof, Bergen op Zoom. Corona year 2020 – 2021.
Special thanks to Arsis: Maarten van ’t Hof.
DISTANT SUFFERING XIX 9 was created due to the exhibition Steal like an Artist! in Kunstpodium ‘T’ in Tilburg in October 2 –October 28, 2020 in cooperation with Lost Painters.
Special thanks to curator Niek Hendrix.
DISTANT SUFFERING XIX 10 was created due to the exhibition in Amsterdam in 2021 during This Art Fair in the Kromhouthallen, May 2021, which was cancelled due to Corona.
Special thanks to Eva Langerak.
DISTANT SUFFERING XIX 11 was exhibited in Luxfer Open Space, Česká Skalice, Czech Republic, August 2021.
Special thanks to Roman Rejhold & Kate Štroblová.
DISTANT SUFFERING XIX 12 was created due to the exhibition in Aarhus, Denmark in 2021 during the Juxtapose Art Fair in the Godsbanen Rå hall, June 2021 in which I participated with DISTANT SUFFERING XVIII, defacing palestine | the Nakba 19482018.
Special thanks to Sasha Rose Richter and Jacob Juhl.
DISTANT SUFFERING XIX 13 is non-existent for obvious reasons.
DISTANT SUFFERING XIX 14 is a reminder of the demolished Buurthuis ( community house ) ‘t Blokhuis in December 2022 in Kattendijke, an art space run by the artists André Smits and Monika Dahlberg, showing a part of DISTANT SUFFERING VI | i.d. of a shared key. Special thanks to André Smits.
DISTANT SUFFERING XIX 15 was created to connect with the Lípa Art Collection in Prague in the Czech Republic. In 2022 work from the art-series DISTANT SUFFERING is accepted in this collection.
Special thanks to Roel van der Linden, founder and director of Lípa.
DISTANT SUFFERING XIX 16 was created to connect with the Institute for Palestine Studies, Palestine Hall / IPS building, Beirut, Lebanon, April 2022. Here, all the kites from the kite project were displayed and included in their permanent collection in Beirut, London, Ramallah and Washington.
Special thanks: in London Sebastian BernburgU.K | in BeirutLB Rana Anani | in the Netherlands Ingrid Rollema | in BrusselsBE Suzanne Groothuis.
DISTANT SUFFERING XIX 17 was created to connect with The Poortersloge, Bruges, Belgium. April 21 – May 29 2022. I presented the ice bullet in the expo Expect an Occasional Attack … and Flee.
Special thanks to Jan Verheaghe and Sylvie Crutell, curators.
DISTANT SUFFERING XIX 18 was created due to the exhibition during Supermarket, the Stockholm Independent Art Fair in Sweden, May 2022, in which I participated with DISTANT SUFFERING XXI i.d. of a shared bullet.
Special thanks to Alice Máselníková Creative Director.
DISTANT SUFFERING XIX 19 marks the participation in June 2022 in the exhibition The Uninitiated in Slipvillan on Långholmen in Stockholm, Sweden. The dust is from both the garden as the arthouse on Långholmen in Stockholm.
Special thanks to the artist group Slipvillan, curatorial team.
DISTANT SUFFERING XIX 20 connects The Uninitiated in Slipvillan on Långholmen in Stockholm, Sweden, June 2022. The dust is from Studio44 in Stockholm. Curator Rikard Fåhraeus.
DISTANT SUFFERING XIX 21 connecting with the Tirana Biennial of Graphic Arts, First edition, from 25 October- 25 November 2022. Art Gallery of Tirana, Tirana, Albania. Special thanks to Beste GürsuTurkey, Helidon HalitiAlbania, Zake PrelvukajKosovo, curators and Ormira LulaniiAlbania, director.
DISTANT SUFFERING XIX 22 connecting with the exhibition what is the value of art? organised in Noordstraat 74 in Terneuzen by Zeur Hoenderop in November - December 2022.
I revitalized DISTANT SUFFERING VII - VIII – IX into a multiple. Click here for the ( Dutch! ) statement I made for this exhibition
DISTANT SUFFERING XIX 23 connecting with the Dokumenta Archive in Kassel, Germany, December 2022. The poster ‘i.d. of inequality’ is – thanks to Jürgen Olbrich –part of their history and collection.
DISTANT SUFFERING XIX 24 connecting with NO-INSTITUTE of Jürgen OOlbrich, Kassel, Germany in December 2022. In 2022 we started working together on several ( mail-art ) projects, all accompanied by delightful dialogues.
DISTANT SUFFERING XIX 25 connecting with Adam Roussopoulos, mail artist in Chaska, USA | January 2023
Stamps of ‘i.d. of a shared bullet’ and my portrait stamp became part of his mail-art-stamp project.
DISTANT SUFFERING XIX 26 conecting with Sana’a, in Yemen, collected by Galit on February 12, 2023 for the Durden&RayUSA version of i.d. of a shared cup of tea.
Tanks to Issam and Bo.
DISTANT SUFFERING XIX 27 connecting with the Verbeke Foundation in Kemzeke, Belgium. Almost all my paper collages now are part of the collection of the Verbeke Foundation. Thanks to Geert Verbeke.
DISTANT SUFFERING XIX 28 connecting with bunkers from WWII in Dishoek, Zeeland, June 3, 2023. Thanks to leon riekwell and John.
DISTANT SUFFERING XIX 29 connecting with art centre Toonbeeld in Terneuzen Zeeland / Pakje Kunst, June 2023.
Thanks to Harmien Hamelink. Postiljon d’amour Ramon de Nennie.
DISTANT SUFFERING XIX 30 connecting with Gallery DurdenandRay, Los Angeles, U.S.A., August 2023.
Thanks to Carlos Beltran Arechiga who connected us and Ben Jackel, who delivered the dust.
DISTANT SUFFERING XIX ??? conecting with my studio in artstudio-foundation Kipvis in Flushing, which I – after more than 12 years – had to abandon in June 2023.
DISTANT SUFFERING XIX 31 connecting with Kunstverein Projectraum Bahnhof25, Kleve, Germany
November 11 – December 12, 2023
Thanks to Dirk Knickhoff, Elisabeth Schink and Ulrike Scholder.
DISTANT SUFFERING XIX 32 connecting with SmithArt in Middelburg where I exhibited this very project.
October 1, 2023 – January 3, 2024
Thanks to Tineke Smith and Johan de Koning, curator.
DISTANT SUFFERING XIX 33 connecting with Bewaerschole in Burgh-Haamstede. August 24 – September 22, 2024.
Thanks to Geeske Pluijmers, curator.
DISTANT SUFFERING XIX 34 connecting with ‘ik geef je mijn raam – I give you my window’ in Vlissingen.
September 6 – October 20, 2024.
Thanks to Sylvia Hubrouck, curator.
DISTANT SUFFERING XIX 35 connecting with ‘Still Alive – Voices from Gaza’ in Nieuwe Kerk in Middelburg.
September 08 – November 31, 2024
DISTANT SUFFERING XIX 36 connecting with Pop-up the machine in Vlissingen. October 26 – October 27, 2024.
Thanks to leon riekwell, curator.
Music while creating the works
Canto Ostinato for two pianos | Simeon ten Holt
Sandra van Veen · Jeroen van Veen, 2011
Incantatie IV for three pianos | Simeon ten Holt
Jeroen van Veen, Sandra van Veen, Tamara Rumiantsev, 2020
Johann Sebastian Bach | Goldberg Variations
Daan Manneke (b. 1939) Gedanken zu Bach | Ach wie flüchtig, ach wie nichtig
Hannes Minnaar piano | Recorded live at De Waalse Kerk, 2020
Philip Glass: Solo Piano Music | Jeroen van Veen, 2017
Avishai Cohen Trio | Shifting Sands Session | ARTE Concert, 2022
Bimhuis t.v. presents: Shai Maestro | 2021
Bimhuis t.v. presents: The BadPlus | 2022
@arteconcert's Piano Day | Hania Rani | 2024
DISTANT SUFFERING #XIX
dissection of a disappearing cloud difference and repetition#2 work in progress 2018 - 20 . .
REMEMBERING
