Itineraries Contemporary Art Public Space Tunisia
Dream City 3rd Edition
Artists Facing Freedom
Tunis Sept 26th > 30th 2012 Sfax Oct 05th > 07th 2012 Organised by
Itineraries of Contemporary Art in Public Space DREAM CITY • www.lartrue.com
Dream City 3rd Edition of
www.lartrue.com 17 rue Salaheddine el Ayoubi 2080 Ariana TUNISIE contact.dreamcity@gmail.com Phone +216 22 70 50 15 Local press contact JIHENE TURKI turkyjihene@yahoo.fr Phone +216 20 21 86 90 Phone +216 52 21 86 93 International press contact CeCiL THUILLIER cecil.dreamcity@gmail.com Tel. +33(0)6 08 02 83 73
Tunis Sept 26th > 30th 2012 Sfax Oct 05th > 07th 2012
Organised by:
L’Art Rue Selma & Sofiane Ouissi (Artistic Managers) Saloua Ben Salah (General Coordinator) Yacine Blaiech (graphic designer, publication & website manager) Béatrice Dunoyer (Artistic Collaborator, Production & Literary Programming Manager) CeCiL Thuillier (Artistic Collaborator, Press & Communication Manager, Photography Programming Executive) Samya Fendri (Sfax Regional Coordinator) Mohamed Joo (Financial Manager) Mich Belkhir (Technical Manager) Dhouha Bokri (Executive Assistant & Translator ) Jihene Turki (Press Officer) Aly Mrabet (Audiovisual Communication Manager) Nina Cholet (Intern Logistics & Production Assistant)
Itineraries of Contemporary Art in Public Space DREAM CITY • www.lartrue.com
Editorial How could the ever-changing city of Tunis become an open space for artistic and cultural experimentation? How could the development of new forms of citizenship and space reappropriation be aroused in our country in (re)construction? How could awareness be raised at a State and political level about the presence of a cultural community and what forms of dynamic exchanges are to be forged between these two arenas? These are the questions that have been raised since 2007 by Dream City, urban itineraries of contemporary art, to dream of and re-appropriate the Medina of Tunis. It is an invitation addressed to creators from all different disciplines to conceive projects that are inscribed within the city. This event is an experience which celebrates the transitional, the
experimental, the collective, the enfranchisement of practices, the crossexchange of views, and that of the questionings between Art and the city. Thus, this art in progress endeavours to create an aesthetic reappropriation of the urban through a new way of exercising Tunisian citizenship. The artistic practices and systems which had existed till then in Tunisia are thoroughly reconsidered. Artists reinvent themselves, topple the established order of evidences and create a certain form of artistic resistance while working on the reconstruction of the social and political space at a time. What role is the artist attempting to play in the city and in the recesses of a History which is being written? In 2012, “Artists Facing Freedom” will be the theme for the third edition of Dream City which will be open to artists from Tunisia, alongside Africa and Central Asia. After Tunis, Dream City 2012 will transport you to Sfax, in the core of this industrial city with a peculiar atmosphere. We will be meeting all the curious onlookers from here, there and everywhere, all those who invent new ways of cohabitation. Let us be certain that the artists and citizens’ joint action can differently reveal our new political condition, bring to light concealed or unexpected potentials, astounding poetics and new prospects.
Selma & Sofiane Ouissi Artistic Directors Itineraries of Contemporary Art in Public Space DREAM CITY • www.lartrue.com
A question asked by Frie Leysen (director and founder of the Kunsten Festival of Arts in Brussels) to Sofiane and Selma Ouissi, choreographer artists, stands at the origin of this event, ‘‘If you were
cultural operators, what would you dream of doing for Tunisia?’’
Birth of Dream City Thus was stoked the desire of seeing all our city sown with artistic proposals, out of the conventional and agreed of artistic spaces, hence giving everyone the chance to live contemporary art. One location had been chosen in view of its patrimonial richness, its architectural structure and its history which carries our collective memory: the Medina of Tunis. Then, a profound desire towards the Other, towards collectiveness and togetherness was called for, so that this event would not be the reflection of a sole point of view. The Tunisian artists, worn-out and forlorn, were brought a new spirit, an outlet to open up new artistic territories and enrich their aesthetic practices. The concept was brought to light in November 2007 as a whole artwork and was inscribed within the Tunisian cultural landscape as an act of challenge and self-expression about a contemporary aestheticism. Conceived as a Itineraries of Contemporary Art in Public Space DREAM CITY • www.lartrue.com
space for free expression and movement, Dream City invites the artists to think of their society, of its urban dimension and of their collective memory. It encourages them to experiment more sociality, to prove their citizenship while creating in proximity with the population and the territory. It is a project that unfetters its ties from the traditional festival form and the one-time demonstration/ performance of pre-existing artworks. It establishes new sorts of relationship with the population by involving them, either directly or indirectly, in the creation process. These “open for participation” processes make of the territory and its components (town-planning-related, historical, social, identityrelated, etc.) a mould and raw material for brewing creations. The integration of the citizens and inhabitants grants a sensitisation towards the adopted artistic approach and favours the accessibility to and perception of the creative act and the mechanisms it generates.
The Challenges - Asserting public space as a place of freedom, mixture and experience An artistic journey into the city, A city journey into art
- Addressing the various population (socially, generationally and territorially diverse, from inhabitants to visitors)
Dream City is conceived as an artistic laboratory specialised in studying the intensity of the permanent exchange between art and life: Art takes shape directly in the city getting inscribed within an incarnate relationship: The city cannot be depicted but lived!
- Considering public space as a space of possibilities, an agora for the citizen
Dream City is a wandering urban artistic show which largely overflows disciplines and classifications: a thought(s) in action.
- Working for a social and participatory art: the artist becomes a citizen and the spectator emancipated
- Multiplying the gazes upon the city and putting it into tales in order to go beyond the conventionally predominant ones and to listen to what the artists, the city-dwellers and the urban observers suggest.
- Democratising contemporary art - Engaging into a reflection about city planning
Itineraries of Contemporary Art in Public Space DREAM CITY • www.lartrue.com
The works presented in the biennial are the fruit of elaborate debates, a collective research led by dialogue, reflection and site-specific experimentation.
The Dreams-Brainstorms Workshops or How Dream City is Built
Supported by the Prince Claus Fund for Culture and Development
The French Institute of Tunisia (IFT) contributed to the December 2011 session and financed three French guest-speakers’ participation
With the support of ECF (European Cultural Foundation)
A long time for reflection A collective construction
Well in advance before the biennial, about twenty Tunisian artists are selected by written application. Each one of them has an idea, an intuition which they would materialise through an artwork to be presented publicly during Dream City. In order to help them in this construction, a system of action/research, entitled Dreams-Brainstorms, is set by L’Art Rue. The Dreams-Brainstorms have therefore gathered for 6 months (from December 2011 to May 2012) the selected artists, the Art Rue team and a group of Tunisian and foreign consultants (sociologists, art critics, journalists, city planners, architects, philosophers, etc.). These monthly group meetings tackle all sorts of questions in relation with art, territory and society with respect to the annual theme of the biennial. They correlate theoretical debate and field work. The fruit of these exchanges is preserved so as to contribute to the education and information of young artists, cultural operators and any professional who might be interested in these questions. This mechanism can also eventually favour the elaboration of a new public politics.
order to shed light on it. In this sense, collecting the inhabitants’ words turns out to be crucial. Inquiring after their life styles, their problematic issues, their expectations and their questionings makes it possible to get acquainted with them as well as sensitise them to the creative act while involving them into it. The citizens, engaged in this approach, feel concerned and active. They take in, therefore, more openly these artistic practices which dare to address them, show interest in them and consider their preoccupations. It also improves the receptivity of contemporary creations and grants a wider audience by targeting a range of the population that is not used to visit museums or galleries. This encounter acquires hence as great an importance as that of the artistic project per se and becomes the residual mark of a shared creative experience. From June to September, in the wake of the Dreams-Brainstorms, L’Art Rue accompanies the artists in their creations and produces their works.
During this preparatory phase, the artists are constantly reminded that their works should be an agent that contributes to the development of their own territory. The patrimonial character sensed both at a human and material level is therefore a pedestal on which their work should stand. The memory, either material or immaterial, occupies a monumental position that should be taken into consideration: architecture, common objects, habits, lights, social organisation of the neighbourhood, sound environment, space planning, etc. Public space is constantly “alive”. The artist comes along on top of it in
The consultants: Pascal Le Brun-Cordier (Cultural Projects in Public Space Master Manager at Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne University), Tahar Chikhaoui (Cinema Critic), Raja Ben Slama (Psychoanalyst and scholar), Pascal Nicolas-Le Strat (Sociologist and Associate Professor in Political Science), Abdessatar Sahbani (Sociologist), Rachida Triki (Art Critic), Claudine Dussolier (Cultural and Multimedia Project Designer), Jean-Sébastien Steil (Artistic Production in Public Space Consultant), Olivier Desjardins (Technical Director)
Itineraries of Contemporary Art in Public Space DREAM CITY • www.lartrue.com
Dream City 2012
Tunis: September, 26th – 30th Sfax: October, 05th – 07th
The Third Year’s Novelties > This year’s theme: “Artists Facing Freedom”, or art as an expression of democracy > Invitation to creators from Africa and Central Asia to build a sensitive bridge with these societies which have been ruled by totalitarian regimes for decades.
> For the first time, Dream City will travel to Sfax (October, 05th to 07th) to decentralise the
More than a hundred artists, both Tunisian and international, took part in the first two editions of Dream City (2007 and 2010).
cultural offer and reinstall creativity at the core of a city that suffers a cruel shortage of it. The Medina of Sfax is neglected by the plans of national restoration. It is a cultural impulse towards this industrial city that reveals its historical centre and revives it artistically.
The audience could, therefore, enjoy creative works specially conceived for the event alongside other works presented for the first time in Tunisia.
> A huge open-air photographic exhibition will lade the streets of the two cities evolving around the theme of “Unhindered Bodies in Public Space”. Special invitation to 4 photographers from Tunisia, China, Iran and Congo
The creations are hosted at private individuals’ places, shops, craftsmen’s, buildings or public sites. These “hosts of artworks” bear the project and defend it alongside the artists. In 2010, Dream City attracted about 10,000 visitors in 3 days.
> The Dream Café (led by Tahar Chikhaoui and Pascal Le Brun-Cordier): informal meetings in a cosy place where the audience are invited to discuss the works they have seen and lived, to share their impressions, criticism and fancies. > The Dream Ciné: Carte blanche to Tahar Chikhaoui who chose to pay tribute to young Tunisian cinema > Change your Classroom (in partnership with the City of Architecture and Patrimony in Paris): a
project which reconstructs a classroom in two primary schools located in popular neighbourhoods Itineraries of Contemporary Art in Public Space DREAM CITY • www.lartrue.com
Artists Facing Freedom “The poet, the artist, the writer, the author are prone to the accusation of treachery towards their community”, says Fethi Ben Slama (psychoanalyst and scholar). Yet, in a changing Tunisian society confronted with the rise of religion on the one hand and the rebirth of civic society on the other (the one not necessarily excluding the other), how can artists work for opening new spaces of freedom and modernity while respecting “religious emotionalism” (it is not about extremists here but merely religious believers)? How can they suggest an alternative to the understanding of the world which is different from theological interpretation without becoming outcasts from society? How can they guide towards secularisation while ensuring the respect of the religious fact? More broadly speaking, how to understand, discern and guide this new society in its democratic stuttering? Each artist tries to answer these underlying questionings by symbolic expressions which are metaphors of their sensitivity confronted with their society. In all cases, it is about raising new questions, opening up new possibilities, piloting, revealing, and counselling, so as to go the distance, to be the trigger or the catalyst of real cognitive, affective, social or political powers able to dismantle and rearrange public time and space.
Itineraries of Contemporary Art in Public Space DREAM CITY • www.lartrue.com
Free Art © Patricia TRIKI (Dream City 2010)
This year, Dream City summons back all forms of art. About forty contemporary artistic proposals are called for to invade the Medinas of Tunis and Sfax: performing arts, visual arts, literature, music, digital arts, performances...
Horizon 2013
8 meeting days with 25 Tunisian artists and 15 international artists The “doors” open daily from 12 o’clock to 8 pm Dream Café and Dream Ciné as a final, every day from 6.30 pm to 8 pm Exceptional evenings on September 29th in Tunis and October 6th in Sfax The audience is invited to discover Dream City through different itineraries: a choice is to be made among four coloured paths leading the visitors from one site to another, from one artwork to another, through the labyrinthine alleys of the city. Information and outlet points are disseminated at many key locations in the Medina. That is where visitors come and buy the bracelets corresponding to the different itineraries. It is up to the festival-goers to wander as they please according to the order that they choose; the performances are played within a regular time span every day during the afternoon for as long as the
1bracelet / 1 itinerary Itineraries of Contemporary Art in Public Space DREAM CITY • www.lartrue.com
Dream
City will set up camp in France in May 2013. The biennial is indeed invited to take part into the events of Marseille-Provence 2013, European Capital of Culture in which it is planned within the framework of “La Folle Histoire des Arts de la Rue” (The Fantastic History of Street Arts) organised by Karwan.
Héla Ammar (Photographer)
COUNFA Photographic and sound installation about the prison environment Coproduction with AFAC (Arab Fund for Arts and Culture) Realisation made possible with the support of the Goethe Institut and Vision+
2012 Programming
Tunisian Artists
Alia Sellami (Singer)
opérator Music installation inspired from a call centre platform
Project conceived within the framework of the Euro-Mediterranean Workshops of Marseille-Provence 2013 In collaboration with Carniel Company and with the participation of its employees
Marion Frini (Dancer) et Ghazi Frini (Video-Maker)
JE NE SUIS L’OMBRE DE PERSONNE Choreographic performance, video and shadow theatre Sonia Kallel (Visual Artist)
tisser la médina Video installation about the Medina’s weavers Realisation made possible with the support of the Goethe Institut
Naceur Khemir (Film Director) © Héla AMMAR
le conteur, chronique d’une disparition Video installation with the support of Ulysson
Yassine Meddeb Hamrouni et Tarek Louati (Multimedia Designers) © Sonia KALLEL
Réflections/Réflexions Interactive installation about surveillance systems
Itineraries of Contemporary Art in Public Space DREAM CITY • www.lartrue.com
Marianne Catzaras (Photographer)
babel suite et fin Photographic and sound installation about the alienated stranger with the support of Ulysson
2012 Programming Tunisian Artists
Chabbouba (Musicians)
Stambeli Urbain Experimental traditional music The Wanda Collective (Architects)
le ciel est par-dessus le toit Repositories for motionless walks above the roofs Realisation made possible with the support of KNAUF
Phou Theatre- Raja Ben Amar (Theatrical Company)
la voix des gens Media-Dance Drama
Realisation made possible with the support of Radio 6
Meriem Bouderbala (Visual Artist) © Meriem BOUDERBALA
Karakuz / « Œil noir » ou la sagesse des petits ébranlements populaires Installation inspired by Karakuz, a character of popular tradition Realisation made possible with the support of the Goethe Institut
Imen Smaoui (Dancer)
électron libre An unhindered body performs random dances in the Medina Itineraries of Contemporary Art in Public Space DREAM CITY • www.lartrue.com
Mouna Jemal et Wadi M’Hiri (Visual Artists)
2012 Programming
Tunisian Artists
parti FACELOOK / parti FACELIKE Citizens called upon to vote, an electoral campaign for artistic power With the support of Vision+ Souad Ben Slimane (Actress)
fin de série A mature woman tells the story of the 2011-2012’s with the support of Ulysson
Taoufik Jebali - El Teatro (Stage Director)
Et soudain s’ouvrent les portes de la Cité-village A dream city sown with civic and artistic acts
Produced by El Teatro
Moufida Fedhila (Visual Artist)
Super Tunisian... extra time With the support of the Roberto Cimetta Funds & Ulysson Diversion of a soccer game into a collective participative performance Malek Sebaï (Choreographer)
Khira w Rochdi Production of the Tunisian Ministry of Culture with the support of La Ferme du Buisson (France) An idealised past told by today’s bodies Super Tunisian (Moufida FEDHILA)
Naoufel Azara (Stage Director)
Cherche Saadia désespérément Produced by El Teatro A father looks for his daughter in the slaves’ souk Itineraries of Contemporary Art in Public Space DREAM CITY • www.lartrue.com
Dries Verhoeven (scenographer & theatre maker) / The Netherlands
2012 Programming
International Artists
Thy Kingdom Come With the support of the Dutch Embassy in Tunisia An intimate rendezvous which might disrupt your life! Mohamed Allam (Visual Artist) / Egypt
Yao-ming tunis With the support of the Prince Claus Fund for Culture and Development, Vision+ & AMA (Art Moves Africa) Cyberculture and street culture Pixel 13 (Digital Arts Collective) / France
THE BULB With the support of the French Institute of Tunisia and the French Institute At dusk, a monumental object set in public space comes alive Roger Bernat (Stage Director) / Spain
Domini public With the support of the Spanish Embassy in Tunisia, the Spanish Cooperation and the Cervantes Institute An interactive board game choreographed in a collective performance The Bulb (PIXEL 13)
Dorsaf Ben Nasser (Street Actress) / France
ZUT! Zone d’Usurpation Temporaire Produced by Terrain Vague Company A bunch of justice defenders storm the Medina
Itineraries of Contemporary Art in Public Space DREAM CITY • www.lartrue.com
2012 Programming
International Artists
Tobi Ayédadjou (Visual Artist) / Benin
SHé Wèrè With the support of the Prince Claus Fund for Culture and Development A collective performance which questions social codes and that which is forbidden Raeda Saadeh (Visual Artist) / Palestine The Wishes Tree (Raeda SAADEH)
The Wishes Tree On her dress, shreds of cloth and wishes that the audience comes to lay
Itineraries of Contemporary Art in Public Space DREAM CITY • www.lartrue.com
2012 Programming Literature
Refka Taieb Payssan & Yamen Manaï (Writers) / Tunisia
La sérénade d’Ibrahim Santos In collaboration with Elyzad Editions Tale Mustapha Benfodil (Writer) / Algeria
L’Antilivre
Project conceived within the framework of the Euro-Mediterranean Workshops of Marseille-Provence 2013 within the Ferdinand Pouillon space at Aix-Marseille University
Reflection on the political crushing of books through a reading performance François Grange(Actor) / France
Françou témoin, à corps et à coeur Reading of the chronicles of a man who comes back in the Tunisia of his childhood Urban Photographic Exhibition
Unhindered Bodies in Public Space With the support of Vision+ and Tunisiana Open-air photographic exhibition. Along the streets, the metro lines or in bus stations, photography becomes the substitute for advertisement billposting and transforms the city in a large contemporary art gallery. Mouna Karray / TUNISIA Li Wei / CHINA Kourosh Adim / IRAN Kiripi Katembo / Congo With the support of the Blachère Foundation
Itineraries of Contemporary Art in Public Space DREAM CITY • www.lartrue.com
2012 Programming Change your Classroom
Hakim Kassar primary school Tunis Rym Abid [Ré]création à l’Abbassia Sfax Chaima Gargouri H’Baieb & the ATD
Ciné Dream Partner site : Théâtre d’Art Young Tunisian Cinema
vu de bizerte, ramadan 2012 Jilani Saadi / creation
Ben Abdallah
Carte blanche to Tahar Chikhaoui
Documentaries
Jiha Ridha Tlili Fellaga 2011 Rafik Omrani La traversée Elisabeth Leuvrey / FRANCE Dissidents Ruth Zylberman / FRANCE
Dream Café
discussions led by Pascal Le Brun-Cordier & Fatma Zaïri
Video Art
Blind ambition Hassan Khan/ EGYPT My Father looks for an honest city Basim Magdy / Egypt temporary museum of art The Trinity Session / south africa
Musical off Programming Carte blanche to young Tunisian musicians
Fadhel Boubaker Luth Jihed Bedoui Electric guitar Mehdi Chakroun & Lobna Noomene Luth and voice
Itineraries of Contemporary Art in Public Space DREAM CITY • www.lartrue.com
Dream City is created and organised by L’Art Rue association L’Art Rue receives operational funding from
Partner Institutions
The Tunisian Ministry of Culture
Projet cofinancé par la Fondation Anna Lindh Pour plus d’informationwww.euromedalex.org
The content of this publication comes under the only responsibility of L’Art Rue and does not necessarily reflect the position of its cited partners Itineraries of Contemporary Art in Public Space DREAM CITY • www.lartrue.com
Official Partner
Major Partner
Project Partners
Itineraries of Contemporary Art in Public Space DREAM CITY • www.lartrue.com
Junior Partner
Dream City’s Partners in Sfax
Media Partners Exclusive Media Partner
Mobility Funds
Printing house
Partner Sites Fondation Orestiadi | Théâtre d’Art Ben Abdallah | Centre National d’Art Vivant | B’Chira Art Center | Musée du Montparnasse | Café M’rabet | Café Chaouachia | Café Diwan Sfax | Café Culturel El Ali | Hôtel Dar El Médina
Itineraries of Contemporary Art in Public Space DREAM CITY • www.lartrue.com
Dream City in Marseilles in 2013 Welcome!
“World Music or Cinema Day”, “European Heritage Days”, “Nuit Blanche” ... so numerous are the events that France has so far exported all over Europe and the Mediterranean. In 2013, within the framework of Marseille-Provence European Capital of Culture, Karwan decided to reverse the process and to import Dream City to Marseilles during an ambitious event that we have been organising since 2008: “La Folle Histoire des Arts de la Rue” (The Fantastic History of Street Arts) and which will occur exceptionally in 2013 on this special occasion evolving around “Europe and the Mediterranean”. The singularity of the artistic approach adopted by Dream City conceived as an artwork per se – a choreography interpreted by the wandering audience transporting energy from one artwork to another - , the artistic quality of the programming and finally the particular focus of Selma and Sofiane Ouissi on inscribing the event within the local fabric (location, inhabitants, uses...) have all motivated our choice. In 2013, a special Dream City will therefore be invited to Marseilles. Selma and Sofiane Ouissi will take into charge to apply on our territory their requirements and methods. For three days, they will hence gather about twenty artworks created by artists from Tunisia, Marseilles and the Mediterranean laid out across itineraries in a picturesque neighbourhood of Marseilles. We are gladly looking forward to it and wish them, starting from 2012, a very successful Dream City in Tunis and Sfax. Karwan, territorial-cultural-projects-builder Street Arts and Circus Arts
Itineraries of Contemporary Art in Public Space DREAM CITY • www.lartrue.com
Marseille-Provence 2013 Marseille-Provence 2013 is built as a long tale composed of three episodes. The tale’s theme is the Mediterranean, the dialogue between the two banks, the exchange between the southern regions. This thread connects the whole programming. It is represented through the Euro-Mediterranean Workshops, the big exhibitions which punctuate the event. It is also part of the festivals’ programming, the artistic orders, the literary, musical, cinematographic, dramatic projects and in the Actions of Civic Participation. Episode 1: Marseille-Provence hosts the world and shed light on the tradition of hospitality, cosmopolitanism and the relationship with the other. It namely organises ceremonies, parties and events of the inauguration of MP 2013. It is a token of the richness and the proliferation of the new artistic forms, the new art territories. Episode 2: Open-air Marseille-Provence in summertime favours the relationship with nature, the itineraries, the shows and the concerts under the starry sky, in new locations. Episode 3: Multifaceted Marseille-Provence emphasizes art and cohabitation in public space, the new contemporary approaches, the artworks composed for children and youngsters, and a couple of momentous figures of the history of art and the Mediterranean thinking.
The Euro-Mediterranean Ateliers Being a huge platform of support offered to contemporary creation irrigating the territory of Marseille-Provence, the Euro-Mediterranean Workshops are one of the founding projects of MP 2013. Artists pertaining to all disciplines are hosted in residency by different society agents: private enterprises, administrative services, associations... Hence, they create new encounters between artists and organisations not acquainted with contemporary creation. From now till the end of 2013, about sixty projects will have come to light and will give birth to as many works of art which will be presented to the audience as part of the whole programming of the event (exhibitions, festivals, exceptional events...). Alia Sellami and Mustapha Benfodil are part of the 2012 programming of Dream City with two artworks created within the framework of the EuroMediterranean Ateliers in collaboration with the Carniel Company (Alia Sellami) and the Fernand Pouillon space at Aix-Marseille University (Mustapha Benfodil). Itineraries of Contemporary Art in Public Space DREAM CITY • www.lartrue.com