Today, the Palestinian Museum announced the launch of Live Broadcast, a solo exhibition by the artist Mohamed Saleh Khalil. This exhibition is included in the Museum’s This is Not an Exhibition artistic demonstration launched in February 2024. These efforts are taking place in the context of our ongoing strenuous efforts to mobilise cultural initiatives for the sake of our Palestinian people undergoing this calamity, as those in Gaza are still living under the immense burden of a genocidal war that, through fiery exterminatory violence, is consuming their lives, their human and cultural capabilities, and the means for their survival. More than ever, supporting their sumood (steadfastness) is our collective responsibility, especially while we Palestinians in the West Bank are living with the threat of a surge in settler violence.
As these massacres pose existential questions to us, through this exhibition, Khalil is conveying to us reality as it is, stripped of embellishments, a realistic reality unobscured by the metaphorical, that escapes the screens on which it is broadcast live. The logic underpinning the systematic genocide that has been taking place in Gaza for over six months is laid bare by the larger context of the decades-long annihilation of Palestine. We can affix to these artworks any point in history we choose, and find that throughout, this has comprised a world of perpetual moments of suffering, abuse, and death.
Khalil sees this exhibition as a condemnation of that world and as historical record keeping. He began working on it at the start of the war. “In times like these, an artist with any sense of patriotism or human sentiments cannot sit idly by. My response was this exhibition that was forged by harsh experiences and under exceptional circumstances. He adds: “Often, it helps an artist when their response to an event takes place after some time has passed for them to reflect… However, in our context, the urgency and ferocity of this unfolding news made my thinking emotional and beyond my control, with no time to wait. [But] this has also made my work rawer and without curations. The reality in Gaza supersedes reality as we know it. Imagination itself is too painful and bitter.”
The Live Broadcast curator, Marah Khalifeh emphasized that this is not only a continuation of the Museum’s artistic demonstration, but it is also a “live broadcast” transmitting the televised massacres and extermination: our reactions as viewers are documented accordingly. Finally, it carries on the initiative to host solo exhibitions by Palestinian artists documenting wars, such as The Disappeared by Tayseer Barakat.
The Palestinian Museum – Non-Governmental Association is dedicated to supporting an open and vibrant Palestinian culture locally and internationally. The Museum presents and contributes to new narratives on Palestinian history, culture, and society from a new perspective. It also offers spaces for creative ventures, educational programmes, and innovative research. The Palestinian Museum is Swiss-registered with a branch in Palestine.
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