São Paulo and Shu Fi?

Khalil Rabah closed down his architectural practice in 97/98 in order to focus on creative work, his arts related jobs and Al-Ma’mal itself. As noted earlier, two pivotal events for Al-Ma'mal in 1998 were producing ‘Shu Fi?'/What’s Up? - A Guide to Cultural Activities in Palestine’, and participating in the XXIV São Paulo Biennale in Brazil. Founded in 1951, the São Paulo Biennial is the second oldest biennial in the world, the oldest being Venice (1895), so representation at São Paulo was significant:

Our participation in the Sao Paulo Biennial was a very memorable time. It was then I realised we had made a fundamental transition and were now irreversibly part of the international scene. It was a rare moment of reflection on how far we had come in so short a time. (Khalil Rabah, Ramallah, 2010)

While the São Paulo Biennale was taking place in October and November 1998, Huda Imam remained in Jerusalem looking after the gallery and working on Al-Ma’mal:

When Jack and Khalil were in Sao Paulo I worked at Anadiel. I also worked at the Al-Ma'mal building and along with Rula Kalawani created the darkroom. This was a very special time. We had Al-Ma’mal and I was there helping to set things up while Jack and Khalil were participating in an international biennale for the first time ever. (Huda Imam, Jerusalem 2010)

Setting up the darkroom and putting other essentials in place enabled Al-Ma'mal to begin 1999 with the resources available to host its own workshops. Completing all the production work for 'Shu Fi? / What's Up?' by the end of 1998, also meant that the new year could begin with Edition 1 of the magazine. So in January 1999, Palestine's first contemporary Arts and Culture Magazine was launched. Like the early funding proposals, the dedication and care that went into producing ‘Shu Fi?/What’s Up?’ made each edition a self-contained work of art.

Shu Fi? was wonderful. I am getting goose bumps just thinking about it. There were 15 editions and we did everything. We chose the themes, all the material and arranged the layout - we were the graphic designers, the editors and even the distributors. Each had a print run of 1000 copies and we distributed them in Jerusalem, Ramallah, Bethlehem, Nablus, Gaza, all over. People still associate Al Ma’mal with this. (Khalil Rabah, Ramallah, 2010)

The magazine was large format and contained images, artwork and information related to a theme, an artist or artists, or a residence project. For example, the April edition focused on Artist-in-Residence, Zoe Leonard, and July on Iranian artist, Shirin Neshat. August featured nine Palestinian artists, September was a study of Russian contemporary art and October was all about architects and museums. In November details of Caravaggio paintings were beautifully reproduced in an edition that referenced Christianity and art.

The Palestine Cultural Events listed in each edition were extensive, and covered all major Palestinian cities and art forms including cinema, dance, theatre and music as well as exhibitions and workshops. There were even notifications about guided tours with the Palestinian Association for Cultural Exchange. However, in 2000 things dramatically changed:

Camp David failed, Ariel Sharon went to Al-Aqsa and we were suddenly in another intifada. The closure of the territories became tighter and eventually even Bezalel (Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem) couldn’t get me a permit to enter Jerusalem from Ramallah. For a while I was going through back roads to avoid the checkpoint, and working for free because without an official permit they couldn’t pay me. I then managed to do some work on the Bethlehem 2000 project but in the end I went to London after being offered a one year residency at the Delfina Institute. (Khalil Rabah, Ramallah, 2010)

The absence of Khalil combined with difficulties in securing funding meant that production of Shu Fi?/What’s Up was suspended. The next edition did not appear until February 2002. It was no longer the cultural information resource that it had been but there was a poignant continuity:

The last four editions were only about artist projects. Jack told me later that when they agreed on making a publication part of the artist-in-residence package, he insisted they take the name and the format of What’s Up? (Jumana Abboud, Al-Ma'mal, 2002 - present)

Of the final four editions (12-15), three were published in 2002. Edition 12 was on photographer Luc Chery's workshop project and Edition 13 explored the Art of the Khatchkars (Saint James Monastery, Jerusalem). The focus of Edition 14 was an exhibition of paintings related to Jerusalem by Jumana Al Husseini and was dedicated to the memory of Faisal Al Husseini who had died earlier that year. The final edition of Shu Fi?/What’s Up was published in 2003 and contained images and text from Emily Jacir's Artist-in-Residence project, '(im)mobility'.

(The only cover image missing is Edition 1)