Artist-in-Residence Interview – Alban Biaussat 2006

In 2006, Al-Ma’mal very efficiently utilised many of its artists-in-residence as contributors to the workshop, exhibitions and creative encounters programmes. As well as being residents Alban Biaussat, Wafa Yassin, Desiree Palmen, Mario Rizzi, Alain Gignoux and Nikolaj Skyum Bendix Larsen either gave artist’ talks, conducted workshops or had exhibitions. In some cases all three. A’laa Khanjar also conducted a workshop in 2006.

What follows are transcripts of interviews conducted with several of the Artists-in-Residence during this period. First Alban Biaussat.

1. How did you first get involved with Al Ma'mal?

I first contacted Al Ma'mal upon my arrival in Jerusalem in July 2002, (I came for other professional motives), as I was looking into the local art scene, searching for some sort of organisation or platform to associate with in order to engage in a photo / art projects. I had no particular idea of what  I wanted to do at the time, and was mostly looking for other people to discuss and do something with. It took me a couple of years to have the idea of the Green(er) Side of the Line project and about a year to do it, on my own. I only came back to Al Ma'mal once I had shot most of the photos, to show them my project and see what we could do about it. They found it interesting and decided to support its post-production and the organisation of an exhibition within the framework of their residency programme.

2. What were the main challenges during your residency / workshop at Al Ma'mal?
As  I was already living in Jerusalem, I did not need the usual support of a residency programme in Palestine. My understanding is that Al Mamal typically does not finance the post production of residency projects but the realisation parts. In my case it was the opposite and it proved most useful as that was what i most needed to take my idea and work out to the public. Al Ma'mal people helped with the editing of the exhibition, financed the costs of high quality scanning, printing and mounting, organised the exhibition in their space in the Old City for over two months, and helped organise other solo shows in Ramallah (Sakakini Centre) and with Birzeit's art museum. On my side i agreed to participate in their workshop series involving 10-20 Palestinian kids from Jerusalem. Al Mamal works with great cultural staff who contributed a lot to the workshops and helped me manage the participants and with translations in Arabic.


The objective of this series of workshop was to bring these kids, aged 7-16 if i remember correctly, to create some work related to the Green Line, either as a visual production and/or as an interpretation of the notion of border, separation etc. During first workshops, we showed them other relevant art works, i explained to them my Green Line project, we then encouraged them to work on imagining and sketching the creations they would like to produce. I also gave them an introduction to photography and encouraged them to practice. We then went for an entire afternoon in a park where they realised their ideas. A group worked using their bodies, others with natural elements, and a third group with artificial materials, and all took photos of their realisations. These were printed and the final workshop was dedicated to discussing the results and selecting which ideas and works to finally exhibit. Overall, i very much appreciated this experience, for i think, some of the kids at least, have enjoyed it too ! The main challenge, or say my main regret, was that i could not directly engage fully with many of them because of the language barrier.

3. What impact did the experience have on your own work?
It was important, in the sense that it gave me confidence in exploring further my photo documentary practice, which insists on a large degree of creativity, backed with solid content and analysis, to deal with complex and polarized issues. I also appreciated the support and liberty that Al Mamal gave me to organise activities on the side of the Green Line project and exhibition, from film screenings, debate with Israeli and Palestinian negotiators, to the renting of a bus to take 50 people along the line. Mixing art with other forms of expressions, whether official, serious or recreative, to promote an idea or illustrate complex situations, has been a matter of sustained interest on my side. Although, they were many other reasons for my choice to leave Jerusalem in late 2006, to return to Europe and develop my photography further, this experience has contributed a great deal to it. I have since produced several other bodies of work, which follow the same ambition and practice, several about Palestine and Israel again. Al Mamal later agreed to exhibit one of them, called Rainbow Stickers, in its first edition of the Jerusalem Show in 2008.

4. What are your strongest memories of your time there?
I have strong memories of the realisation part, when i used to travel all around the territory, putting my ribbons and green balls in various places, which led me into a few comic or unexpected situations. But i guess a strong memory of my collaboration with Al Mamal has been when i finally saw the Green Line exhibit up on the walls. After 2 or 3 years thinking about this project and imagining how best to represent an invisible border, quite unsure of my choice until the end, i expected that it could work, or not, depending on general impression that one would have seeing all these photos with their green ribbons and balls when exhibited together. One photo or two could have been sufficient to promote the concept, but systematically representing the line in its various locations, and showing a quite important number of images (55 in the exhibition) all with a green reference gives this work more documentary credibility and reinforces its visual force and coherence. And i was rather pleased with the results, also because of the quality of the printing and mounting of the photographs. But of course, if i had to do it again now, i might change a few things...

5. Do you have any additional comments about Al-Ma'mal and the art scene in Jerusalem at that time?

I spent 5 years in Jerusalem, working on policy matters related to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, in parallel with my activities as a photographer. This has certainly affected the way i lived my time here and how perceived the place, but it has also given me access to many different situations. I left Jerusalem in late 2006 with a feeling that almost everything had been already written, said or argued about this conflict, which was trapped in words, and sometimes in representations of anecdotes. The reality of course for those who live it daily is another thing. The last interesting tool for resistance and pacification, in a context of war of information led by spins on all sides, seemed to me to be creativity and some sense of humour and mockery, to promote alternative views. All of which can be best mixed together and promoted in art. I was then interested to see how both Israelis and Palestinians seemed to fight this war of information with growing references to cultural and fashionable productions. This seemed to me as having a great potential, especially on the Palestinian side, to change so many widespread perceptions. Therefore, i have always valued Al Mamal's work and objectives, in addition to its invaluable contribution to bring some ceative light to the Palestinian neighborhoods and people of East Jerusalem. By the time I left, it was my impression that the Palestinian cultural scene was gaining momentum, with new centres, galleries, festivals etc opening in East Jerusalem, the West Bank as well as internationally, all of which deserve to be encouraged as much as possible, not forgetting Gaza.

Alban Biassat
Interview July 2010
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