Renegade Education: A Conversation with Khaled Hourani
Published ······ Online, Apr 2014
Section ······· Art & Design
On a brief visit from Glasgow (where a retrospective of his work is on until 18 May 2014 at the Centre for Contemporary Arts) to speak about his work at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London, Khaled Hourani was swarmed with questions about none other than his Picasso in Palestine (2011) project. The Picasso project, like much of Hourani’s other works, highlights - through
humour - the absurdities of living in Palestine. Fortunately for Khaled,
my interest was all about the International Academy of Art in Palestine (IAAP),
an academy which he co-founded. IAAP began as an art project by
independent artists - a tour around different Palestinian cities with
one laptop and official stationery before becoming a physical space. I
sat down with the Ramallah-based artist to discuss IAAP and design
education (or the absence of).
DA | I’m
particularly interested in finding out more about IAAP, the importance
of such an initiative, what people’s reactions have been, what the
impact has been, and what the foreseeable impact is going to be. I also
noticed that IAAP does not have any design courses, and I was wondering
if that’s something you’re looking into?
KH | I will start with the design issue, recently there was an art project by IAAP called Disarming Design from
Palestine. The project [began] about two years ago where we had a lot
of workshops [that brought] artists, designers, and handcrafts together
for 10 days. We tried to find a bridge between materials, design, and
marketing. The idea was to revisit design in a conflict zone, we’re not
China you know! You know the whole story behind the handicrafts in
Hebron, Nablus…we try to bring them together - art students, designers
and such. It was a joint project with the Sandberg Instituut in the
Netherlands - a university for design and architecture in Amsterdam. We
once did a project with them called Subjective Atlas of Palestine.
Currently
we only have Contemporary Visual Art as a BA programme at IAAP. We were
thinking of introducing design and filmmaking to the curriculum,
inviting designers like you for example, to build up a curriculum,
strategy, the plans and such. It isn’t necessary for there to be a
common link between visual art, contemporary art, [and] the same [goes]
with filmmaking, we were thinking of expanding this in the curriculum -
to give students the platform to start their own film school, to become
filmmakers, directors, etc. It was part of a strategy of [creating] a
lobby for artists and art academies. If more than one faculty needs
space or funds, we can all provide and support the other faculties. This
was the intended vision of IAAP. There’s a lot of publications about Disarming Design and exhibitions that you can find online. However, it’s not quite clear
where the project will go, [since] the last workshop was three months
ago. I think design as a speciality is desperately needed because it is a
very artistic practice. If we consider the conflict zone as a space
where we can create, it will surpass all the technical stuff, and focus
more on the concepts, more about the needs and use of design in general.
DA | What have the reactions been so far, how necessary is an institution like this in Palestine?
KH |
The institution itself it started as voluntary initiative by
independent artists and not by any governmental body. As artists we
still believe in the necessity of having such an institution: to
convince the authorities to follow the strategy, to provide funding to
culture, arts…something we still don’t have in Palestine. In any case,
IAAP has no issues in terms of enrollment. There are always students at
the Academy, and I think the need [for such a school] is clear. In fact,
it’s more of a research issue at IAAP - we constantly research the
wants and needs of our students. We conducted some research in terms of
design for example. The students are most interested in design above
all. We were thinking of adding aspects of design to the visual art and
contemporary art courses. The design workshops are the most attended,
and students think of design as more of a practical discipline. They can
study design and be a designer, and be an artist through being a
designer. We [also] did some production through Disarming Design - keffiyeh’s and other products in an alternative way.
DA | What
struck me as very interesting is that your practice is not only very
grounded in the local elements but also in the social elements. And now
that design is moving into that space where, because we’re always seen
as people who do things for commercial purposes because essentially it’s
what pays the bills, etc. More people are interested in different
topics that relate to social issues within design and I think in
particular in the Arab region, design education and art education is
unfortunately structured in a way that it admits the students who didn’t
get the grades to get into other programmes during the matriculation
exams. Universities don’t look at how design can sort of influence other
ideas, it’s just very commercial - advertising and such, but I think
that would be very interesting within a place like IAAP because it’s an
independent institution. What is your procedure for accepting students?
KH |
Every year we announce the programme and its deadlines in newspapers,
on TV, and online. We then have an application process for students. The
IAAP committee meets and shortlists 24 students, [who are invited] to
attend a workshop for about a week. We hold interviews with the students
and then choose 10. It’s important to note that the students choose us
too, it works both ways. The workshop is an important event in the
procedure because we get to know each other and understand each other’s
dynamics, styles and potentials.
DA | Tell me more about Disarming Design.
KH | I actually saw something at an exhibition in Belgium just before coming here [which] was showing some products from the [Disarming Design]
workshops. There was a particular one that struck me made by a woman
who crafted these long scarves with pictures of Bethlehem, Tulkarem, and
other towns. She had printed these landscapes, houses, and natural
motifs and the effect is quite nice. The things we came up with were
very simple. The workshops are both for students and local artists. We
also have a lot of students from the Sandberg Instituut who work
together with the students back in Ramallah, and they produce
collaboratively – coins, scarves, clothes. We [even] made a giraffe! We
were inspired by a story that a German artist actually told us. It’s
about a giraffe in the Qalqilya zoo. Have you heard about it?
DA | No.
KH |
It was about a male giraffe that died from being exposed to tear gas
during the imposed curfew. The female giraffe died soon after from
depression. The giraffes were the star attraction at the zoo. The zoo
decided not to bury [the giraffe], [but] instead they stuffed it and
left it out for show so that people could still come and technically see
the giraffe. So the German artist found out about it, and I was helping
out on his project at the time so we took the story from him and
created dolls of the zoo animals using Olive tree bark! Other items we
made through Disarming Design include jackets, blouses,
trousers, keffiyehs, and from the keffiyeh [students] made shirts. But
these are all prototypes [and] not meant for mass production.
DA | What other materials have been used?
KH |
We made stuff from olive tree leaves, and stone [from the Wall]. These
are all 100 per cent locally crafted, and that was the main idea behind
it anyways. With the shoes, we worked with local shoe designers in
Ramallah and the students sat with the workers so that they could learn
the logistics behind their creations. This other student made a design
on the eye covers, you know the ones you use on airplanes. [Another
student] made a shower curtain that looks like the Wall. I also made one – an ashtray designed after the surveillance towers on the Wall. Do you
know about these towers?
DA | Yes.
KH |
It’s quite metaphorical, you put out your cigarettes on this archaic
structure. We made car chairs, cups, and lots of other things. We also
made designs of a lighter nature – like honey, a stamp in the shape of a
falafel, beads.
DA | Can you tell me about this hour glass object?
KH |
The sand was taken from the Wall, ground and measured and converted to
be eight minutes and put in an hour glass. It’s almost as if you bought
eight minutes from the life of the Wall. If you bought a 1,000, it would
be like taking 80,000 minutes from the Wall. If we get a big order
we’ll just have to tear the Wall down!
DA | Very local indeed!
KH |
Yes, so many local elements are present throughout our works. The
stories behind the products are truly important because it really gives
coverage on what we do and more specifically why we do them.
DA | Have the students from IAAP found success with their work?
KH |
Yes, at least five of Palestine’s biggest young artists are from IAAP.
It’s such a success. Every exhibition in Ramallah has at least one of
our students. You’ll find them in every art space in the city. As the
saying goes: Fi kul 3urs ilhoum qurs (Their presence is felt in
each occasion, even if they are not physically there). They’re very
successful because they are very talented. This generation of artists
have really gone far with their talents. For instance [a lot of the most
successful works] by these artists started in the workshops at the
academy but we’re not quite sure what direction the art works will take.
DA | You have people visiting from other places. What kind of artists did you have come and teach at the academy?
KH |
Some of the best Arab and Palestinian artists in the contemporary art
scene come teach at IAAP like Emily Jacir, Yazid Anani, Paul Noble from
England…many others.
DA | And the people coming from abroad, the visa is obviously very difficult to obtain. What are their experiences like at IAAP?
KH |
Everyone who comes has a lot of fun. It’s a great experience for
teachers especially. Particularly because we expand our spaces from the
campus to the city. After classes and lectures, the teachers and
students meet up outside IAAP so that the teachers get to know the city.
Big names have taught at IAAP - it is the most important address in
Palestine!
DA | How long do they spend there?
KH |
The teachers we bring come for a month. Unfortunately, that’s what we
can manage for now due to expenses. But it is intensive. I’ve been going
on about the academy even though I left it!
DA | You’re not with them anymore? You were saying that you will go back to teaching.
KH |
Yes I was the director of IAAP, and now I plan on going back to just
teach. Things have slightly changed [since I am no longer director]. For
example projects like Disarming Design – I’m not sure if they
are going to be working on those kinds of projects anymore. These things
were part of my work as director. I was a part of these projects, as
well as managing IAAP I had the task of distributing projects across the
curriculum. With some of the projects we had absolutely everyone
involved within IAAP - travelling to workshops in Austria, visiting
exhibitions in the Hague, etc. Projects really reach their potential
when my students work alongside other students. I don’t know, but this
was my part of my plan – to close IAAP [for a week or more] and travel
all together. I know it sounds crazy, but everyone is invited, even the
tea boy! It’s one of the many special things about IAAP. Unlike other
institutions we don’t have much of a history or grounded traditions, so
we are more flexible with our approach and curriculum. The students
really responded well to the projects and they are what make IAAP so
special. We had students of all types – masters students even. If a
particular student was clever, we didn’t mind if they took part in
various other projects within the Academy as the Dean of IAAP used to
allow this. So because of the interest we really started to think about
developing a design programme.
DA | So it’s good you found that support.
KH | If there are good ideas, it’s easy to find support. With Disarming Design we bought an institute from [the Netherlands], and afterwards people started contacting us. We made Subjective Atlas of Palestine in English then we [were] asked to [translate it] to Arabic. The world
is not closed off completely – there’s always hope. This idea of good
art that can be either made with a non existent budget or quarter of a
million is a good example. You cannot always produce something that has
to be supported by money.
DA | Yes, exactly.
KH |
You need to make something that will succeed even if you don’t have the
funds to support it. The programme needed a change so that we can
provide a practical solution so students can produce things to be sold
[with design]. The student thus becomes a producer. In their second year
they [could] work as graphic designers, in an office, in media, in
magazines, etc. There are many practical reasons why they would go
towards this direction.
Disarming Design | International Art Academy of Palestine | Khaled Hourani Retrospective | Institute of Contemporary Art