[spectre] The Maghreb Connection, Cairo, Dec 2006

[Ursula Biemann]

THE MAGHREB CONNECTION
MOVEMENTS OF LIFE ACROSS NORTH AFRICA

EXHIBITION  .  CONFERENCE  .  PUBLICATION

The Townhouse Gallery, Cairo
December 11, 2006 - January 13, 2007
Exhibition opening: December 10, 7pm
Conference: December 11, 11am - 7pm


THE MAGHREB CONNECTION focuses on systems and modalities of migratory 
movements which constitute the Maghreb and Mediterranean area. From a 
range of aesthetic positions, the project seeks to develop discursive 
and visual representations of the growing complexity of North African 
mobility in relation with the development of the European Union.

In parallel to the agreements about "free movement" inside the 
European Union, its external borders are increasingly being sealed. 
In this new scheme, the Maghrebi migrants and those sub-Saharans who 
use the Maghreb as transit zone are perceived as a threat. While this 
notion of an invasion - largely spread by the European media - seems 
to legitimate the restrictive political measures concerning 
immigration, the European economy reaches further down into the 
Maghreb to establish giant transnational logistic centers or to find 
cheap labour for outsourced production. At this point, the relations 
between Europe and Africa have entered a new post-colonial phase.

In the Maghreb, migration flows rely on - and intersect with - other 
forms of organized mobility such as existing nomadic movements, 
tourism, roaming martial formations including rebel groups, and 
migration-related humanitarian personnel. The junction of these 
movements generates synergies, conflicts, and sometimes surprising 
alliances. THE MAGHREB CONNECTION aims to develop a visual 
representation of the connective space that emerges in the process. 
This geographic approach (geography being understood as a signifying 
system that allows us to understand the relation between subject, 
movement and space) focuses on specific zones of transit migration, 
such as Agadez in Niger, Lampedusa off the Tunisian shore, Oujda and 
Tangier in Morocco, Laayoune in the Western Sahara, Sicily and Cairo 
as destinations for migrants coming through the Suez canal. After 
in-depth research and investigation, the artists present a series of 
works under various forms, such as cartography, video, photography, 
text or animation.

THE MAGHREB CONNECTION is an international art and research project 
directed by URSULA BIEMANN. This project features works by artists 
DOA ALY (Cairo), YTO BARRADA (Tangier), RAPHAËL CUOMO/MARIA IORIO 
(Geneva), HALA ELKOUSSY (Cairo), CHARLES HELLER (Geneva), URSULA 
BIEMANN, (Zurich), HELENA MALENO (Tangier) in collaboration with 
media/design activists OBSERVATORIO TECNOLOGICO DEL ESTRECHO 
(Malaga), ARMIN LINKE (Milan) and CAMILLE PONCET/MOUHAMED 
COULIBALY-MASSASSI (esba Geneva).

Conference participants include MICHEL AGIER (Paris), ALI BENSAÂD 
(Marseille), MEHDI ALIOUA (Rabat/Toulouse), BRIAN HOLMES (Paris) and 
the artists.

A fully illustrated catalogue, bilingual English/Arabic, is published 
by Actar Barcelona, eds. Ursula Biemann/Brian Holmes. It includes 
texts by Medhi Alioua, Ali Bensaâd, Michel Agier, Florian Schneider 
and Keller Easterling, as well as research documentation on the 
artists' projects.
www.actar.es / office at actar-d.com

The exhibition will travel to the Centre d'Art Contemporain Geneva in 
February 2007.

The project has been initiated and financed by Pro Helvetia, Swiss 
Arts Council, Cairo. The research project is co-funded and based at 
the Ecole supérieure des beaux-arts Geneva (CCC) and the Institute 
for Theory of Art and Design Zurich. The conference and the 
publication have been generously supported by Heinrich Böll 
Foundation Middle East Office.

www.geobodies.org/02_curatorial_projects/
coming up at www.maghreb.geobodies.org

--
Ursula Biemann
Josefstrasse 153
8005 Zurich / Switzerland
tel   +41 (0) 44 461 20 84
cell  +41 (0) 76 396 20 84
http://www.geobodies.org