Why
Despite the pandemic artists and cultural operators still need to travel to initiate partnerships.
Location
Characteristics
Area
All artists from any setting rural or urban in Middle East, Arab countries, European countries can apply and travel from one of these three regions to any two of the others.
Audience
Emerging or confirmed artists and cultural operators
How the audience/participants were reached or discovered
An open call was launched
How it was done
How
Other
newsletter
Results
15 artists can travel
How it went
Main lessons learned
Encourage artistic and cultural collaboration, support initiatives
Inspiration
the artists inspire us by their hardwork, their collaborative approach, their passion and creativity
Credits
The founders of Fanak Fund and all the cultural operators in the region who relayed the invitation
Activity Timeline
2020
-
Open call for Fanak mobility grants
Mohamed Abdelkrim Derkaoui
Defending cultural memory
75-year-old Moroccan cinematographer, Mohamed will travel from Casablanca to Lodz (Poland) in April 2021 as part of a project with researcher and curator Léa Morin. This project takes us back to the reception in the 60s and 70s of foreign students, including Mohamed, at the Lodz film school. Throughout his career, Mohamed has worked on more than thirty films, receiving numerous awards, for example “Un amour à Casablanca” 1989. Feature film by Abdelkader Lagtaâ, Prize for the best image of a feature film at the 3rd National Film Festival in Meknes in 1991.
Engy Mohsen
Engaging a global discussion on collaborations
25-year-old Egyptian architect and visual artist, Engy will travel from Cairo to New York (Ghent) in June 2021 for a residency at Art OMI on her publication “Co-Chambers: Notes on Collaboration” in order to develop the production phases and distribution of this work. She was selected by an international panel, from among hundreds of applicants, to participate in this four-week rural residency with some 30 artists from around the world.
Alaa Al Minawi
Experimentation – New audiences
Alaa is a 30-year-old Palestinian artist, who currently lives and works in Amsterdam. He will travel to Beirut in January 2021 to complete a creative residency in Hammana and develop an installation-performance, while producing the adaptation of the text in Arabic. Then he will present this installation to audiences in Beirut, Saida and Hammana. His methodology is based on regular interactions with audiences throughout the creation process.
Jaydn Hubrecht
Global network, videos and interconnections
30-year-old German research artist Jaydn (Amélie) will travel from Berlin to Cairo in December 2020 to develop a video essay project of Global North-South relations on self-organization processes based on the methodology of small groups and the solidarity of international networks (in collaboration with two artists Huda Zirkry (Egypt) and Fatemeh Towhidlou (Iran).
Christoforos Pavlakis
Alternative modes of survival
34-year-old Greek artist, Christoforos will travel from Chalkida in Greece to Rabat in Morocco in November 2020 to participate in the international residency entitled “Public space is a playground: developing tools for earthly survival” organized by the collective “Curious Minds” in Manchester. This collective work aims to develop inclusive and educational tools / games providing creative answers to serious questions.
Petra Serhal, Sasha Ussef, Daniel Al Choueiry
Supporting the next generation of talented artists in Beirut
Petra, Lebanese choreographer, 36 years of age, Sasha, Lebanese-American manager, 30-year-old, Daniel, Lebanese set designer, 25 years of age, form a team that will travel from Beirut to Bremen in January 2021 to take part in a creative residency in Schwankhalle around a choreography entitled “Suspended between the second and third kiss”. Supporting this travel gives Fanak Fund the opportunity to intensify and strengthen artistic research at the local level in Beirut.
Ahmed Tobasi
New markets/New audiences – Arab world/Africa
Actor and Theatre Director of the Freedom Theatre in Jenin camp, Palestine, 35-year-old Ahmed will travel from Amman to Bobo Dioulasso, Burkina Faso in January 2021 to participate in a meeting between the partners of the Share project. This project brings together partners from Slovenia (Exodos Ljubljana), Senegal (Cadanses) and Burkina Faso (Tamadia) and aims to build a theatrical training network through knowledge sharing so that everyone can benefit together from new market opportunities and better understanding of the diversity of cultures.
Roberto Santaguida
Supporting the rights of the disabled
40-year-old Roberto, an Italian documentary filmmaker and winner at numerous international festivals, will travel from Hamburg in Germany to Gaza in Palestine in October 2021 to work with renowned producer Nida Sinnokrot. He will make six short documentaries on six people with paralysis diseases. The paralyzed person will participate in the making of the film as co-director. The aim is to show how the paralytic overcome obstacles and stereotypes. Upon his return to Germany the films will be screened at Achterhus Ateliergemeinschaft e.V. with the aim of broadening the consciousness of communities about the movements in support of the rights of the disabled in Germany and Palestine.
Yasmine Sedeik
Re-use/re-purpose of documentation and archives
24-year-old Egyptian artist / curator, Yasmine will travel from Cairo to Casablanca in December 2020 to participate in a research programme on curatorial practices at the Observatory Workshop (Atelier de l’Observatoire). The research programme is dedicated to alternative historiographical approaches in Africa and the Middle East. She wishes to develop a long-term practice based on re-use / re-purpose as a form of documentation and archiving.
Rami Magharbeh
Starting a festival in a refugee camp
Director of Douzan, a cultural center in Gaziantep for Syrian refugees, Rami, 34 years of age, will travel from Gaziantep to Eleusis (Greece) in December 2020 to participate in the workshop entitled “Management of Arts and Production”, as part of Eleusis European Capital of Culture 2021. Rami wants to learn how to set up and run a festival which, upon returning to Gaziantep, can effectively contribute to social cohesion between refugees and the host community.
Osama Khalil
Expanding design and cultural entrepreneurship in the Arab world
24-year-old Jordanian designer, Osama will travel from Amman to Dubai in November 2020 to develop his hackathon design project, already successfully implemented in Jordan. He plans to encourage the launch of a similar event in the United Arab Emirates. His trip will take place during Design Week Dubai near the designer district in Dubai. The design hackathon is a unique opportunity for young entrepreneurs and designers to show their talent and find markets and partnerships.
Mohammed Abakar
Art and political activism
A 30-year-old Sudanese photographer, Mohammed will travel from Paris to Jeddah in July 2021 to collect testimonies from victims of slavery and human rights exploitation. On his return to France, he will produce an exhibition as part of “Visions d´exil”, at the “Atelier des Artistes en Exil”. He also wishes to exhibit in Africa and show some of his work on the internet to warn populations likely to be victims of traffickers.
Asaki Kan
Discovering Iranian cultures
40-year-old Japanese artist, Asaki Kan will travel from London to Tehran and then to Chak Chak in the province of Yazd. She wishes to study Zoroastrian religion in Chak Chak, especially its relationship with fire, as part of her artistic research. She will be hosted at the Rah residency in Tehran. She has already conducted a study on Yazd which was particularly admired by the organisers of Rah Residency, and it is for this reason that they wish to welcome her again.