WE – Festi-Conference for Creative Collectives, Second Edition
August 14–15, 2013
Valley of the Cross
Jerusalem
WE 2013 participants:
The Zik Group / New-Barbizon Group / Indie Gallery / Giraffe Meat / Pandora / Ma’agal Yozrim (Creators Circle) / Mikanvahala (From Here on Out)/ 60 Ribo (Tenfold) / Preston is My Paris (Manchester) / Action Club (New York)
Additional participants:
Graduates of We 2012 / New Media Salon / Co. Co. Collective: Urban Safari
And many more…
Artistic Directors: Leo Liberman and Rotem Rozental
Design and Concept: Yotam Kellner
Producer: Noam Kuzar
This is the second consecutive year in which WE – Festi-Conference for Creative Collectives brings together groups of artists from Israel and the world to create collaborative actions in Jerusalem: an international summit for collectives and an open festival that showcases their unique ventures.
Initiated by the Jerusalem Season of Culture and Af (Nose) magazine, WE aims to bring together a diverse range of collectives, to map out the here and now and fantasize about what is to come. WE is a platform that enables each group to develop site-specific projects while exploring the possibilities that arise from joint endeavors. WE spotlights faces, stories, and methodologies that led to the formation of the collective and offers a space to ask questions that do not necessarily have answers.
We 2013 continues to examine models for communal action in Israel and the world, as well as the inherent tensions that exist between identity and site. The event invites collectives to cast content into an existing space in Jerusalem, which exceeds its presence as a meeting point and becomes a vital participant in the event. The festi-conference will host workshops, performances, installations, discussions and tours from morning to night.
This year’s location amalgamates local histories and conflicted viewpoints: based in a local Scouts troupe, a youth organization that focuses on working within the community and was initiated by the Zionist movement in early 20th-century Palestine; overlooking the Valley of the Cross, the location from which, according to tradition, the tree for Jesus’s cross was taken from. Today the area houses various youth movements, a monastery, the Israel Museum and a residential neighborhood.
WE 2013 invites you to experience, participate, observe, familiarize yourself, draw inspiration and to be an inherent part of these exciting and unpredictable encounters. How will it all end? Of course, with a raucous party.
The ZIK group, which re-defined performance and collaborative activity in Israel, will work and perform alongside young collectives such as Indie Gallery (photography, Tel Aviv), and the religious collective, 60 Ribo (60 Tenfold): whose members aim to promote radical independent art within the realms of their community.
International collectives include Preston is My Paris, photography collective from Manchester, UK and Action Club from New York.
PPP originally started by Adam Murray and Robert Parkinson in July 2009, in order to encourage the exploration of Preston, England as a subject for creative practice and to generally focus more attention on the city. What originally started as a free zine and blog has developed into a multi-faceted project that includes exhibitions, digital applications and live events.
Kerry Downy and Douglas Paulson from Action Club work collaboratively, asking the question: “Who has the power here and what’s at stake?” Together they sometimes teach classes that are elaborate and adventuresome experiments on social norms, public space, shared power, and whimsy. “Action Club” is an experimental structure for cultural production through collaboration, social action, and direct intervention in cultural space.
Af Magazine is a monthly independent publication devoted to art, culture and free expression. Since its inauguration, Af had expanded its activity to introduce and promote various creative initiatives that hide beneath the surface.
For more information and schedule: www.jerusalemseason.com
