Clementine Butler-Gallie

Project introduction:

From the 1960s to the 1980s, an exchange between Germany and Lebanon, and other neighbouring countries, was established. This exchange was formed of social, economic, technological, and cultural components, the latter of which led to many artists from the region practising in both the GDR and West Germany, with some remaining residents today. Conversely, artists travelled from both sides of Germany to Lebanon. In the situation when bodies were not able to travel but objects were, artworks would venture alone.

Lebanon and Germany share a history of internal East and West divides. Beirut’s Green Line separated the Muslim and Christian communities during the country’s 15 years of civil war whilst the Berlin Wall divided the capital into two ideologically contrasting zones. As Germany reunified, Lebanon’s long war ceased. Three decades on, new paradigms of exchange have emerged as history reorientates itself.

The research project documents the artistic exchange between Lebanon and Germany from the periods 1960-1990 and 1990 to today. By taking two specific geopolitical periods, the project enquires into the notion of exchange in and beyond a political vacuum: When two points on either side of a route are experiencing independent historical transitions or societal turmoils, can personal accounts of passing between the two expose connections? What can we, therefore, learn about connection from the documentation of travel between two divided lands? And what does it mean when these artistic documentations are brought into dialogue with one another within the context of the present day? 

The research has been presented in different chapters; The first is a newspaper publication, produced in October 2020 to mark 30 years since German Reunification (Oct 3, 1990) and the implementation of the Ta’if agreement in Lebanon, which is observed as the end of the Civil War (Oct 13, 1990). The publication acts as a catalyst for reflection upon past points of division in both geographies as well as those divisions that still remain. In June 2021, the newspaper was performed as a curatorial walk as part of the Redeem residency at Künstlerhof Frohnau, Berlin. The project will be presented as an exhibition at the non-profit art institution HALLE 14 in Leipzig from 30th April - 28th August, 2022.

Featured by:

South South
Arts Cabinet
Redeem
TU Dresden Art in Networks

Distant Divides Newspaper publication
Featuring work and words by:

Distant Divides Curatorial Performance Walk

The curatorial walk was performed as part of the Redeem Workshop at Künstlerhof Frohnau. The walk followed the old site of the Berlin Wall that runs around Frohnau Forest in Berlin, interweaving readings from Distant Divides newspaper and recordings of additional artistic gestures between Beirut and Berlin.