1:1 Center for Art and Politics, a new gallery based in Tel Aviv, is purposefully showing work by contemporary Arab artists without their consent in their inaugural exhibition titled Stolen Arab Art, Middle East Eye reports. In a statement, the gallery claimed that this was meant a gesture ‘to call attention to Israel’s exclusion from the Middle East family’.
The show includes four video works by artists including Wael Shawky and Walid Raad, which are presented without any credits or attribution. Omer Krieger, the gallery’s artistic director, claims he decided not to publish the artists’ names knowing that they would not want to have their work shown in Israel, citing the Arab and international cultural boycott of Israel.
In an email to the online news site, Shawky said: ‘What is the point of being a thief and so proud of your act!’, adding that such action ‘will never change anything – all these artists, including myself, are against showing in Israel. They [the gallery] made the point even clearer.’ Shawky is currently looking into possible legal action against the Isreali gallery.
16 July 2018
