How did the idea
behind the Subjective Atlas of Palestine come about? How did it all start?
The media often show us such powerful and complex
images of a subject, an event or a nation that those images become like our own
experiences. Reality seems to coincide with them. But nothing could be further
from the truth. Still, we need images in order to feel connected to a place, a
country, a community or a people. Palestinian representation speaks volumes
about this. Their inhabitants are almost always associated with terrorism. This
greatly distances them from us, and as a consequence we find it difficult to
identify with them. They remain a ‘they’, and seldom become a
‘we’ and on this way the audience won't get curious and
changing public opinion (in order to change political strategies) is an unable
task. This problem was what motivated my attempt to capture the human
experience of life on the West Bank and in the Gaza Strip.
How was the
publication received since 2007? What kind of reactions did it get?
The reactions I got were very enthusiastic.
People here saw images of a society they didn't image about before. They saw
beautiful people, and a rich, very developed culture. The book has been
published without copyright, can be downloaded online at www.subjectiveatlasofpalestine.info
and many images got a second or third life. Different magazines and books
'reproduced' the images, universities in the Netherlands and the USA organized
events on Palestine and made exhibitions with the images of the atlas. It has
been awarded as one of the best designed books in the Netherlands and was
exhibited in the Museum of Modern art (Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam). Although
the original purpose of the book was to provide an alternative image for the
western media, the contributing artists found it very important to have an Arab
version of the atlas as well, because it showed their culture on unique and
uniting way, contrary to the the everyday reality where it's becoming more and
more fragmented. So it's reprinted in a bi-langual edition (Arab-English),
re-designed by one of the contributors. President Abbas was charmed by the
atlas and ordered some to give away as a relational gift. And it still
continues; this week there was an exhibition in Poland, and the curator asked
if the atlas could be part of the presentation. So since the book is out, it
has been a starting-point of a dialogue, instead of the final product of a
workshop. I hope this will continue.
One of the declared
aims of the book is to counter stereotypes fomented in the mainstream media
about Palestinians and their cause, and you do this ingeniously in portraying
the 'ordinary', the daily life beyond the shocking and sensational headlines
... How difficult was it to strike a balance between sympathy for Palestinians
and naivity (or turning a blind eye) to the more radicalised parts of
Palestinian society that is also another reality?
This question I had to read twice, because I have
really not been confronted with radicalism being on Palestinian soil. It was
the most hospitable welcome, I had heartwarming contact with the artists and
designers, they showed and told me about their culture, we walked around, had
dinner on great places and explained me all the different delicious dishes. I
expected to meet hatred and cynicism, but nothing is further from the truth. Of
course I heard many shocking stories about loosing property, not being able to
use own land anymore, terrible unfair of soldiers at checkpoints. But the
people I met were very intelligent and well informed, and that gave them an
independent mind, art provided them ways to express themselves, find poetry in
thought and survive without becoming cynical nor radical. They were such a
strong and respectful characters; they understood even better then I did what
the strength of a book like the subjective atlas could be. And they just made
amazing work and I only had to bring it together.
The book does live
up to the the promise of its title, that of being a subjective and intimate
view of Palestine as seen by its natives. I know your answer to the Dutch
journalist who asked you whether you will do a similar book on Israel, but I'm
more interested in knowing if you had any reactions at all from Israelis and
Jews about the Palestine Atlas... how was it received by them?
Before making the book I also invited Israeli's
to join and asked them if they knew Palestinian artists that should join. The
reaction were very positive, people wanted to join, and naïve as I was I asked
if they would be able to make it to the kick-of meeting in Ramallah... Not
realizing they are not allowed to cross the border. And also after talking
about this with Khaled Hourani (director Palestinian school for the Arts) he
explained how tense the atmosphere would when Israelis artists would join. I understood.
So in general the reaction from the Israeli side
were very good and motivating, but I guess the book is not for sale over there,
so it is a little 'niche' who does have the opportunity going through the book.
Your idea of design
seems intimately linked with political commitment to "improve life".
What does that mean exactly? How would you describe your view of your own work
to a lay audience that by design understands only a 'neutral' and passive
laying out of graphics and text?
Dutch philosopher Henk Oosterling called
today’s society a media society (Premsela Lecture 2009): “Media
have long since ceased to be things that we have made ourselves and are thus
totally under our control. Media create their own worlds, and we learn to live
in them. They are changing from form/function into content/message. TV has
changed from an information medium into a pleasurable substance and finally into
a necessary resource. The mobile phone is not solely a communication and
information medium; it too is a necessary resource. The medium is indeed the
message. But the media are not merely packaging, nor are they pure format. In
all their ubiquity, the media are a discourse. Media society is our
environment, the space in which we act.”
I constantly wonder what my relationship should
be to this ‘media society’, in which populism determines the tone,
and increasingly the content, of public and political debates. It’s a
society in which fear influences our opinions and decisions. A society in which
40% of the Dutch population agrees with the ideas of the far-right-wing
politician Geert Wilders, who derives his political power solely from being
quoted in the media. It’s a society in which residents of communities with
hardly any immigrants, such as the Dutch town of Volendam, harbour the greatest
fear of them. Meanwhile, Israel, in spite of systematically ignoring UN
resolutions, violating international agreements and waging a terrifying war at
the beginning of this year in the Gaza Strip, and thanks to extremely clever
press agencies and agents, they can still rely on support from the EU, with the
Netherlands as outspoken voice.
As a citizen in this society, I am cautious, and
as a designer I feel compelled to be critical. Designing is no longer about
shaping information, but about how to deal with information. It is not the
medium that is the message, but the mentality that’s transmitted. So the
point is not to find solutions and answers but to identify problems and ask
questions. It is in this context that I would like to deal with graphic design,
and in particular with designing as a public business.
What other projects are you working on right
now?
In November of last year, I went to Belgrade to
make a book called The Subjective Atlas of Serbia with about 30 artists and
designers. Again, the artists and designers, Serbian ones this time, attempted
to create personal representations of daily life. Their own direct involvement
was the starting point for the development of genuinely alternative images. I
am now starting to work on a Subjective atlas of Belgium, since this country is
splitting apart in Flemish and French cultural regions, and hosting at the same
time the 'capital of the EU'. Next to that I am head of the design department
of the Sandberg Institute Amsterdam (Masters Rietveld Academie) where I think a
lot about what role design can and should have in the current society we live
in.