“You are not Alone” Exhibition – Berlin 2021

You are not alone
03.09.2021 – 13.09.2021 in Salon Am Moritzplatz, Berlin.
Opening: 18:00 Friday 03.09.21
Daily 14:00 to 22:00

While the isolation imposed by governments worldwide during the Covid-19 pandemic protected us from the dangers of a contagious virus, it also exposed us to the ever growing threat of separation on our psychological and social health. In these challenging times only our collective awareness that none of us are in this alone — that human beings everywhere on this planet face the same threat — allowed us to keep our solidarity, our togetherness and our strength while in quarantine.

This exhibition is a collective effort and joint statement from 180 artists around the globe that we stand together and that we will always find our space to create, adapt and stand strong.

These 300 multiple-medium artworks are the result of an open call released in March 2020 by the Penticton art gallery in Canada,the Syria.art Association (Nice/Berlin) and the Online Cyrrus Gallery celebrating a strong and creative partnership and demonstrating the ability of art in bringing people together.

These works will be kept as an archive to serve as a time capsule, a permanent document of
this moment in our collective history. The collection will be made available for loan to other
galleries and museums across the globe and in a permanent online exhibition. The exhibition
was shown in Penticton, Canada in September 2020 and will be shown in Nice, France in 2022.

Curated by Humam Alsalim and Paul Crawford.

You are not alone ! International Call for Artists

During this time of self isolation, the Penticton Art Gallery (Penticton, B.C., Canada) in partnership with the Syria.art association (Nice/Berlin), invites artists from across the globe to participate in an unprecedented art exhibition entitled, You Are Not Alone.

Like a message in a bottle, we are sending out into the world this call to artists working in any and all media, to serve as a testament of our resiliency, creativity, and our collective humanity in the face of these extraordinary times. We hope this exhibition will not only celebrate the power of art, but will serve as a poignant testament and celebration of our diversity, culture, and an important reminder, that regardless of where we live on this planet, we are not alone.

In an age where our society was already becoming increasingly insular, the onslaught of the COVID-19 pandemic serves to only isolate us even more. In the spirit of the penpal and mail art movement, this exhibition will create a permanent and physical document of our existence in this unprecedented moment in history.

This is your opportunity to reach out to a global audience and share your story and celebrate the beauty and creativity you have brought into this world through your art and by your existence. More now than ever, we need to come together to celebrate our collective humanity in all its diversity of colours, shapes, and sounds.

As part of this project, one can connect and share their art with a global network of artists. Our hope is that through the act of sharing, deep, rich, and meaningful connections will develop that will not only bring us together but may help build bridges of friendship and understanding. No one is immune to this pandemic and we hope this will help us to get through this time by allowing us to share our stories, celebrate our diversity, mourn our losses, and heal as a planet.

Submission Information:

Submission of physical works are to be no larger than 11” x 14″
All the 2D works will be matted and stored in crystal clear bags
3D works will be dealt with on an individual basis
Video and audio are also welcome and will be complied online.

Closing date: 01.July 2020 (This date might change if the pandemic lasted longer)

Phyiscal works can be sent to:
Canada:
Paul Crawford c/o The Penticton Art Gallery
199 Marina Way
Penticton, British Columbia
V2A 1H5 Canada
Email: curator@pentictonartgallery.com

Germany:
Houmam Alsaleim
Fischerinsel 4
10179 Berlin
Germany
Email: Syria-art@outlook.com

France:
Khaled Youssef
590 avenue de la Paix
06190 Roquebrune-Cap-Martin
France
Email: asso.syria.art@hotmail.com
* All submissions will be fully documented and uploaded to a virtual exhibition

Digital submissions, including audio and video, can be sent to:

Humam Alsalim
Email: Syria-art@outlook.com

In addition to the online exhibition which will include all the works, a curated and selected version of the works will be included in a physical exhibition at the Penticton Art Gallery (September 2020 as a first plan),the exhibition will hopefully travel to europe to multiple venues. They will also remain as a permanent online exhibition that will be curated and built based on the artworks submitted.

Due to the nature of the exhibition, the works will not be returned. They will be kept as an archive, a time capsule, a document of this moment in our cultural history, by the Penticton Art Gallery. The collection will be made available for loan to other galleries and museums across the globe.

With each submission please include the following information:

Artist Name:
Country:
Contact information:
Website:
Brief Statement:
Brief Biography:

For more information please contact:

Humam Alsalim, Founder/Curator at Syria.art and the Cyrrus Online Gallery
Email: Syria-art@outlook.com
Phone: +4917644465896
Web: https://atomic-temporary-49913675.wpcomstaging.com/, https://en.syriaartasso.com/

Paul Crawford Curator Penticton Art Gallery
Email: curator@pentictonartgallery.com
Phone: (250) 493-2928
Web: www.pentictonartgallery.com

We thank you all for your time and consideration. Due to the nature of this exhibition, and the fact we are all volunteering our time and creative energy, we are unable to pay artist fees. In the spirit of the mail art movement we are organizing this exhibition to serve as a collective affirmation of our creative resilience in light of our shared experience during the COVID-19 pandemic. That being said should there be some opportunities in the future for revenue to be generated from this project, the revenue will be shared amongst all of the participating artists equally.

We want this to project to be as accessible as possible. We will be creating an online exhibition featuring all the submissions, as well as a physical exhibition that will be easy to transport and display. It will be made available to any museums or galleries interested in hosting this exhibition at a date in the future. Please feel free to reach out and contact Humam Alsalim or Paul Crawford for more information regarding this call for artists, or to make arrangements for hosting this exhibition at your venue.

Thank you all again for your time and consideration of this project and we wish you all good health and hope that you, your family, and community remain safe during this global crises.

Syria – The Garden of History: Calligrapher Khaled Al Saai

Khaled Al Saai has been working on a commissioned work for an exhibition from 21.09.2018 to 11.10.2018 in the Mschatta Hall of the Museum of Islamic Art, Pergamon Museum in Berlin.

From February 2019 onwards Khaled Al Saai’s painting “Syria – The Garden of History” will be exhibited in a major exhibition entitled “Cultural Landscape of Syria – Preservation and Archiving in Times of War”.

Khaled Al Saai uses Arabic calligraphy to express feelings and thoughts. He works in an astonishing range of styles, from subtle classical forms that he often uses for quotes from poetry, to radically inventive compositions in which lettering is fragmented into fantastical, almost pictorial, compositions. On his travels he was inspired by cities, landscapes and architecture, the hustle and bustle of people on the streets and the changing seasons. The letters and words of his works are not arranged in straight lines, but flow densely, detached from one-another, in the imaginary space of the canvas. The interwoven letters follow their own rhythm and combine with breathtaking beauty.

Khaled Al Saai, born in 1970 in Homs, Syria, grew up with painting, music and calligraphy. At eighteen, he had already made a name for himself as a calligrapher. After graduating from the University of Damascus, he became an internationally recognized master of Arabic calligraphy. Khaled Al Saai has participated in many international art competitions and has had numerous solo exhibitions in Europe and Middle Eastern countries.

More about the calligraphic artwork by Khaled Al Saai:

“Syria – The Garden of History” tells the story of Syria in different ways. Khaled Al Saai used photographs of the country of Syria and involved art of calligraphy, as the main structure of the painting. There are words or/and lines of poetry around each city to add another level to the paining.

An example: the story starts from the right with Damascus city, the name of the city is written in that space, surrounded with major key marks of this city, but the main structure of the city is based on one letter, which is (sh, ش ) that this letter has many metaphorical interpretations, which represents sun or orient and light, then the lines or surrounding words are a poem about Damascus, in the same space of Damascus there are over than 40 photos collaged, to give the whole dimensions of the city.

So Damascus is an example, but the main structure of the painting are letters and words for the 14 major Syrian cities, and each one has its unique story, as Hasaka حسكة (the city of early watering system, the city of old civilisations, etc), Latakia لاذقية (the city of methodology and early alphabet, the sailing center etc), Aleppo, حلب (the capital of Alhamdaneen state ,the city of Almutanabbi the greatest Arab poet ever, the sense of Arabic music etc).

Further information at https://www.freunde-islamische-kunst-pergamonmuseum.de/

Bucharest Art Week 2017 – Artists Fight Against the Syrian War

War Correspondence

Bucharest Art Week 2017 was this year one of the few major international events from Romania. The “War Correspondence” exhibition was organised by APAC(Romania) in partnership with SYRIA.ART in the framework of the BucharestArtWeek2017, and was co-curated by Humam Alsalim and Nona Șerbănescu.

Venue: Palatul Stirbei, Calea Victoriei, 107, 010069 Bucharest, Romania
Dates: October 14 – October 22, 2017
Curators: Humam Alsalim & Nona Șerbănescu

Syrian and Romanian art was exhibited. Among the featured artists, the exhibition hosted 6 Syrian artists.

Fadi Al-Hamwi | Syria
Humam Alsalim | Syria
Khaled Youssef | Syria
Manhal Issa | Syria
Nizar Ali Badr | Syria
Yaser Safi | Syria
Angela Bontas | Romania
Liviu Coman | Romania
Cristina Iacob | Romania
Mugur Grosu | Romania

Bucharest Art Week 2017 revolved around a deeply sensitive subject: the war in Syria and its consequences. The theme, “War correspondence”, arouse from a series of questions regarding the role of the artist and the meaning of contemporary art in the present context of war ravaging the Middle East and affecting the whole continent on political, administrative, social and cultural levels.

The theme was suggested by Nona Serbanescu, the founder and director of the festival, an artist who is emotionally tied to Syria, through her heritage. This year’s edition will bring together various fields of artistic expression, like theatre, music and visual arts, with guest artists both Syrian and Romanian, for example Yaser Safi, Fadi Al-Hamwi, Khaled Youssef and Humam Alsalim who is the co-curator of the central exhibition of the week together with Nona Șerbănescu.