[artinfo] Face_W.s.l.o.t.@Vooruit/Gent/Belgium

[meira]

Face_ interdisciplinary societal art project
by Meira Asher/ Bodylab


< Installation >

Location
Kunstencentrum Vooruit, St Pietersnieuwstraat 23, Ghent, Belgium
Dates
7 May - 6 June 2004
Hrs
Daily 16.00 until 21.00 pm

(More dates to follow, please keep in touch)
----------------------------------------------------------------------

More  info
http://www.bodylab.org
http:// www.vooruit.be

  Face is an art projects trilogy dissecting the experience of contemporary 
social conflict in the lives of children and youth in three separate 
locations worldwide. As virtual as our encounters with humanity are, the 
enhancement of social awareness and support generated via direct physical 
experience is crucial for the awakening of the senses.

  The project manifests at several levels; through the participation of the 
subject group and invited local artists, through the distribution and 
presentation of the artwork in various territories, and by directing 
financial resources back to the subject area in the form of a separate 
support initiative. The first to inhabit this framework are female ex 
combatants living in Sierra Leone.

  Numerous girls were abducted and raped, forcibly recruited, or 
volunteered for protection. They were used as fighters, sex slaves and 
laborers by all parties to the conflicts in the decade long civil wars in 
Liberia and Sierra Leone. In addition to combat duties, many were subject 
to sexual abuse; some taken as wives by rebel commanders, impregnated and 
forced to brutalize others.

  The lives of three female ex combatants in post-war Sierra Leone and the 
psychophysical adjustments they undertake in order to come to terms with 
their experience are confronted. The depth with which they share their 
realities, and their opinions, with us clarifies the child combatant 
routine existing in at least 40 other countries and strengthens females 
undergoing similar experiences. Empowered by their past and present, they 
demand a just society.


Face_W.s.l.o.t.

Woman See Lot of Things

Art installation - CD-Book - Female education support initiative

Art Installation

The past experience, present-day existence and the mutual feedback of the 
two in the lives of three ex combatant women, are expressed by means of 
sound, video, photography, interactive machines and chemically modified 
fabrics in a transformed space.

  Together with the installation, an EP, catalogue (7 May 04) and a Cd-book 
(17 Oct 04) will be released. The profits generated by these are dedicated 
to female education support in Sierra Leone.

  Cd-book

The sound composition involves spoken & sung-word, concrete soundscape 
material, intricate programmed rhythms and analogue synthesis. The 
narrative contents are stressed by use of various manipulative electronic 
techniques. The work results in a physical experience accompanied by a 
regular sense of tension.

The book contains the women s texts in Krio and English, background 
material, relevant essays, maps and image material created by the artists.


Female education support initiative

   The income generated by sales of the CD-book and Catalogue are directed 
towards third level education support for Sierra Leonean women. This 
initiative is based on a fixed part of the project's subsidy and is open 
for public donations.



Meira Asher-Concept, direction, sound, photography, Joost 
Nieuwenburg-Installation realization, Flashkes-Camera, Amos 
Elmaliah-Editing, Henia Eizenberg-Textile work, Strange attractors-Graphic 
design, Julie Wanders-Sargie-Translation, Patty Deeders-Production, Boris 
Clemens-Production, Halima Lukay-Production assistance, Sierra Leone, Liam 
Evans-Support initiative assistance, NL.

Supported by Cordaid, the Netherlands