Displaced Artists on Their Way Home
21. 7. – 2. 8. 25

Appreciated art is often defined as placeless and timeless, as work that is universal and eternal. But art making is also rooted in its place and time, in the socioeconomic and political context in which the art is created.

In the era we live in, ruled as it is by the authority of money, forced control, colonialism and endless wars, artists, like many others, find themselves displaced. Either they are physically forced to move and are thus exiled from their homes, or they feel profoundly alienated from the ruling systems in their country and it is as if they are displaced while still living in their homeland.

This course is informed by artists with an experience of displacement and exile at the root of their practice, and by the works they create. Specifically, it is informed by the collaborative teaching approaches of artists Manar Zuabi and Thalia Hoffman. It will unfold from their practice as artists making art in a place they feel displaced from. The course aspires to navigate the complexity of heterogeneous artistic expression within an unrooted and challenging context. It encourages participants to examine their practices as dynamic parallels that occasionally conflict, sometimes interact, and frequently co-resist through various art tactics. This approach aims to explore and create artworks and actions as responses and as the responsibility of artists in a space marked by loss and displacement.

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Thalia Hoffman and Manar Zuabi each practice art, addressing the intersection of art and socio-political resistance to violence and racism. This is the second time Manar and Thalia are teaching together. The course structure and teaching methods consider the complexities of their collaboration.