Words from Director of the Makor Gallery

Amendicons project - A few words

Since the outburst of the crisis on the Israeli-Lebanese border over a month ago, we at Makor have been thinking about possible ways to respond to the situation in a manner that fulfills our role as a non-political pluralistic cultural center. This task has been a challenging one as it not only raises difficult questions regarding the essence of culture and meaning at a time of war, but also touches upon political commitment and social activism – issues that can rapidly lead to polarization.

In an effort to respond to these issues and concerns, the staff at Makor came up with the idea of creating an open format for expression and dialogue in the Makor Gallery. The initiative is an attempt to offer an open, direct, and ongoing outlet for expressions that captures various reflections about the war in real time and in real space. We were motivated to provide a forum to express the overwhelming feelings of helplessness and indifference, to encourage a multi-perspective consciousness about the conflict within a communal environment, and to create an alternative medium for communication free of the bias of mass media.

The name AMENDICONS suggests that that the diverse images – or “icons” - displayed on the wall, salon style, have in their own humble way, the potential to amend, to revise, to expand our awareness. This notion remains relevant also on an individual level as each response exhibits a process of amending - requiring each person to apply creative tools to the matter; to filter to create and to deliver a personal expression into the public sphere. It is important to emphasize that the Amendicons project is not an art exhibition but rather a display. It is not curated, nor does it carry a cohesive artistic or political statement. Rather, it is the sum of fragmented, “self curated” public responses to the crisis by artists and non artists alike. It is itself a work in process.

The Amendicons project currently includes over 100 responses of three different kinds: direct responses and expressions (text, artwork, image); documentation of street art and social activities in response to the war (graffiti, protests, propaganda signs); and an archive of “war blogs” from Israel, Lebanon and the USA. The project began 5 days into the war, and now, a month later and 5 days into the cease-fire agreement, it continues to grow and evolve.

Amendicons has been invited by Edwin Ramoran, Director of the Longwood arts project, to be displayed at the Haven Art Gallery in the Bronx during September 06, and will be featured on the Globo broadcast, the main Brazilian TV network. We are excited that this display will become mobile and will be exposed to new and varied audiences. We hope to find additional venues for the project and to eventually document it in a catalog.

The crisis in the Middle East has torn open old and new wounds. It is a reminder of our vulnerability, east and west, in the face of war and terror; a reminder of the consequences of deep rooted hatred. In that sense, the crisis is a call for us to cease-silence. I would like to believe that the Amendicons project is a step in that direction.

I would like to personally thank the Makor staff for collaborating on this project, to Jane Slotin, Director of Makor for enabling and supporting the project, to Amelia Morgan, Makor Gallery intern for assisting with installation and managing of display, to Shiri Sandler for design materials, promotion and blog (www.amendicons.blogspot.com), to Leor Grady for ongoing support and promotion and to Edwin Ramoran, for inviting the project to the Haven Art Gallery.

Thank you for your participation in this project and for contributing to the dialog.

I invite you to continue to bring your voice to the Makor community, and hope to see you at the Makor Gallery in our upcoming reception on Sep 28^th. More info below.

Please send the attached release form at your earliest convenience. Due Aug 22^nd, 2006.

Please note that we will continue to accept new responses to Amendicons until Aug 30^th.

Sincerely,

Anat

Anat Litwin

Director of the Makor Artists-in-Residence Program & Makor Gallery/ Makor/Steinhardt Center of the 92nd Street Y

35 West 67th Street New York, NY 10023.

Tel: 212.413.8842 Fax: 212.413.8860 Email: alitwin@92y.org

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