Arts & International Affairs: 2.3: Autumn/Winter 2017 | Page 68

ARTS & INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS
Figure 5: Photo credit Islem Haouti. Freedom by Islem Haouti
My work with photographer Islem Haouti was mostly about contemporary techniques
and how to represent photography in a contemporary way. Islem chose to print a pho-
tograph called “freedom” taken in the Western Sahara camps on a sticker and directly
mounted it on one of the walls of the museum. The picture was taken when he worked
with the Spanish human rights organization ARTifariti, 13 inside a camp in the Western
Sahara in 2016. And finally, yes, I think this combination should be a trend in the bi-
ennials, especially those of the Arab world and more precisely of the MENASA region
(Middle East, North Africa and South Asia).
Murray: Who were the main jury members for the selection and what background do
they have? Have they been involved with this biennial since the beginning?
Ali Chaouche: The principal members of the jury were Sadek Rahim, 14 artist master’s
laureate of the world-renowned, Central St. Martins University of the Arts in London,
and co-curator and co-founder of the Mediterranean Biennial of Contemporary Art
of Oran; Hafid Boualem, filmmaker and screenwriter (member of Civ-Oeil Gallery);
Karim Benacef, journalist (director of publication); Abdelhamid Aouragh, p hotogra-
pher (journalist for Elkhabar); and myself, President of the Jury, artist (co-founder and
president of the Mediterranean Biennial of Contemporary Art of Oran). During the 3 rd
13
14
http://www.artifariti.org/en/
https://www.saatchiart.com/account/profile/90542
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