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The first Arab Museum of Contemporary Art: Interview with Said Abu Shaqra by Ol'ga Zolin (May 21, 2007 Umm el-Fahem)


	Mr. Said Ab Shaqra in front of the future Museum's site Umm el-Fahem. Photography by Ol'ga Zolin

	After realizing his vision of establishing an art gallery in Umm el-Fahem, Said Abu Shaqra is now a member of the founding committee of the first Arab museum of contemporary art, to be called the Al Manatar Museum of Art. Once a rural settlement in the vicinity of the cities of Jenin, Nazareth and Haifa, the city of Umm el-Fahem ('Mother of Coal'), located in the Wadi Ara area, has become separated from the West Bank. The Gallery operates in a predominantly Arab region whose residents are citizens of the state of Israel.
	Olga Zolin: How and why did you come up with this project?
	Said Abu Shaqra: The idea of establishing a museum of Arab contemporary art is a direct result of the art gallery's activities, which began eleven years ago, in 1996. It's an act of taking responsibility for our future, over the Palestinian cultural heritage. During the past sixty years we didn't deal with it, our concerns were basic, social and political; we were trying to survive. There were no researchers to ask themselves about our culture, we suffered from a devastating lack of professional staff. As a result, we have raised a society with no cultural identity. I'm aware of the lack of investment in Arab culture by the state of Israel, but I'm also aware of the absence of sufficient attempts by Palestinian leaders to balance the situation. I consider the opening of the Umm el-Fahem Art Gallery as a statement of taking responsibility over Palestinian cultural life. Before it opened, no one fully realized that it had more than just one meaning. Establishing this gallery was an important step on the way to realizing the full complexity of the state of Palestinian culture. It made us all see the distress and the needs of the Palestinian community. Obviously, as an exposition space, our goal is to bring art to the city, but we also fill other needs of our society. I'm fully conscious of all of the difficulties that we will have to deal with: terminating our contract with the architect, Senan Abdelqader due to complications in the construction plan. The museum establishment committee, Elsabar, can only carry out the construction in stages; the total cost is estimated at $40 million. This is already the second failed architectural plan, as in 2002 there was an attempt to collaborate with planners from Zaha Hadid's London office. I'm not expecting it to be our last setback. But we are optimistic, since we are committed to our vision, to the process that will bring us to the establishment of the first Arab contemporary art museum. This project will create a cultural bridge and will give the city an economic push, turning Umm el-Fahem into a Palestinian industrial center within Israel.
	What is your main goal?
	The museum will raise awareness of all of the political and social problems of the Palestinian community, and will also obligate us to find appropriate solutions for those problems. Finding the solutions will be a way to design our society, our culture; processes that will take years of dialogue and research.

	Will there still be interest in collaboration with Israeli artists?
	Since the day of the gallery's foundation, there has been an interest in dialogue between Israeli and Palestinian artists. The way I see the museum is as a connection between different cultural backgrounds, therefore the Umm el Fahem museum will set the ground for the discussion, as already did the Gallery, about our controversies and difficulties. The museum's aspiration is to create an atmosphere for a dialogue between the two cultures as equal partners. This is a strategy dictated by our reality.

	Do you think that there is a bond between Palestinian and Israeli art?
	Said Abu Shaqra: When speaking of Israeli art, one can point out the "tsabariut" (native born Israeli nature) - the connection between the Israeli people to the land of Israel. The bond to the earth connects one to the landscape, a landscape of political impact. There is a tremendous likeness between the Palestinian artist Sulieman Mansu and the Israeli artist Nahum Gutman, even though Mansu portrays Palestinian territories while Gutman drew pictures of Israel shortly before and after it became a state. If one thinks about contemporary art referring to the new media, to its new forms, one can see the differences, that regards also the concept, but the reality, the reference point for the artists, stays always the same. We all live on the same land, therefore there will always be a common place in the works of art from both sides. This common place is the ground for collaboration between us.

Ol'ga Zolin was born in Moscow in 1982. She lives in Raanana (near Tel Aviv), Israel.
She graduated from University of Florence, Italy (history of art) in 2006. Internship Coordinator at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice.
She is currently working as an independent curator.

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