Ronen.Dvarim — Deuteronomy – projects, pictures and words

[audio:radio_rasia_interview.mp3]

דברים שרואים משם לא רואים מכאן

If you know Hebrew you could listen to a nice conversation between me and Mira. If not, I still played some nice songs. Enjoy!

The conference went well. Not many people came, which is a pity because the talks and presentation were really good and interesting. I feel bad that I did not make more of an effort to let people know about the conference. Hopefully we will gather the presentations and papers and make them public via web or maybe even print soon.
One of the advantages of inviting serious bloggers to an event that one organizes is that they blog about the event. So instead of me trying to write on what happened I could just link to the people who are doing a much better job in summarizing than I am.

Jan Schmidt in Bamblog writes in English a good overview of the conference. Thanks! Day 1, Day 2.

DonAlphonso, one of Germanys leading bloggers wrote in “Blogs!” that the conference was “Die bisher beste Konferenz”, which in English is, “the best conference”. So if you read German (or could deal with Google translate) you could read how much he loved it. Also like many bloggers he has more than on blog, so you could read more impressions about Isreal in GT blog (German).

From left: Ari Rath, Mushon Zer-Aviv, Ronen Eidelman (photo: Jan Schmidt)

This Sunday and every Sunday at 19:00pm – “Yordim Lamachteret”

The Mira Radio Show @ Radio Rasia.

This week’s guest Star: He is back from the GOLA, the man who graphically designed the revolution. Ronen Eidelman about things that are seen from there that can’t be seen from here @ radiorasia

www.radiorasia.org

or http://giss.tv:8000/status.xsl roll down to radio rasia and play

I’m back in Israel and it’s nice to be home. It’s great to see family and friends and the weather is just amazing.

One of the reasons i came now to is real was because of the conference Boundaries of free Speech: German and Israeli Journalism and Growing Rifts Between the “West” and the “Muslim World” which I’m one of the main organizers.

The workshop aims to examine the boundaries of free speech in Israeli and German media, in connection with their role in the growing divide between the so-called “West“ and the Muslim world. After the debate about the Danish cartoons ridiculing Islam we want to ask: Is there really freedom of speech in western media as has been self-righteously claimed by the western world? As the media participates in the shaping of symbols that impart meaning for how we perceive current events, there are old and new forms of restrictions and other opinion-shaping mechanisms in each country. We want to explore them through recent events like the Lebanon war, Holocaust denial in the Iranian and Danish cartoon debate.

My main contribution (besides designing the program and flyer) was to bring to the conference the aspect of the alternative media; web blogs, cartoons and also new technology. Here are a few words from the introduction I will give on Wednesday morning:

When talking today about media and it boundaries we also have to look at of all aspects of public opinion shaping through media. The new widespread use of internet tools, particularly blog systems, has expanded and changed the way we receive and react to information and opinions. It is important that we raise these questions of boundaries with the full understanding of these alternative ways of media; the technology, the way it’s used and misused, and the different formats and mediums. Through this understanding we will look at the current debates and conflicts and the new ways of distribution of ideas and criticism. This will raise many questions, about authority, censorship, restrictions and borders and we hopefully we will examine how this is changing journalism today.

Click here for the program

press picture to see clearly

(un)Documented Disappearance in Wooster collective  (NYC)
(un)Documented Disappearance in inicios.se (spain)

the project was also on german TV and local newspapers. i will ad links when i get them.

As part of the program requirements of the MFA at the Bauhaus we have to participate with our project at a gallery exhibition. I feel quit strange about the whole situation of doing something in the gallery. My project was made for the street and that is where it belongs. No explanation of the project was presented on the street. The impact of the instillation is that one meets, discovers it by accident. Strolling down the street you see something strange, a light catches your eye and you look down the sewage opening and get surprised, if you are curious you ask yourself questions. You encounter the “migrant showing you their papers” but you are not sure what you have seen or understand who these people are. Maybe you share it with your friends or coworkers that also saw the instillation. Together you try to figure out what it is all about. Jena is a small town, hopefully people will talk and the strange people in the sewage will be with time understood.

I created the Blog to show the processes of the project, to bring it to the public sphere of the internet. It was important to me to present my research, the information that brought to this project, the photos I taken at the refugee camp, my thoughts and feelings to my friends and associates, but also to as wide as an audience as possible. This is working well, the refugees at the camp and in Jena were delighted for the didtribution and exposure of the pictures that were presented in the internet. Websites from New York and Spain already featured the project and linked to the explanations. The Blog (and the Flickr set) are not only presenting the project but also modestly distributing the problems, struggles and information on migrants and refugees in Germany.

So when I came to set up the show I wanted the display at the gallery to work in a similar way as the Blog. Not only to represent the specific instillation but also present the information and bring the viewers to learn more about the subject. So I decided to print out the blog with all the post up to that day, and highlighted with bigger pictures, documents, and objects what I felt needed more attention. During the exhibition I will past up the new posts. So in a strange way the visitors to the gallery will get a physical display of this web blog. This way I will also reach the local city audience who will visit the gallery but might not encounter the project on the web. Of course I encourage all visitors to visit and comment the blog on the web and cards with the address of the blog were printed and given out at the gallery.