Soon after the uprising against the regime of Bashar Al-Assad began in Syria, the government decided to seal off the country for foreign journalists. To keep the public inside and outside the country informed, citizen journalists and activists began to document, reflect and comment on the unfolding events in the country through videos uploaded onto the internet. These videos soon developed into an “informal news channel”, that often remained the only source of information on the unfolding events. Alongside videos documenting protests and the violent crackdown by the regime, creative videos comment on events, mock the state controlled media, and reflect on the dreams and goals of the revolutionaries.
As the confrontation increased in violence, more and more artists began using their art as a means of activism and started uploading artistic declarations of solidarity with the uprising on internet platforms such as YouTube and Facebook. Using only the most basic technical equipment, the videos show a mix of different techniques, found footage, image distortion, animation and performance, the necessity of fast reaction being a distinctive feature of the final works.
See report on: http://www.ibraaz.org/news/27
http://www.berlinbiennale.de/blog/en/events/virtual-agoras-with-charlotte-bank
The project was also presented at:
EMAF European Media Art Festival, Osnabrück, Germany, April 20, 2012
http://www.emaf.de/english/timetable/kreative-protesterscheinungen-in-syrien.html
Videos by: Ammar Al-Beik, Mohamad Omran & Dani Abo Louh, Philip Horani (peudonym), Eyas Al-Mokdad, Abou Naddara and anonymous artists/activists.
7th Berlin Biennale, KW Institute of Contempary Art, Berlin, June 3, 2012
http://www.berlinbiennale.de/blog/en/events/virtual-agoras-with-charlotte-bank
Videos by: Khaled Abdulwahed, Ammar Al-Beik, Mohamad Omran & Dani Abo Louh, Philip Horani (peudonym), Eyas Al-Mokdad, an anonymous film maker and a solidarity declaration form Lebanon by Salah Saouli
Impakt Headquarters, Utrecht, The Netherlands, June 26, 2012
http://impakt.nl/headquarters/virtual-agoras-artistic-video-activism-in-syria/
Videos by: Khaled Abdulwahed, Ammar Al-Beik, Mohamad Omran & Dani Abo Louh, Philip Horani (peudonym), Eyas Al-Mokdad, and an anonymous film maker
De Balie, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, October 7, 2012
Laznia Centre for Contemporary Art, Gdansk, Poland, November 2013
Read more:
http://zakharifblog.wordpress.com/2012/04/12/creative-strategies-of-protest-in-syria-mapping-the-virtual-agora-8/
