Conceived and directed by Jack Persekian and Al-Ma'mal Foundation for Contemporary Art in Jerusalem, Jerusalem Show is an annual fixture on the national and international art calendar, in which invited local and international artists produce new works specifically connected with the city of Jerusalem. AC/E is cooperating with Los Torreznos and Bartolomé Ferrando on their involvement in the project.
The title, On language, illustrates the linguistic focus of this fifth edition: language as the communication tool between individuals belonging to the same community, but also as a system which shapes reality. This reality, with its system of codes, must be taken on board by individuals in order to belong to it. It is, then, not only a tool but also an imposition.
A debate has been ongoing for some time as to the social and political consequences of the fragmentation of language in connection with the use of new media, the expansion of functional English and the mixture of different languages and codes.
Does fragmented language create a new reality, or does it make it impossible to think of new structures? Does language serve the existing political orders? These are the issues which the artists are called on to explore in this edition of the Jerusalem Show.
