In 2011, Pablo Picasso’s iconic work Buste de Femme (1943) undertook a journey from Eindhoven to Ramallah, where it was exhibited for three weeks. However, getting this work into the occupied Palestinian territory took two years of extensive artistic, legal, and administrative research and negotiation.
Created by Khaled Hourani, the Director of the International Academy of Art Palestine where Buste de Femme was exhibited, Picasso in Palestine documents the entire process of negotiation, transport, and exhibition of the work.
The film raises myriad questions about the recognition of Palestine as an independent and sovereign state by structures of the global economy (insurance companies, shipping companies) and foregrounds the mechanics of ongoing Israeli occupation. It also raises questions about systems of control, access to knowledge, museography, the value and funding of art, and the role of the media.
A screening of the film will be followed by a discussion between Dr Samid Suliman, member of the Griffith Centre for Social and Cultural Research, and guests.
