Common Views – Sourcing Water

“Common Views” is an extensive, site-specific and durational, participatory arts project, in collaboration with artist Dan Farberoff. The project focuses on the relationships of communities sharing a landscape, as a function of their relationship and connection to place. The project’s exhibition “Common Views: Sourcing Water”, at the Arad Contemporary Arts Center (ACAC) in Israel, represented a juncture in the journey by artists. This first phase of the journey took place in the region of the desert town of Arad and the nearby Bedouin settlements. The communities that inhabit the area all share a common desert landscape, and yet, there exists between them, in very close proximity, a wide disparity and an inequity in the allotment of and access to resources. The artists have chosen to focus on water as a valuable resource, using the theme to reflect on this distributive imbalance, addressing socio-ecological issues in the context of a wider discussion on environment and sustainability, while incorporating into their vision and promoting a plan to create a Biosphere Reserve (BR) in the area. Through listening to the local voice, action plans were developed in collaboration with interested people and organisations which have agencies in the area, to mold and customize participatory engagement of the local community. The method of participatory Art was brought forward as a tool for public outreach. we believe that when it is used in an attentive and sensitive manner, it can suggest and even start a process of change.   Curator: Irit Carmon-Poper, 2020. Images and Video by Dan Farberoff, David Behar Perahia and Doron Orgil.

Short program on the project, Kan11 –  Israeli public TV (english sub titles)