Rave-olutions
Kalliopi Tsipni-Kolaza’s project proposal Rave-olutions takes a look at the alternative music scene that has recently emerged among young Palestinians on both sides of the Green Line. As a politicized counterculture formed by musicians and their diverse audience, this rave party scene fuses local and international musical expressions as a form of resistance and protest. It constitutes young Palestinians’ struggle against civil marginalization in Israel and military occupations, as well as against social and religious controls within their own communities.
“Spatial and social restrictions in organizing such parties (for example the difficulty in obtaining license for alcohol consumption, ticket sales, strategic location and so on) set the young producers on a search for unconventional, politically unbiased places to host their music nights. Desert raves in Area C, glass buildings in the borderlines between the Jewish and Arab neighborhoods of Haifa or Bedouin land on the West Bank are just a few examples of places where these parties take place.”
In Rave-olutions Kalliopi Tsipni-Kolaza explores issues of spatial justice, cultural identity and social diversity in Palestine. Through the presentation of her research, she aims to raise awareness for a collective need that goes beyond traditional norms and restrictions. A need that challenges both externally and internally imposed forms of social and structural oppression and othering, and presents itself as a living experiment and testing field in the contemporary city.
Kalliopi Tsipni-Kolaza’s interests span a broad range of topics and converge around time-based art, performance and film, especially where societal issues are implied. As an assistant curator, she co-developed the Contingent Movements Archive, an independent curatorial project addressing issues of sustainability, immigration and geopolitics in the Maldives. Online and at the Maldives pavilion at the 55th Venice Biennale, this speculative project draws together a wide range of perspectives and maps out potential migration scenarios for the permanently displaced population and its culture. Recently, Kalliopi Tsipni-Kolaza curated Orange Trees That Talk, a mediated performance by Cooking Sections, which explores social, agricultural and economic realities in such ostensibly disparate areas of the planet as Jaffa and Fittja. Focusing on the invention of the famous Jaffa oranges, Orange Trees That Talk traces unexpected connections within and between capitalist patterns of global circulation and power structures while mapping out differences and similarities in schemes of urban development.
Kalliopi Tsipni-Kolaza is an independent curator living in London and Athens. Find out more about the Contingent Movements Archive at contingentmovementsarchive.com.
Photos: Khaled Ramadan (Maldives Pavilion, Details Contingent Movements Archive), Gianpaolo Arena (Installation View Contingent Movements Archive)
Courtesy: Maldives Pavilion