“Subjective Atlas for Palestine” wins prestigious Dutch award

On 26 June 2008 it was awarded the best designed book of 2007, beating out 465 others. There will be an exhibition of the 33 books nominated for the award in the famous Stedelijk Museum of Amsterdam.

The atlas was the product of a April 2007 a workshop of Palestinian artists held at the International Academy of Art Palestine in Ramallah. According to Khaled Hourani, Artistic Director of the Academy, the workshop fit into the Academy's educational and academic experimental contemporary arts program. The artists from Gaza were involved through Internet and e-mail, because they were not allowed to travel to Ramallah.

Hassan Khader, a writer born in Gaza and currently living in Germany, writes in the atlas that "there is a lot of melancholy hanging in the air, a sense of black humor and even boredom. The map is formed and deformed, joyfully or sarcastically; daily life activities are cherished as precious proofs of resilience. Normalcy can be achieved in different ways, by different means. No one would stop for a moment to ask: 'How can I normalize my life?' The question is: 'How can I keep time-tested means of normalcy functioning and oiled?'

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