Publication

Intro:
In the course of an „unvirtual“ meeting in Hamburg on the 25th/26thof July (Sanna, Azin, Sophia), our discussions led to the following structure as well as a proposal for our final publication, based on the thought to have it woven in to our work in progress from an early stage. It also led us to further structure and the need for documentation, evaluation and even moderation.
As an output we would like to reflect our thoughts back to all of us asking for feedback and input.
Let´s start the discourse on how we want to present Reloading Images Damascus 2008.

Goals of the final publication
- Points out the necessities for documentation, moderation and evaluation.

- Goes beyond the course of the project by reaching a broader public and activating a variety of discourses based on the output.

- Contains information about the city of Damascus from the perspective of contemporary art production as well as broader discourses relevant in this context.

- Target-groups as well as the upcoming of discourse shall be defined

- Frames the space for various media approaches

- Follows the idea, that each participant can identify, take part and feel connected to the collaboration presented – shows the nature of our collaboration - visualizes collaborative output and the different methods and media as well as the atmosphere and ups and downs of our work in progress

- Its context is Damascus

- It is engaged in multiple points of transition, contact zones, touching points, shifting points… instead of polarizations/comparison/mere confrontation

- Claims to be an artwork and an artistic statement
- Forms the in-between-space between polarized perspectives – allocates the points of transition and sets them in focus

- Using fictional as well as informative elements

- Bilingual in Arabic and English

Conclusions and proposal of content:
The central topic & main context of the publication is the city of Damascus, its specific circumstances, as well the circumstances in which the project is taking place. The publication aims to visualize the collaborative aspect and its origins by the individual perceptions, artistic input and exchange amongst the participants.

Proposal/focus:
The shifts between the infinite realties and the infinite imaginations or maybe even imitations lead to multiple points of transition, as they can’t be defined clearly. These points of transitions are the main focus:
- Damascus – The city
(collecting research about the city, its architecture, its history, its artists, its social situation etc.)

- Damascus – the Subconscious/the imagined
(collecting assignment results, eg. about childhood memories of this utopian city, whose inhabitants not only live in the city itself, but on 4 continents / about the fictional characters of this city (Isa’s assignment), collecting the more associative, the playful, the things that are actually not related to Damascus, but within our project become related.)

- A bilingual and two-layered guidebook of the infinite cities within Damascus
- Showing the/a city’s infinities, the/a city’s layers
- As in any guidebook maps are an essential part. One could think of subjective maps, experimental maps, imaginary maps, mapped maps etc.

Conclusion:
The idea of the ‘infinitycity’ of Damascus originates from the personal experiences and interactions within a location and its different layers from the informative to the imaginary that are experienced in the collaborative, multi-perceptual setting of RI Damascus.