The Art of Sahrawi Cooking: Last programm of Robin Kahn at dOCUMENTA 13

Just letting you know that Robin will be returning to dOCUMENTA(13) in Kassel for the last two weeks of her installation The Art of Sahrawi Cooking. (see: www.robinkahn.blogspot.com for more information)

Throughout the summer the jaima (the tent sewed by La Cooperativa Unidad Nacional de Mujeres Saharauis in the 27 Febrero refugee camp) has been an active site for education and dialogue about the crisis in Western Sahara.

During the opening week she and eight Sahrawi women from the refugee camps in Tindouf, Algeria cooked couscous and made tea for hundreds of visitors each day. Throughout the rest of June and July, Robin was there to host an expanded program of talks, in particular the Symposium on Human Rights, presented by Bettina Semmer, with panels and presentations by legal scholars, journalists, doctors and activists who had visited the occupied and liberated territories of Western Sahara as well as the refugee camps. During that time and on into August there have also been formal and informal gatherings of artists participating in Documenta, exhibition staff and local residents who have shared their own cooking traditions with the public or expanded the notion of hospitality in other ways. Many of these were hosted by graduate students from GradCam in Dublin whose incredible projects and activities are documented on their blog: www.inthetent.org .

AND SO… if you have plans on going to dOCUMENTA(13) or are in Europe before September 16^th (the exhibition’s last day) please come check out the jaima as there will be more to come. Besides the ongoing programs organized by GradCam, from September 2nd-September 16th, some of the featured presentations are:

-Screenings of Javier Bardem's documentary about Western Sahara "Sons of the Clouds" (first presented at the Berlin Film Festival last February)

-Nadjat Hamdi, the Polisario Representative to Vienna will arrive September 10th with her family and friends to engage the public in conversations about Western Sahara accompanied by traditional tea, dancing, henna tattooing, and song.

-Karin Scheele, a former EU Parliamentarian will make a presentation about her experiences as the President of the Saharaui Association in Germany and the head of the "Peace for Western Sahara" movement.

-Danielle Smith, the President of Sandblast.org will talk about her London based organization about Western Sahara and the arts.

-And, finally, the installation will celebrate its success with delicious food events: including a meal with D13's Worldly Companions and a place at Dan Simons' Kesseler Art Bankett on September 15, 2012.