Artist Talk: Tal Adler and Osama Zatar about the OneState Embassy
Artist Talk as part of Back to Athens - Sloudge pour Sludge. At 8 p.m. Athens time and 7 p.m. Vienna time.
The idea for OneState Embassy originated in 2009, when Palestinian artist Osama Zatar and Israeli photographer and activist Tal Adler took part in an exhibition that brought Palestinian and Israeli artists together and showcased tight historical and cultural bonds between the two communities. Rather than perpetuating the conflict-ridden relations between Israel and Palestine, they decided to create the OneState Embassy, an art and political collective disseminating a message of unity and coexistence between Israelis and Palestinians.
Through presenting the duality of Israel and Palestine and highlighting the ideas of separation within the two-state concept, the OneState concept enables the deconstruction of the ongoing conflict and the unification of people within One.
This is the first artwork of the OneState Embassy and its ambassadors, Osama Zatar and Tal Adler. In it they envisioned OneState, a country of a tight-knit community of Jews, Christian and Muslim Arabs living together in prosperity and unity. To the old footage of Jerusalem and Vienna, Osama and Tal added scenes of themselves acting as the ambassadors of the OneState Embassy. It shows the diplomats coming to Vienna, seeking financial help to build their new country. The video was shown at the Jewish Film Festival in 2009.
Osama Zatar, Mag. Arts. Based in Vienna, born in Ramallah, Palestine.
Tal Adler, Based in Berlin, Born in Israel.