Event 399 – Closing Ceremony -Alternative Views

Thursday, July 11, 2019 was the closing event of  activities of the project “Alternative Views”, a project organized by the Basement Cultural Foundation during the past months, which allowed the young men and women to present their different views on social issues, which were then reflected in 12 artworks, among the paintings presented in the exhibition (Contrast) which was conducted last April in which the audience participated in drawing, and an interactive play entitled (case).

At the closing event, a video was presented of the first chapter of the play (case), which was entitled (Waiting for Gedo “Grandpa”). Khaled Al-Muraisi ‘Project Manager’  talked about a Alternative Views  project that aimed to involve young artists in contributing to raising awareness about prominent societal issues through art, to the impact of art and its reach to the largest number of people, and on the other hand to motivate society to interact with art, and to recognize its importance and its role in making change.
Al-Muraisi spoke about the stages of the project, which began by gathering 60 young men and women in focus sessions, distributed in 4 groups, each group discussed three community issues selected by the participants.
The second phase targeted artists and theatrical artists to introduce them to these issues and discuss how to turn them into works of art.
The artists then carried out their works under the auspices of the project.The interactive exhibition (Contrast) was opened on 18 April 2019, in which 12 paintings were presented, each dealing with a different issue, and the public was allowed to give their own touches to copies of these paintings, to express their opinion on the issues.  Khaled said that the paintings and some amendments of the public are displayed on the Facebook page of the Foundation, and is still open for amendment to the followers of the page.
The second artistic output of the project was the interactive play (case) that was presented on Saturday, June 29, 2019, and discussed a set of these issues, and consisted of two chapters: (waiting for Gedo “Grandpa”) and (A cup of Tea). Khalid spoke about the audience’s distinctive interaction, participation in the discussion and role play to present their vision on these issues.

At the end of the event, Khalid Al-Muraisi thanked the young men and women participating in the project.