Eltiqaa's Gaza Space Destroyed in 2023 Airstrike; Work Sparked Controversy at Documenta 15
In December 2023, the Palestinian art collective Eltiqaa announced that its gallery located on Omar Al-Mukhtar street in Gaza City was obliterated by an Israeli airstrike, along with all of its artworks. Eltiqaa served as one of the two primary contemporary art spaces in Gaza, amid the devastation of over 200 cultural sites during Israel's eight-month conflict, which also resulted in the destruction of every university and more than 350 schools, leading the UN to label the situation as 'scholasticide.' Hanan Toukan's article, featured in Afterall Issue 57 on September 10, 2024, links this tragedy to the 2022 documenta fifteen exhibition in Germany, where TQOF showcased work co-curated with Eltiqaa. Despite the destruction, documentation of Eltiqaa's creations persists, including 'Guernica-Gaza,' which was displayed in Berlin in early 2024.
Key facts
- Eltiqaa Gallery in Gaza City was destroyed in an Israeli airstrike in December 2023.
- Over 200 art and cultural sites in Gaza have been destroyed, including every university.
- Mohammed Al Hawajri's 'Guernica-Gaza' series sparked controversy at documenta fifteen in Kassel, Germany in 2022.
- German media accused Al Hawajri's work of antisemitism and equating Israel with National Socialists.
- Documenta fifteen was curated by the Indonesian collective ruangrupa, focusing on Global South collectives.
- Germany's parliament defined BDS as antisemitic in 2019, contributing to silencing Palestinian voices.
- The Question of Funding (TQOF) collective presented alternative economic models at documenta.
- Eltiqaa was founded in 2002 by seven artists and served as a key meeting space for Gazan artists.
Entities
Artists
- Mohammed Al Hawajri
- Hanan Toukan
- Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak
- Kristie Dobson
- Boaventura de Sousa Santos
- Okwui Enwezor
- Yazan Khalili
- Eugène Delacroix
- Jean-François Millet
- Marc Chagall
- Vincent van Gogh
- Pablo Picasso
- Salvador Dalí
- Dia Al-Azzawi
- Jewad Selim
- Shakir Hassan Al Said
- Khaled Hourani
- Andreas Mertin
- Stefan Trinks
- Felix Klein
- Dirk Moses
- Angela Merkel
- Mohamed Abusal
- Abdel Raouf Al Ajouri
- Mohamed Dabous
- Raed Issa
- Dina Matar
- Sohail Salem
Institutions
- Eltiqaa Gallery
- Shababeek
- Afterall
- The Question of Funding (TQOF)
- documenta
- ruangrupa
- United Nations (UN)
- German Parliament
- BDS (Boycott, Divest and Sanction)
- Hessische/Niedersächsische Allgemeine
- Der Standard
- Jüdische Allgemeine
- Frankfurter Allgemeine
- International Court of Justice (ICJ)
- University Network for Human Rights
- Amnesty International
- Human Rights Watch
- B'Tselem
- Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center
- Grassroots Al-Quds
- Popular Art Center
- Al-Basta Theatre
- Dalia Association
- Rawa Fund
- Junge Welt Maia Gallery
- Art and Liberty surrealist group
Locations
- Gaza City
- Gaza Strip
- Palestine
- Israel
- Kassel
- Germany
- Berlin
- Omar Al-Mukhtar street
- West Bank
- Indonesia
- Spain
- Guernica
- Egypt
- Iraq
- Syria
- Afghanistan
- Armenia
- Ukraine
- Africa
- Asia
- Europe
- Global South
- Global North
Sources
- Afterall —