The Image That Will Not Go Away is a public event presented by DEMO and DARNA focusing on the question of Palestinian self-representation in a Western cultural landscape complicit with the genocide of the Palestinian people. Bringing together artists, collectives, and organisations advocating for Palestinians’ right to self-determination, The Image That Will Not Go Away focuses on some critical questions: What is the role played by Western cultural institutions during the genocide? What does the complicity of the Western cultural system reveal about its structures and politics? How can we position ourselves within this system to envision a sustainable, counter-organised future? The aim is to share collective strategies and experiences to confront colonial and genocidal discourses embedded in the current configuration of the Western cultural ecosystem.
The public event will be divided into two sessions.
The first session, led by DEMO and DARNA, will explore Palestinian self-representation through the lens of militant cinema, tracing its development from the work of Palestine Film Unit (FPU) to contemporary experiments in moving image practices by artists such as Kamal Aljafari and Oraib Toukan.
The second session brings together representatives from organisations advocating for Palestinians’ right to self-determination. They will share experiences and strategies to expose and challenge the Western cultural ecosystem’s complicity in silencing pro-Palestinian voices and profiting from the genocide, while also envisioning common transnational approaches to the struggle supporting Palestinian liberation.
Organisations taking part are Arts & Culture Alliance (ACAB), Art Not Genocide Alliance (ANGA), Collecteurs, Galassia, Institute of Radical Imagination, Ravers for Palestine, Strike Germany.
The Image That Will Not Go Away is part of CASE residency programme.