Peoples Museum

 

Peoples Museum in Birzeit, Palestine

The idea is to create a “from bottom up”
museum, which represents a collection of items, histories and memories
of the residents in a specific locality in Palestine. The form, the
site and the collected items are decided upon through a dialogue between
the local residents, local grassroots organisations, art students
and artists with connection to the specific locality and the Danish
artist groups Parfyme-YNKB.
This project seeks a different approach to the concept of a museum.
It is about how people want to represent themselves.

Peoples Museum opened on

October the 9th 2009

See Pictures from the Opening
and the Peoples Museum exhibition

See also: Peoples Museum 1,
Peoples Museum 2
or Downloade Peoples Museum
Flyer

 

People

Peoples Museum is an art project initiated by the Danish artgroups
YNKB (Kirsten Dufour and Finn Thybo Andersen) and Parfyme (Pelle Brage
Andersen and Laurids Sonn) in collaboration with Palestinian artists:
Majdi Hadid, Hosni Radwan and Haneen Masri.

The main partner of Peoples Museum is IAAP – International
Art Academy Palestine (Ramallah) and Al-Rozana in Birzeit.
Al Rozana is a local organization in Birzeit working for restoration
of the old village and its revival.
IAAP International Art Academy of Palestine http://www.artacademy.ps
is the Art Academy of Palestine. It is situated in Ramallah.

Funding
Peoples Museum in Birzeit is funded for two years 2008-2009 by the
Danish Center for Culture and Development (DCCD) and the Danish Representation
in Ramallah.

 

Where

Birzeit is a village 20 km north of Ramallah, 780 meters above sea
level. The population is estimated in 2008 to be 7764.
The historical area goes back to the Mamluk era originating in Egypt
around 1250 AD.
The name Bir Zeit literally translates to “well of oil”;
referring to the wells in which its inhabitants historically stored
virgin-pressed olive oil.
The topography of the town consists of hills and sloping terrains
with its highest point known by locals as “al-Khirbeh”,
or “the ruin”, with ruins from the Roman and Byzantine era.
Much of the surrounding land consists of olive trees, which historically
was a source of sustenance for what was primarily an agrarian society.
Today, BirZeit is a college town known for the flagship of Palestinian
institutions, Birzeit University.

The old village of Birzeit consists of farmhouses build during the
Ottoman period, (19th century) although there are building elements,
that dates back to earlier periods. The traditional farmhouse is build
of limestone with domes. It has two stores, the upper storey for human
residents, the basement for livestock.
Traditionally the village of Birzeit was inhabited by five family
groups, – four Christians and one Muslim, but they live together without
any problems. Traditionally, families have lived together with their
houses grouped around a yard. This is called al-Hoash. There are several
examples of them in the old village of Birzeit.
Most of the houses in the old village are empty, and many of the beautiful
old houses are in ruin. Many former residents have moved into modern
houses in Birzeit. The residents in the old town are mostly refugees
and students from the university, as the accommodation is cheap there.
The local organization Al-Rozana is working to restore and revitalize
the old village. A few of the old houses are already restored. At
the moment a great restoration of the old city of Birzeit is taken
place, managed by RIWAQ, The municipality of Berzeit, Birzeit University
and Al-Rozana.

History

In May 2008 Al-Rozana offered a restored empty house for the Peoples
Museum: AL-Kailes House in the old Village of Birzeit.

Soap Box Boat April 2009

Farmer planting an abricot tree while hes son is looking on. April
2009

Activity day April 13, 2009
Downloade the manual for
the Activity day

Knocking doors

Signing contract for donation for Peoples Museum

Visiting a family

The Plowman

The Folksinger Nadia Qatalo performs with songs and dances

The Candleman with his selfinvented candle machine

A refugee from 1948, Aysha Abu Khaled, tells her story

Letters from the jail