Recently one of my colleagues spoke about the nature of the relationship she experiences when working on/with/about a specific site. It is like becoming lovers, she said. Excitement, fascination, presence, concentration, flow, trying to get to know the counterpart.
When I got introduced to the ADS by Siham Fayyad in 2012, it was love at first sight.
I wanted to get to know all aspects, I wanted to understand what I was seeing and feeling here.
Through the course of 2012 and beyond, I was given the opportunity to dig through cupboards and display cabinets, dumps, and libraries. People shared their memories and albums with me. They introduced me to their houses and work place. Hungrily I read what I could find in English, printed and on the internet.
Through the course of the years, I made some artwork about ADS and topics in the close vicinity. I always had the desire to discuss my thoughts and ongoing excitement on aspects of the ADS. I was given some opportunities, but far beyond what the ADS holds as potential.
Architects, sociologists, educationists, economist, historians, ecologists, agriculturalists, activists, transformation experts, all have nowadays an extensive interest in what Musa Alami established with the ADS. I believe this interest arises from various local, regional and international turning points. What was still dormant in 2012/2013, turns nowadays in a vibrant interest in the concept, construction, values behind ADS and not least, in the figure of Musa Alami.
The ADS is more than a dairy farm, more than a non-profit welfare society, more than a number of heritage buildings. ADS is also more than a local Palestinian project.
I am delighted to have received a grant by Stiftung Kunstfonds to take the time to make my collection of material public, to sift through my research materials, begin to clear the rights and start to make the materials more accessible to the public. Besides making my own processes transparent, it is about sharing and making (more and new) sense to all interested in ADS and possibly start shared projects. I am delighted to know a growing collection of materials from ADS in the Palestinian Museum Digital Archive (PMDA) since 2018. I am delighted to know that there are research projects, seminars and master thesis written about ADS.
May all this (sometimes randomly) collected material serve as digitized source of inspiration and understanding past, present and future perspectives on Palestinian history, society and culture.
Susanne Bosch, November 2022