Maja Medic continued her ongoing research entitled Prečice (Ancestress) while in residency at Makan. This project represents a comparative study of women's lives in the Twentieth Century. The project involves meetings with women between the age of 27 and 32 to collect photographs of themselves, their mothers, grand mothers and great grandmothers as well as data relating to these women. Each country on Maja’s trip represents a phase of the project; her visit to Amman was the second phase. The change in geography is an opportunity for visiting new cultures and leaning of new traditions, valuable to the research.

www.majamedic.rs

Visual artist Inass Yassin came to Makan for an open research residency. From Makan’s balcony Inass saw the beautiful view of the city and explored the surrounding neighbourhood of Jabal Al-Weibdeh. This neighbourhood is part of the old city of Amman, its architectural and construction layers became Inass’s start point for her work. Research work explored the changing space within the city that is growing as measure metropolitan.  The daily meetings in the balcony, enjoying tea, discussions and music shaped the residency at Makan into a personal place to live and private space to work

The first week I arrived in Amman I met Amman's most renowned “she-male" (a transsexual) had a cigarette with her on the balcony as we conversed about Egyptian TV spy series Raafat ElHajan, a few days later I was invited to dinner with Ola's extended family who happened to be passing through. Amman thus instantly provided me with both warmth and excitement. During the rest of the month, I met Dina Bani Mustafa and Mohammed Alqaq whom I fell in love with and casted as actors for my most recent video, I met choreographer Abdel Rahman Barakat completely by coincidence and hired him. I prepared, rehearsed, shot a new video and still had time to tan on the balcony. By far, my most productive and serendipitous residency to date.

I came to Amman on a whim with no clear idea, and left with a finished project and beautiful encounters. I think what made the difference really is the quality of interaction between the host and the artist. Ola always seemed to have a solution to whatever obstacle I came across, complete with phone numbers and emails. And everyone, whether they worked with Makan or at the restaurant downstairs, every single person I called for a favor or interacted with on daily basis, was hospitable, resourceful and helpful. I don't think I have ever been to a place where everybody was so eager to help and collaborate, making me feel immediately settled. This attitude, which to me extended from Makan to the rest of Amman, is mainly what made this residency so productive, not to mention the city's landscape, which I found absolutely soothing and inspiring. I did spend a lot of time on the balcony. 

The work in progress at the moment, entitled Girl Splendid in Walking, is loosely based on Gradiva; a Pompiian Fancy by Wilhelm Jensen, and Russian Folk Tales Marozka and Teryosha. It's a repetitive narrative which twists the premise of the novel; the enchanting manner of walking of the Gradiva. I use this premise, to explore the notion of the beautiful, romantic vs. awkward or ridiculous. The video is performance-based, centered around a very specific walking choreography through which I explore different types of reminiscence; remembering a movement, a sensation, a trajectory, and remembering a person and impression.

Filmmaker Mais Darwazah visited Palestine for the first time, to research her upcoming feature documentary My Love Awaits Me by the Sea (working title). The film attempts to merge between what’s real and fantasized. The fictional element comes from trying to understand concepts such as nostalgia, desire, memory, dreaming and fantasy. And the reality stems from seeing how the present Palestinian generation, are dealing with the occupation of everyday. The film focuses on Hasan Hourani’s art work - an artist that was able to dream beyond the restrictions of the everyday.