The Fulcrum Press is pleased to present, Looting by Gal Amiram. Looting is an exhibition that builds on extensive research into archaeological sites managed by Israeli settlers in Palestinian territories. Currently, there are approximately 6,000 archaeological sites in the West Bank. When Israel designates a location as an archaeological site, it grants the state the authority to confiscate land and displace the Palestinian population living in the area. The exhibition focuses on three mosaics that were extracted from Palestinian territories in the West Bank and Gaza, as well as an archaeological site in Palestinian East Jerusalem that now serves as an Israeli settlement. The mosaics are currently housed in an Israeli cultural settlement museum in the West Bank, where their relocation to official Israeli territories is considered illegal under international law. Through photo collages of the looted mosaics, the work reimagines them to display the Arabic names of their origins. With photography, video, and archival research, this project aims to reveal how Israel is using archaeology to rewrite history and obscure Palestinian landscape and heritage. ____ “Chandigarh In 1951, India’s Prime Minister Sh. Jawahar Lal Nehru commissioned Swiss-French architect Le Corbusier to envision a Post-Independence, Post-Partition capital city of Punjab as a decolonization project for a new India. Chandigarh is known as one of the most important experiments in urban planning and modern architecture in the twentieth century in India. I am interested in how Le Corbusier’s plan for the city has changed in the decades since it was built, and the ways its residents have used and adapted the architecture in the accompanying population growth that anticipated 500,000 and currently accommodates more than 1.4 million residents. How does architecture shape our lives? How do we affect architecture? With the Chandigarh works I have continued to investigate the utopian architectural visualizations of modernism, in this case, Le Corbusier’s modernist master plan and architecture for an entire planned city of Chandigarh. I am interested in how a utopian dream has changed and/or remained the same after the passing of decades, and with huge population growth. My work embraces the contrast of two cultures, two architectural traditions, and two philosophies, but also embraces their connections as they continue to shape the structure, aesthetics, and function of the city. Looking at Chandigarh today, I see the results of contested modernities between Le Corbusier and Nehru’s vision for a modernizing India and the presence and resilience of indigenous Indians to create and impact their city” - Soo Kim