A short interlude
10th May, 2024, London
Dear friends,
You may have heard the murmurs around a closure, a hiatus, a transition. So, on this spring day, we write to let you know that after 15 years of programming, we have decided it is time to take a short break. From summer, we will spend the rest of this year to focus on change, as The Mosaic Rooms grows from a project of A.M. Qattan Foundation to an independent charitable organisation.
We will write more soon and ask for your ideas to help guide and shape this new season.
As we pause our exhibitions and events, we can’t help but wonder if this is the right time? Over the last seven months, we have grappled with what could feel adequate, useful, or meaningful as a cultural space and as a team as we witness the violent destruction of a whole society in Gaza and relentless attacks on civilians in the rest of Palestine. We take comfort in the trust, support, and dialogue we hold so gratefully in our audiences, artists, and communities. We also take heart in the possibilities and ideas that can be fermented with the gift of a little bit of time. We will still be here – if you want to come by, get a cup of tea or coffee, and say hello – you are always welcome.
Otherwise, we can’t wait to see you all again when we reopen at the beginning of 2025! Until mid-July do join us at events, workshops, play lab, and our current exhibition. Our last event this year, the annual Small Press Fest, will be on 13- 14 July, celebrating poetry and publishing as artistic practice, including a family friendly garden gathering. Mark your diaries.
We will continue to deliver creative learning programmes in our communities, testing new ideas and strengthening existing friendships. Our amazing Young Collective will meet monthly, and we will be piloting projects which aim to offer refuge and joy through creativity, play and togetherness. We are also working towards our first dedicated learning space in the gallery, do tell us about your ideas in this feedback form.
The bookshop will remain open all year from Wednesday-Sunday 11am-6pm for anyone wanting to drop in, read, learn, buy, and support our work. The gallery and event space are yours for venue hire and select self-organised events.
For now, we leave you with a paragraph from Mahmoud Darwish’s Poetic Regulations
The stars had only one task: they taught me how to read.
They taught me I had a language in heaven
and another language on earth.
Who am I? Who am I?
I don’t want to answer yet.
May a star fall into itself, and may a forest of chestnut trees rise in the night
toward the Milky Way with me, and may it say:
Remain here!
With love and in solidarity,
Angelina, Derya, Najia, Omar, Rachael, Saeed, Siegrun and Tekie
PS: we need our friends more than ever- Be our Friend