Visual Foreign Correspondents: Magav in Weimar by Ronen Eidelman - In the old town of Weimar, Ronen Eidelman built an armoured jeep, commonly used by the Israeli border police (magav). A closer look betrays that it is a two-dimensional model, a fake, similar to the historic buildings of Weimar, which through historical manipulations try to recreate the town as the romantic Disneyland of the East, devoid of its questionable World War II past. Like the touristy postcard perfection of Weimar, the ubiquity of security and control mechanisms works as a façade. Both function as cover-ups for what is really underneath….

Ronen is an artist, writer and activist. He has participated in many self-organized exhibitions and festivals, founded and edited over five cultural, art and political journals / magazines and produced many events linking art, culture and grassroots politics. For the past ten years Ronen has been active in anti-occupation and anti-capitalist direct action groups.

Visual Foreign Correspondents is also set in the context of an international program of public debates — The Globalised Crystal Ball — in which aspects of the new phase of globalisation is explored by panels of distinguished commentators. This month’s issue is The Military-Strategic Future Predicted - In 2004 the United Nations published A more secure world: Our shared responsibility, which advised the international community how to tackle common threats. The report suggests that it is time for a new security consensus, one in which “we all share responsibility for each other’s security. And the test of that consensus will be action”. Speakers are:

- Thomas P.M. Barnett is senior Managing Director at Enterra Solutions.
- Andrew Small works for the German Marshall Fund in Brussels since 2006 as the co-ordinator of work on China and transatlantic relations.
- Awil Mohamoud is a political scientist and the founding director of SAHAN research & advice bureau.

De Balie, Klein Gartmanplantsoen 10, Amsterdam :: April 15, 2008; 8:00 pm