Nida is an artist and a filmmaker based in Ramallah, Palestine. Twice a week, he travels along an extremely dangerous route to a Jerusalem school, where he teaches filmmaking to the Arabic-speaking community. “I’ve seen everything on this route. A bus carrying students caught fire when it hit against a tank and despite all efforts, we couldn’t do anything. They died before our eyes. The hardest thing is the checkpoints, with queues and all sorts of control. Soldiers can never be seen behind the armored windows, full of automatic devices, topnotch gadgets over your head, in front, etc.” Nida, this smiling man of small frame with a Manu Chao lookalike has studied in the United States and can speak English perfectly. Because oftheir symbolic power, his contemporary art performances are sometimes seismic.

Invited to Carthage, Tunisia, in May 2012, he set two arms in front of some excavators in the hallway of the national museum. “Art is a form of expression against frustration; it’s a way of being out of Palestine. Something must be done to become immune,” Nida adds. Also, in 2006 he worked on the full-length movie Palestina Blues. Camera in hand, he taped the highs and lows of daily life in a farming village. At present, he is focused on creating monumental sculptures. “But being strategic is key in obtaining funding,” he acknowledges. An ally is not always somebody else’s. Guided by multiple factors, he is greatly influenced by the the Situationist International of May 1968 in France: the transformation of advertising slogans into politically-charged messages. In 2008, he targeted major ads, leaving his works unsigned. “An anonymous transformation, people were encouraged by that. These days, there are stickers of that kind made by strangers.” Ramallah is not the kind of city that feels bad about its situation. He notes that many young people become addicted to consumerism, turning their backs on conflict. He is considering youths and their behaviour for future projects. Palestine’s future? “A solution has to be found. The current situation is worth US$ 7.7 billion at the world’s expense. “But it’s not Western democracies that are the stuff dreams are made of. A third way has to be found,” he reveals. To be meditated upon.