The “Odyssey” project aims to make an “artistic report” in migrant sites located in Turkey as well as in Greece, Germany or France.

The painter Fred Kleinberg, with the support of Médecins du Monde and the Agnès B endowment fund, has produced an unprecedented series of paintings, and large-format drawings based on his encounters with refugees. Seeking to capture reality, he recorded the audio journey of this Odyssey: interviews with migrants, testimonies of volunteers and humanitarian action managers, and created a soundtrack that accompanies his works. Anxious to participate, with his artistic means, in humanitarian life, he organizes, during his trips, a creation workshop inviting migrants to share their own experience.

His works evoke the importance of these movements, which are often poorly known and which profoundly mark the political, social and cultural life of Europe today.

As President of the Arab World Institute, I am pleased to give Fred Kleinberg my greatest support in this courageous and relevant initiative. The Arab World Institute could not remain insensitive to this beautiful and humanist adventure. Indeed, these actions are part of a long tradition of understanding migration issues.

The personal odyssey undertaken by Fred Kleinberg is joined by that of thousands of people who courageously face the adversity of the moment. Many people externalize this sad fate through artistic means: songs, poems, drawings... Migrant sites are full of works of art that are not aware of themselves. The creativity of those who undertake this perilous journey perhaps prefigures the invention of new forms of social and cultural life in Europe.

In the context that France has been experiencing since November 13, 2016, this is a necessary initiative. It must contribute to making reality better known beyond cliches, and a priory judgments, when they are not insults or threats. It must also give voice and hope to these thousands of voices plundered or forgotten across both shores of the Mediterranean.

Jack LANG, 2017
President of the Arab World Institute