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Biokhraphia
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When
it comes to cultural expression, Parisian curator Catherine David looks to
display work from outside of the limited schema of Western contemporary art. In
recent years David has curated several film and video exhibitions as well as
acted as creative director for 1997 Documenta X in Kessel, Germany.
David’s current long-term project, Contemporary Arab Representations,
is an exhibition and series of lectures and events put together to explore the
cultural expression of Arab countries in the era of globalization.
The
first installment of Contemporary Arab Representations focuses on Beirut,
Lebanon and will be on at the BildMuseet in Umea, Sweden through the end of
April. This chapter, one of a series of exhibitions/events focusing on different
Arab countries, has been traveling around Europe since 2001, where it began as a
seminar at the Universidad Internacional de Andalucia in Seville, Spain from
22-26 October 2001. It then continued on to the Akademie Schloss Solitude in
Stuttgart, Germany 7-9 February 2002. The exhibition then moved on to the
Fundacio Antoni Tapies, in Barcelona, Spain 3 May-14 July 2002 and the Witte de
With Center in Rotterdam, The Netherlands 15 September-24 November 2002.
Contemporary
Arab Representations: Beirut, Lebanon unites a large selection of Lebanese
artists, filmmakers, writers and architects that are living and working in
Beirut who are interested in developing a “critical and experimental”
contemporary Arab culture. The exhibit or project is described in the press
release as a “multi-layered project that is devoted to the deepening of the
knowledge of present-day cultural expressions of the Arab world and
strengthening the dialogue and exchange between cultural centers of the Arab
countries and the rest of the world.”
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All is well on the border front. |
David’s
project cannot be labeled exclusively as an art exhibition because it is
multi-faceted, consisting of a series of lectures, readings and performances as
well as a multi-media art exhibition supplemented by a publication called Tamass,
which depicts the activities and ideas of agents of the cultural realm within
the Arab world. David also opts to label the pieces shown in the exhibit
“representations” rather than “artworks” to highlight the main concern
of the project, which is examining the “complex dimensions of aesthetics in
relation to social and political situations.” Meaning that the artwork is
specifically concerned with representing the ideas and climate of
contemporary Beirut.
There
are twenty representations exhibited. These include installations, films,
sculpture, photography, literature, architecture and a special viewing room
airing live broadcasts from 17 TV channels from around the Arab world. According
to BildMuseet’s press release, the city of Beirut is the “heart and pulse of
the exhibition. In many of the works memories and experiences of the civil war
and the Israeli occupation constitute a backdrop or an explicate theme,
portrayed and developed in personal narratives.”
By
presenting these representations, David encourages us to reflect upon cultural
practices in our own societies, wherever we may reside, and think about what
kind of role the arts play. The artists included are interested in using their
media of artistic expression or discussion to really understand and dissect what
is going on in their home country in specific and its relations to the rest of
the Middle East. They also are concerned with the strengthening of a critical
Arab dialogue.
The
exhibition of representations strongly leans toward a preference for new media.
Most pieces steer far from traditional media of artistic expression. Exceptions
would be Tony Chakar’s 2001 painting entitled Four Cotton Underwear for
Tony, or Walid Sadek’s 2002 sculptural installation entitled Les Autres
(The Others). The majority of the work employs the documentary power of film
and video.
Akram
Zaatari’s contribution to the exhibition includes a video piece entitled Al-Shrit
bikhayr (All is well on the Border), 1997. The video presents a series of
interviews with Lebanese prisoners in Israel as a way of examining issues and
failures of representation.
Performance
work also goes hand in hand with media artwork. A collaborative performance
piece between two artists, Rabih Mroue and Lina Saneh, entitled Biokraphia,
2002, questions norms and breaks political taboos of Lebanese culture while
examining the role of the artist in the globalized world.
The
next installment will focus on Cairo, Egypt and will be presented at the
BildMuseet in November, 2003.
Contemporary
Arab Representation: Beirut,Lebanon will be on exhibit through 21 April 2003
at the BildMuseet, Umea, Sweden.
For
more information and comprehensive coverage of the project visit www.wdw.nl/ENG/text/projects/arab/fr_arab.html
David’s
companion book, Tamass, is available to order at D.A.P., New York (US only) www.artbook.com/8488786611.html
Cornerhouse,
Manchester (UK only) www.cornerhouse.org
Idea
Books, Amsterdam (all other countries)
e-mail
idea@ideabooks.nl +31 (0)20 6226154
