25 posts tagged “art”
Cairoscape - Images, Imagination and Imaginary of a Contemporary Mega City introduces the dynamic situation of contemporary art and culture in Egypt to the Berlin public.
Taking the Arab-African megalopolis of Cairo as a starting point,
Cairoscape proposes a different way of looking at the modern city and
at the phenomenon of contemporary urbanization. In the project Cairo is
held up as an emblematic place, catalyst and generator of new narrative
series that ultimately transcend local context: Cairo as translocal
place, simultaneously recipient and origin of a set of cultural
influences and ideas floating in the region, and privileged observation
point that as such may disclose unexpected yet familiar scenarios.
Cairoscape features artists and practitioners that in their work reflect a certain contemporary and existential urban condition connected to the city of Cairo, its suggestive power and urban imaginary. Works by both artists from Egypt and artists who have recently done residencies in Egypt are included, allowing differing views of Cairo to be juxtaposed. At the same time, Cairoscape examines the possibilities, the potentialities and the paradoxes of Cairo as a site of artistic production today.
A project curated by Marina Sorbello and Antje Weitze.
Townhouse Library Screenings 14 September 2008 // Library, 9:00 pm
Perfect Present Continuous Video program curated by Nat Muller
i attended a standing room only screening at the townhouse gallery downtown cairo last night curated by nat muller.
perfect present continuous brought together the work of four artists. nat introduced the series' themes of repetition, ritual, time:
“Perfect Present Continuous” is a wry reference to a grammatical tense (present perfect continuous), which indicates an unspecified time between 'before now' and 'now', wherein there is both an interest in the process as well as the result. This process may still be going on, or may just have finished. By placing the word ‘perfect’ at the beginning, an impossible – and at times ironic – utopian project is articulated. The selected works present us with visions bordering on the ideal and the flawed. They designate the moment between the potential of perfection and a preconceived failure, or the porosity between beauty and horror, present and memory, across the brink of time, geo-political space and place.
the evening started with lamia joreige's search to capture the perfect moon she saw in a starry beirut night. as nat says, the ritual of her taxi ride with video camera, the repetitive attempts to re-capture a perceived perfect moment overtakes the goal becoming itself more important. as with so much video art, i felt the digital video production and aesthetic let the piece down not quite allowing it to deliver the hypnotic transcendence it was aiming for, mirroring the captured futile attempt at capturing a live moment. nevertheless i this was the evening's strongest work.
Lamia Joreige (LB) Full Moon, 23’, 2007
The video and series of prints Full moon presents a few attempts over years to capture a poetic moment which happened once: A traveling with an extraordinary full moon while driving to Raouché crossing “the Ring”, then back home. The same traveling is repeated each time in a different way, the recordings which are each a diagnosis of our « present » in Beirut, constitute as many fragments of history. Is it possible to capture an instant? Aren’t we always beneath or beyond reality? Here, repetition becomes the reflection of a vain desire to capture beauty and at the same time a mean of renewal. It reflects on the process of creation.
jordanian / palestinian (i think) oraib toukan had a short playful ironic piece on falsified language and memory resetting. the visuals / production didn't add much to the idea.
Oraib Toukan (JO), Remind me to remember to forget, 2006, 2’50”
A short ironic narrative on language and meaning. In a split screen format, the video depicts two separate but synchronized performances. The phrase ‘remind me to remember to forget’ is written in one screen and then simultaneously snorted in another. Rhythmically set to the sound of stifled breathing, the video mocks a memory ‘made-to-forget’. The video erupted a chain of successive works that looked to falsify the language/wording of memory and our understanding of it.
then dutch artist jan de bruin had a simple one-shot take called waiting for felipe on boredom.
Jan de Bruin (NL), Waiting for Felipe, 7’, 2005
One-shot documentary film about two Italian police officers waiting for the end of their own inconvenience.
Larissa Sansour (PS/DK), SBARA, 8’30’, 2008
Heavily referencing the 1980 cult classic The Shining by Stanley Kubrick, the video piece SBARA explores the castigation of Arabs in contemporary Western dialogue. By adding an audio montage combining historical and current quotes on the Middle East to footage paraphrasing scenes from the original film, SBARA seeks to expose the cyclical nature of Middle Eastern rhetoric and policies and emphasize the psychological terror inflicted upon those at the receiving end of this repetitively stagnant political discourse.
macedonian artist yane calovski ended the night with the super art-humor piece featuring danish artist fos that didn't really leave an impression.
Yane Calovski (MK) & Fos (DK), An Early Lost Play, 2006, 11’42”
Early Lost Play is comprised of series of public actions performed by a character - a young woman, Tanja - dealing with her own indifference in the wake of the current political situation in Denmark. They are recorded on video and produced as 8 short episodes understood as interventions in the media. As the real situation evolves and progresses, the character's existential connection to reality, built upon a certain kind of social idealism, devalues and she loses the constraints as an individual submitted to accepted codes of social behaviour. The work attempts to deconstruct these existential codes and bring up and provoke issues of social morality, escapism, non-compliance and humanity. The actions performed by the character are linked to, and hint of, demystifying social ideology, through individual demonstrations against the conservative and liberal norms and standards.
a great evening (the cairo art scene feels exciting, rootsy and fresh) even though the art that attempted to deal with the place of arabs in a globalized post-911 world lacked depth and didn't seem to bring anything new to the table intellectually or emotionally.
video art more so than most art categories is mostly miss and some some really stand-out hit.
the first time i experienced a bill viola installation i was really blown away and one of my favorite pieces from my personal collection is a dark, haunting, deeply touching piece by laleh khorramian.
i have to admit the new-media / video / art i saw in beijing was super-impressive, the chinese seem to have quickly mastered the form and there are a few galleries / spaces that focus solely on the art and do it well.
nat muller is curator in-residence at townhouse for a year and i'm excited to see what she has in store.
Nat Muller (NL)
Is an independent curator and critic based in Rotterdam. She has held positions as staff curator at V2_, Institute for Unstable Media (Rotterdam) and De Balie, Centre for Culture and Politics (Amsterdam). Her main interests include: the intersections of aesthetics, media and politics; (new) media and art in the Middle East. She has published articles in off- and online media; is a regular contributor for Springerin and Bidoun, and has given presentations on the subject of (new) media art (inter)nationally. Her latest projects include The Trans_European Picnic - The Art and Media of Accession (Novi Sad, 2004), DEAF_04: Affective Turbulence: The Art of Open Systems (Rotterdam, 2004); INFRA_ctures (Rotterdam, 2005), Xeno_Sonic: a series of experimental sound performances from the Middle East (Amsterdam, 2005), DEAF07 (Rotterdam, 2007), the workshop 'Between a Rock and a Hard Place? Negotiating Artistic Practice, Audiences, Representation and Collaboration within Local and International Frameworks' (Amman, 2007). She has curated video screenings for projects and festivals in a.o. Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Berlin, New York, Istanbul, Copenhagen, Grimstad, Lugano, Dubai and Beirut. She recently co-edited the Mag.net Reader2: Between Paper and Pixel with Alessandro Ludovico (2007), and is working on Mag.net Reader3: Processual Publishing, Actual Gestures, based on a series of debates organized at Documenta XII. She is co-initiator of the Upgrade! Amsterdam, and has taught at the Willem de Kooning Academy (NL), ALBA (Beirut), the Lebanese American University (Beirut), and A.U.D. in Dubai (UAE). She serves as an advisor on Euro-Med collaborations for the European Cultural Foundation (ECF). This year she was a jury member for the prestigious Berlin-based media festival Transmediale. She is curator-in-residence at the Townhouse Gallery in Cairo from April 2008 to April 2009.
Serendipity strikes. From my Inbox today:
Roads Were Open / Roads Were Closed is an interdisciplinary exhibition which maps varying approaches and practices around the experience, perception and memory of conflict-related trauma.
As well as presenting works by Fouad Elkoury, Joana Hadjithomas & Khalil Joreige, Tarek Al Ghoussein and Laila Shawa, this exhibition will feature a panel discussion with Joreige, Elkoury and curator Haig Aivazian. A series of corresponding films will be shown over the duration of the exhibition.
Note: Friday 5 September, at 9 pm there will be a panel discussion with participating artists Fouad Elkoury, Khalil Joreige and curator Haig Aivazian. Roads Were Open / Roads Were Closed at The always dependable Third Line 6 September – 2 October.
Roads Were Open / Roads Were Closed Film Series
Films are screened every Saturday for the month of September at The Third Line and CineStar Cinemas, Mall of the Emirates. This film series has been established to run in parallel with the Roads Were Open / Roads Were Closed exhibition.
Saturday 6th - Yawmun Akhar (A Perfect Day) at CineStar Cinemas - Mall of the Emirates / [Dir: Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Noriega, 2006, 88 mins, in Arabic with English subtitles] / Note: You must be above 21 to attend this screening
Saturday 13th - Ahlaam (The Dream) at The Third Line / [Dir: Mohamed Al Daradji, 2006, 110 mins, in Arabic with English subtitles]
Saturday 20th - Ashbaah Beirut (Beyrouth Fantome) at CineStar Cinemas - Mall of the Emirates / [Dir: Ghassan Salhab, 1999, 117 mins, in Arabic with English subtitles]
Saturday 27th - A selection of 3 Short films by Beirut DC at The Third Line / Min Beirut la'illi bihubboona (From Beirut to Those Who Love Us) /[Dir: Beirut DC, 2006, 5 mins, in Arabic with English and French subtitles]
Ka'anana 'Ashroun Mustahil (Like Twenty Impossibles) / [Dir: Anne Marie Jacir, 2000, 17 mins, in Arabic with English subtitles] / Intihar (Suicide) / [Directed by Eliane Rehab, 2003, 26 mins, in Arabic with English subtitles]
Seats are limited and on a strict RSVP only basis to maintain comfort and safety. For entry to the films screened at CineStar, a print out invitation must be shown upon entry.
Film series coordinator Mishaal Al Gergawi will introduce each film and directors/ panelists followed by a Q&A period. All films are free with doors opening at 8pm and films starting at 8:30pm
the only redeeming things about beirut's otherwise old and unwelcoming airport (apart from the fact that it's still standing) are the Goodies deli, Rifai roastery and excellently stocked Virgin (all three artfully stocking the best of Lebanese produce) in the duty free where I picked up a couple of DVDs - West Beirut and A Perfect Day - while in Beirut for a friend's incredible wedding (What a place!). Earlier this year whilst in London with my folks, I took them to watch a Lebanese movie (playing at the Empire on Leicester Sq no less) that had been making some noise in Dubai: Caramel. These are the first three Lebanese films I have watched.
Caramel
Caramel
Labaki admirably wanders through the film's many characters' troubled lives often without resolving their concerns. Beiruti politics make a few discrete interjections but the focus remains on the frustrated characters who are all portrayed with loving sensitivity (the cast of mainly non-actors is impressive throughout, more son than Nadine in fact). There is a genuine feeling of sorority created that the viewer connects with.
Although in essence a chick-flick, it rises above the standard genre-movie (which is dispatched well enough) as a delicately portrayed picture of the minor, universally resonant details of life as women who happen to live in Beirut. An impressive if humble debut by Labaki who is probably one to watch.
West Beyrouth (Beyrouth Al Gharbiyya) (West Beirut) [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.2 Import - Great Britain ]
by Ziad Doueiri (who was cameraman on Quentin Tarantino films) is set in a bubbling pre-civil war mid-1970s Beirut and is centered around Tarek, a teenage high-school student and only son of loving parents (Carmen Lebbos and Joseph Bou Nassar). Tarek is played by the director's younger brother, the character is going through that self-centered, annoying pubescent phase of growing up and unfortunately Rami Doueiri only really captures the annoying part of the role well. As we see the beginnings of the civil war unfold around the characters it becomes increasinly difficult to feel empathy towards the care-free star and his cohort of still innocent friends as they dot around an increasingly divided and dangerous city in attempts to develop super8 footage of a sexy aunt and to find the legendary brothel of umm walid dodging bullets, checkpoints and demonstrations with the careless confidence only possible in early youth. The casting of Tarek is perhaps the movie's only let-down.
It is shot beautifully (Beirut and the parents especially) in saturated, green-hued tones reminiscent of a slightly-toned down yousef nabil photograph.
Indeed the realtionship between the parents is the film's emotional heart and the scenes of them fighting and making up amidst the cofusion of how to react to the chaos around them are the most affecting.
Again a very impressive debut and Doueiri is definitely one to keep an eye on.
A Perfect Day was the movie I had heard least about and quite frankly only picked up because I saw that Soap Kills and Scrambled Eggs had worked on the soundtrack.
And wow, I am so thankful. This film completely blew me away. Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige (Both university professors in Beirut) have instantly become important artists for me.
We tail Malek (Ziad Saad) around Beirut for a couple of days as he navigates his city, deals with and avoids as best he can his over-demanding mother, chases his ex-girlfriend Zeina (Alexandra Kahwagi) who does her best to avoid Malek whilst officially filing legal claims to recognize that his father who has been misisng for 15 years is dead, all the while desperately fighting off a sleep disorder problem which causes him to fall asleep if he's idle for more than a few minutes (even at a dragging red-light in Beiruti traffic).
None of that really matters though. Hadjithomas and Joreige (whose own uncle is one of the 17,000 reported missing during the war in Lebanon) masterfully create a slightly suffocated, latent tone of over-sexed, guilt-infected, hedonistic, nihilistic, vacuous spirit that is youth in Beirut. The inertia is stifling and at once beguiling. Beirut is captured in all its wonder and wants. Ziad Saad Julia Kassar who plays the mother are superb. The soundtrack, the reason I discovered the film, is one with the visuals and mood, which in this exemplary example of non-narrative, emotional film-making is paramount.
A perfect film.
Not unexpectedly (Beirut has been a vital cultural force in the Middle East for a long time), these Lebanese films indicate that Lebanon has much to offer the Middle Eastern film ouvre, I will definitely be spending more time and money at the airport Virgin on my next trip.
All the filmmakers share an evident and pronounced love for their city (and Beirut, so very lovable, is particulalry photogenic, cinematic and receptive in this regard).
The films also share a palpable sense of lament.
in many ways more important than my synchronous imperial college education in mid 90s london town was my nocturnal sonic education tuning into gilles peterson's weekly radio shows on kiss fm where 'joining the dots' was paramount. the joining the dots ethic is central to the joy of discovery never really knowing where, when and how one thing will lead to another.
amartya sen's argumentative indian was one of my summer's favorite reads and i am still slowly making my way through the book's sleevenotes if you will - the book's dots i'm still trying to connect include poets (tagore), historical islamic and buddhist leaders (akbar and ashoka respectively) and film makers (satyajit ray).
i think i was still reading sen's book one sunny afternoon at the bfi this summer where i had arrived early to meet some friends for some south bank food and vino. after checking out susan pui san lok's faster higher (which was great and timely as i was soon to leave for beijing) i wandered into the excellent bfi store (a sunny summer afternoon at london's south bank really makes you want to move to the great city!) and randomly picked out one of the satyajit ray films on sale to buy.
satyajit ray's pratidwandi (1972) 'the adversary' is a dark claustrophobic neorealist and at times surrealist piece of psychological film making. young intelligent and once idealist siddhartha spends the whole movie seeking work (he had to drop out of medical school when his father passed a few years ealrier) whilst dealing with his cute younger sister flaunting her sexuality to effortlessly land a job and a promotion. in one of the many signs of a massive generational chasm of traditions, she could care less when her boss' wife visits her mum complaining of morally dubious behavior that threatens to sully the family's good name.
set in a bubbling revolutionary calcutta to soumendu roy and purnendu bose's dark almost monochromatic cinematography, society's transformation is met with confusion and india's hopelessly desolute economy weighs down on the frustrated ("i don't understand the youth today, it's like they were born frustrated" says the condescending father of the girl siddhartha falls for late in the film) young and bewildered and confused elders alike. poverty, destitution and desperation are the context in which siddhartha is slowly about to be snapped into place: 'a cog in the bureaucratic machinery'.
siddhartha struggles to deal with what it means to be a young man in this new world, challenged by 'smart, hard-working' and sexily empowered women (and confused by the unshackling of his sister's sexuality), by the draw of a culture that pays for sex and robs red cross charitied change and abuses positions of power to take advantage of said emancipated women, by humiliating interviews for jobs he's too smart for, by a world offering almost nothing but slammed doors and corrupted dreams.
the camera focuses in on a copy of bertrand russel's the history of western philosophy (weird moment as my copy was in my hands at the time) in of the film's later scenes as siddhartha grabs his certificates on his way out to his final interview where he erupts from 'thinker' into 'doer', charging into the interviewers' room enraged at how the interviewees have been kept waiting in the heat for hours with no seats - 'treated like animals'. he doesn't get the job.
finally siddhartha ends up taking a sales job in a small village, resigned to leaving his beloved calcutta but heartened by his recent aquaintance of a girl he connects before he leaves.
satyajit ray has a whole chapter dedicated to him in amartya sen's enriching collection of essays 'the argumentative indian' on which i plan to write more soon.
like still life which i also watched a few days ago the film at times suddenly veers off to the surreal inner worlds of its hero (rather than those of the filmmaker jia zhang-ke in still life), hallucinatory digressions into childhood memories and fantasies of rage.
a taut film on the darkness of youth and a dark commentary on society's economics of desperation.
one of the best indian movies i've seen. looking forward to making my way through the ray filmography.
