This programme will initiate a platform for futuristic art projects exploring dream territories and landscapes. The selected works are seen as a future beyond Arab uprisings and their de/illusions, beyond militarized territories and borders, beyond recent geopolitical narratives within ongoing civil protests.
Born in East Jerusalem, Larissa Sansour studied Fine Art in Copenhagen, London and New York. She represents Denmark during the 58th Venice Biennale. Recent solo exhibitions include Dar El-Nimer in Beirut, Bluecoat in Liverpool, Chapter in Cardiff, New Art Exchange in Nottingham and Nikolaj Kunsthal in Copenhagen. She lives and works in London.
Sansour is represented by Lawrie Shabibi in Dubai and Montoro 12 Contemporary Art in Rome and Brussels.
3 movies by Larissa Sansour.
Intro by Nedjma Hadj Benchelabi.
Followed by a Q & A by Larissa Sansour and Nat Muller.
In Vitro (2019, 28 ‘, with Soren Lind) – free access only on the 18th December
In an underground compound built in the aftermath of an eco-disaster, two scientists discuss the effects of memory, trauma, exile and nostalgia while preparing to replant the soil above.
Nation Estate (2012, 9’) – free access from 18 – 23 December
The Nation Estate project consists of a 9-minute sci-fi short film and a photo series offering a clinically dystopian, yet humorous approach to the deadlock in the Middle East. With its glossy mixture of computer-generated imagery, live actors and an arabesque electronica soundtrack, the Nation Estate film explores a ‘vertical solution’ – a skyscraper – to Palestinian statehood.
A Space Exodus (2009, 5’ 24’’) -free access from 18 – 23 December
A Space Exodus quirkily sets up an adapted stretch of Stanley Kubrick’s A Space Odyssey in a Middle Eastern political context. The recognisable music scores of the 1968 science fiction film are changed to arabesque chords matching the surreal visuals of Sansour’s film.
Nat Muller is an independent curator and critic based in Amsterdam. Her main interests include: the intersections of aesthetics, media and politics; media art and contemporary art in and from the Middle East. She is a regular contributor to Springerin, MetropolisM.
Nedjma Hadj Benchelabi, Curator & dramaturge, programme coordinator of Mahmoud Darwish Chair (Brussels)
Programme initiated by Mahmoud Darwish Chair .
Produced by Bozar Cinéma & Mahmoud Darwish Chair.