Since early 2011, shaky images of human bodies - protesting, fleeing, hurt, wounded, dying - have claimed their presence on online spaces. As documents of the struggles of citizens in the Arab world and most notably in Syria, these disturbing images serve as a powerful reminder of our bodily vulnerability, a fact that seemed to have been somewhat lost in the context of online social existence and the promising substitution of the physical body by avatars. Now, the human body once again stands at the centre of political events, not only in the Arab world, but also in Southern Europe and in the Occupy movement. Once again, it is the physical presence of masses of people on streets and squares that lead to change.
At the same time, the demands for mobility, flexibility and effectiveness as they abound in the contemporary capitalist economy almost seem to necessitate a loss of individual subjectivity and give rise to increasing feelings of alienation. Struggling to catch up with these demands, we often find ourselves left in a limbo of time and space, of being absent in a presence or present in an absence.
The five artists of the exhibition “Alien Body” show different approaches to this theme. Their works question the relation between subjectivity and place, the meaning of familiar images and sounds, of memory and forgetting.
Participating artists:
Dani Abo Louh: His Name was Hamzeh Bakkour (2012)
Bashar Hroub: Here and Now (2010)
Christophe Katrib: Messages From an Alien (2012)
Salah Saouli: Icons (1994)
Khalil Younes: Syria (2011)
Video screening program:
Randa Mdah: Light Horizon (2012)
Hala Abu Shady: Shrouding Grafts (2011)
Bashar Hroub: No Time No Place (2009)
Madonna Adib: Demain l'adieu (2012)
Hicham Qaidi: Song of Pain (2011)
Hazem Berrabah: Maj'noun (2012)
