Video Project: Aspirations / Photo by Osama Dawod
Aspirations: The Fable, the Dream, and the One Thousandth and One Night. Curated by Aida Eltorie, under the auspices of Contemporary Practices Journal and Albareh Gallery (Bahrain). Dubai Art Fair, March 2009
States of social authority and aspirations to the fable are moments reserved to our imagination. Searching for the superhero, the villain and the last night of 1001 tales, come projects from regional and international perspectives on the fictionalization of facts and their encounters with reality.
Basim Magdy realizes the eventual fate of Superman in a world where accidents can happen. Larissa Sansour becomes the first Palestinian to step foot on the moon, another departure into exile, she seeks to claim a ‘no man’s land.’ Khaled Hafez recalls his childhood heroes, but then discovers faults with the rise and fall of authority figures, and disregards an unchanging regime. Aissa Deebi fixatedly watches a woman devour a chocolate soldier. Yin-Ju Chen voids the banality of her daily endeavors with a collage of herself in two unwavering contexts. Susan Hefuna explores the differences of cultural disposition with the pronunciations of “I, Me, Myself” in Arabic and German. Daniela Swarowsky and Samuli Schielke explore desires for Egyptian migration from a utopic viewpoint, the frustrations of detainment and disappointments of arriving. Oraib Toukan finds herself on google earth as she travels through borders of the Middle East and narrates her happenings. Naiza Khan restores the boundaries of a small forgotten yet ‘found’ fishing community on Manora Island. Maryam Jafri revisits a “film noir” episode in Staged Archive. Waheeda Malullah animates a conservative dress by “rainbowing” a color-less photograph. Ahmed Mater Aseeri x-rays a blatant suicide. Assia Lakhlif exemplifies a dreamer’s longing for the drafted soldier and Madeline Djerejian reminisces an expats’ departure from a ‘75 conflict zone.
These are a few of the works proposed to function with and without time or space. Fully dependent on the human state of mind and its apprehension to truth, the dream and the identities associated with the artists’ fantasies are what bring us to this series of short video screenings.