‘The ruined land: the land in ruins’, a programme of films curated by film curator Alice Butler in parallel to the Brian Maguire exhibition ‘La Grande Illusion’.
Join us for a screening of RENÉE’S ROOM (14 minutes) and CAPITAL (17 minutes) by Basma al-Sharif.
With an introduction and post-screening Q+A with Film Curator Alice Butler.
Information on the numbers:
RENÉE’S ROOM
16mm & SD video HD, 14’50”, 2015
A study for the feature film “Ouroboros”, a space of perpetual present is suggested through weaving real and imaginary landscapes together. A succession of vignettes create an experience of the real versus the immaterial, the ruined landscape versus the landscape in ruins, death as rebirth, the end as the beginning.
CAPITAL
HD Video, sound, 17’05”, 2023
A Ventriloquist walks into a bar and orders a stiff drink.
The Bartender asks: will that be all?
The Dummy answers: Does it look like I can speak with this hand up my ass?
As Egypt syncs further into poverty and is overwhelmed by debt, new cities are being erected across the country and prisons fill with dissenting opinions. But who are these cities for and what desire or ambivalence do they inspire — and at what cost. Since it is currently not possible to safely speak about this: a ventriloquist, songs, and advertisements describe a seemingly bygone era of fascism.
Referencing Telefoni Bianchi films, a precursor to propaganda cinema under Mussolini, the legacy of building new capitals provides the material to express opinions and hope, through satire.
Biography:
Palestinian artist/filmmaker Basma al-Sharif explores cyclical political histories and conflicts. In films and installations that move backward and forward in history, between place and non-place, she confronts the legacy of colonialism through satirical, immersive, and lyrical works.
She received an MFA from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2007, was a resident of the Fondazione Antonio Ratti in 2009, the Pavillon Neuflize OBC at the Palais de Tokyo in 2014-15. She received a Jury prize at the Sharjah Biennial in 2009, was awarded a Visual Arts of the Fundación Botín in 2010, Mophradat’s Consortium Commissions in 2018, she was a fellow of the Berlin Artistic Research Grant Programme for 2022-2023 and was nominated for the Prix Aware for 2024.
Al-Sharif’s Major exhibitions include: De Appel, the Ruttenberg Contemporary Photography Series for the Museum of the Art Institute of Chicago, Modern Mondays at MOMA, CCA Glasgow, SALT Galata, the Whitney Biennial, Here and Elsewhere at the New Museum, Berlin Documentary Forum, and Manifesta 8. Her films have screened in the international film festivals of Locarno, Berlin, Mar del Plata, Milan, London, Toronto, New York, Montreal, and Yamagata amongst others. Basma is based in Berlin and represented by Galerie Imane Farés in Paris.
This screening is in association with La Grande Illusion, the solo exhibition of work by artist Brian Maguire (3 October 2024 – 23 March 2025)
Free, book on Eventbrite or come on the day subject to availability.
