Rabih Mroué
Pixelated Revolution
© Pascheit Spanned ©
Pixelated Revolution :
A non-academic conference by Rabih Mroué
English translation, Ziad Nawfal
A Berlin Documentary Forum – HKW, Berlin coproduction ; dOCUMENTA 13 (Kassel) ; The 2010 Spalding Gray Award // Thanks to Lina Saneh, Tony Chakar, Jalal Toufic, Sarmad Louis, Hito Steyerl, Elia Suleiman, Khalil Joreige and Joana Hadjithomas, Walid Raad, Christine Tohme, Raseel Hadjian, Jowe Harfouche and also to Documentary Forum (BDF) – HKW, Berlin, Ashkal Alwan, Beirut Art Center // First performed on 31st May
With the support of Adami and Onda - Office national de diffusion artistique
2012 at HKW Berlin as part of the Berlin Documentary Forum
At a time when images and videos bearing witness to war and horrors of all kinds saturate the media, Rabih Mroué brings into question our visual culture. When an image becomes a symbol and icon, is an emotional response the only one possible? Shifting between the visual arts, theatre and history, the Beirut-born artist takes a much-needed step back from the structures underlying our forms of representation, a distance which leaves room for reflection.
In Pixelated Revolution, a “non-academic” conference first performed in 2012, Rabih Mroué brought together videos dating back to the onset of the Syrian revolution and commented on them. The images we see are those of the régime’s security forces, their gazes crossing the lenses of mobile telephones held up by demonstrators. The latter then fall to the ground, off-screen, under the blows of their assailants. Rabih Mroué heads off on a quest into the meaning of these first-person images which, despite their fragmentary nature, are a key element in contemporary reporting and coverage.For his new work, So Little Time, Rabih Mroué returns to his native land in order to look into the unique story of Lebanon’s first martyr, during the 1960’s. When the body of a young student who has gone off to join the Palestine Liberation Movement is brought back to the country, a national homage is organized and a monument inaugurated. During the course of an exchange of prisoners, however, it turns out that the sanctified individual is alive and well. What do we do with a flesh and blood martyr? Via this individual’s story, Rabih Mroué sounds out, in words and images, the modern-day history of Lebanon itself, haunted by the dead and its own contradictions.
See also
Rabih Mroué Make Me Stop Smoking
Rabih Mroué's objective with his “non-academic conferences” is to subvert, via the perspective of performance, the principle of the conference. He does so by imitating the mechanisms at work within the conference format. He does not set out to make fun of the principle of the conference itself, but rather to exploit the power of the exercise as a form of public address. This is achieved by operating a shift of a voluntarily ambiguous nature, passing from presentation to representation and from reality to the imagination. The illusion it sets up is a disturbing one: the tone is neutral, the expertise seems well proven, and the documents supporting the speech suggest authenticity. This, of course, is precisely the aim of the whole mischievous, moving and intellectually stimulating operation.
Rabih Mroué The Inhabitants of Images
Rabih Mroué's objective with his “non-academic conferences” is to subvert, via the perspective of performance, the principle of the conference. He does so by imitating the mechanisms at work within the conference format. He does not set out to make fun of the principle of the conference itself, but rather to exploit the power of the exercise as a form of public address. This is achieved by operating a shift of a voluntarily ambiguous nature, passing from presentation to representation and from reality to the imagination. The illusion it sets up is a disturbing one: the tone is neutral, the expertise seems well proven, and the documents supporting the speech suggest authenticity. This, of course, is precisely the aim of the whole mischievous, moving and intellectually stimulating operation.
Rabih Mroué Sand in the Eyes
Rabih Mroué's objective with his “non-academic conferences” is to subvert, via the perspective of performance, the principle of the conference. He does so by imitating the mechanisms at work within the conference format. He does not set out to make fun of the principle of the conference itself, but rather to exploit the power of the exercise as a form of public address. This is achieved by operating a shift of a voluntarily ambiguous nature, passing from presentation to representation and from reality to the imagination. The illusion it sets up is a disturbing one: the tone is neutral, the expertise seems well proven, and the documents supporting the speech suggest authenticity. This, of course, is precisely the aim of the whole mischievous, moving and intellectually stimulating operation.
Rabih Mroué Who’s Afraid of Representation?
We find ourselves in the company of major figures of European Body Art (Joseph Beuys, Orlan, Marina Abramović, to name a few) via their accounts of exhibitions and public scarifications dating back to the 1970s. In parallel with this runs the true story of a killing spree carried out by a Lebanese office at his workplace, and the fluctuating motivations for his acts.
Lina Majdalanie, Rabih Mroué, Mazen Kerbaj Borborygmus
Set to a complex score of sound and light, a trio sets about uttering phrases of a visceral nature, creating an outlandish, chorus-like effect. Each sequence emerges, bouncing off an impromptu connection, thereby developing a new theme - ranging from distraught observations, memories, tributes, apocalyptic visions, and intimate observations, to unspeakable experiences.
Lina Majdalanie, Rabih Mroué Photo-Romance
How do we go about presenting the adaptation of a famous film to the Lebanese authorities in charge of censorship? We come to realize that it is about a film which recounts the improbable encounter between two very dissimilar individuals both of whom are experiencing social alienation in fascist Italy in 1938. The adaptation is set in Beirut in 2007, shortly after an Israeli attack on Lebanon.
Lina Majdalanie, Rabih Mroué Biokhraphia
These two one-person shows, Biokhraphia et Riding on a cloud, are an investigation into the self-portrait. In Riding on a Cloud, a man called Yasser speaks into a dictaphone, projects videos and broadcasts recordings, whilst expressing reservations about the extent to which these documents coincide with his true self. In Biokhraphia, it is Lina Majdalanie who becomes the subject of a very unusual interview.
Lina Majdalanie, Rabih Mroué Riding on a cloud
These two one-person shows, Biokhraphia and Riding on a cloud, are an investigation into the self-portrait. In Riding on a Cloud, a man called Yasser speaks into a dictaphone, projects videos and broadcasts recordings, whilst expressing reservations about the extent to which these documents coincide with his true self. In Biokhraphia, it is Lina Majdalanie who becomes the subject of a very unusual interview.
Rabih Mroué Before Falling Seek the Assistance of Your Cane
The Lina Majdalanie and Rabih Mroué duo presents two “non-academic conferences” and a concert-performance in collaboration with Rima Khcheich. Rabih Mroué makes frequent use of the former concept in order to create presentations which adopt the various mechanisms of the conference format whilst opening them up to the various possibilities of performance. In doing so, the duo plays upon the ambiguity which is inherent in this form of subversion. Added to this, for the first time, is an artistic proposition featuring poems set to music.
Lina Majdalanie, Rabih Mroué 33 tours et quelques secondes
Who is Diyaa Yamout, the Lebanese human rights activist, artist and blogger whose suicide shook the nation? We will never really know and this is not what matters. Indeed, what is far more fascinating here is the profusion of assorted reactions on Facebook, the television, and in the form of SMS and answering machine messages
Lina Majdalanie, Rabih Mroué, Rima Khcheich N'importe où
The Lina Majdalanie and Rabih Mroué duo presents two “non-academic conferences” and a concert-performance in collaboration with Rima Khcheich. Rabih Mroué makes frequent use of the former concept in order to create presentations which adopt the various mechanisms of the conference format whilst opening them up to the various possibilities of performance. In doing so, the duo plays upon the ambiguity which is inherent in this form of subversion. Added to this, for the first time, is an artistic proposition featuring poems set to music.
Lina Majdalanie, Rabih Mroué Quatre murs et un toit
In 1947, the trial of German playwright Bertolt Brecht took place in the United States in front of the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), responsible for combating communist activism. It was here that Brecht wrote a declaration which he was forbidden to read out. The minutes of the trial, as well as this declaration, constitute one of the axes of this exuberant show.
Rabih Mroué, Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker A little bit of the moon
As part of a special invitation by the Festival d'Automne, choreographer Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker and director Rabih Mroué shared, over the course of ten months, their thoughts, concerns, doubts, and questions regarding politics, art and life. After numerous exchanges by videoconference, the two artists now come together on the site of the former industrial complex, the new home of the Fiminco Foundation. Together, for the duration of a performance, they will be drawing up the plans for a new world for all.