Visual arts: exhibitions and conversations
septembersept 21 – 28
Saturday september 21
15h30
Monday september 23
13h
Tuesday september 24
13h
Wednesday september 25
13h
Thursday september 26
13h
Friday september 27
13h
Saturday september 28
13h
Artists Jumana Manna and Sille Storihle, Manthia Diawara, Michael Rakowitz & Robert Chase Heishmans will be in La Commune from 20 to 28 September to present five works and invite you to take part in two conversations.
The works of Nil Yalter will be on display in the public space of Aubervilliers.
The Goodness Regime, Jumana Manna et Sille Storihle (21 minutes – 2023)
The Goodness Regime is an experimental documentary that explores the myths and images that have helped to understand Norway as a nation of peace and goodness. The linking element is a series of children's dramatisations recounting the myths, historical events and cultural figures that have propelled Norway's image as a peaceful nation. These dramatisations are interwoven with archive footage, political speeches and voice-overs from Hollywood films depicting Norway par excellence. In a satirical deconstruction of the regime of goodness that pervades Norwegian society, Manna and Storihle explore the moral dilemmas embedded in the history of one of the richest nations on the planet.
Edouard Glissant: One World in Relation, Manthia Diawara (50 minutes – 2010)
In 2009, Manthia Diawara followed Édouard Glissant across the Atlantic with her camera. This poetic meditation continued in Martinique, Édouard Glissant's native land. These journeys gave rise to an intellectual biography in which Glissant develops his theory of Relation and the concept of the ‘Whole World’.
Angela Davis: A World of Greater Freedom, Manthia Diawara (77 minutes – 2023)
Angela Davis: A World of Greater Freedom examines the life and work of the North American activist Angela Davis. It is not a biography. Manthia Diawara's camera follows Angela Davis as she wanders through a forest of giant redwoods, works in her garden or walks her dog, all the while reflecting on a myriad of fundamental issues such as freedom, resistance, rebellion, remaking our world, radical black thought, music, (inter)nationalism, (Southern) feminism...
Negritude: A Dialogue Between Wole Soyinka and Senghor, Manthia Diawara (59 minutes – 2015)
Using archive footage, Manthia Diawara organises an imaginary dialogue between Léopold Senghor, one of the founders of the concept of Négritude, and Wole Soyinka, the Nobel Prize-winning Nigerian writer. Soyinka says that his film ‘questions the relevance of the concept of Négritude, against its many detractors, not only to the decolonisation and independence movements of the 1950s and 1960s, but also to understanding the contemporary artistic and political scenes of nationalism, religious intolerance, multiculturalism, the exodus of Africans and other populations of the South, and the xenophobic migration policies of the West’.
Conversation with Manthia Diawara, Saturday 28 at 2pm at Restaurant de La Commune (free admission).
I’m good at love, I’m good at hate, it’s in between I freeze, Michael Rakowitz & Robert Chase Heishman
I'm good at love, I'm good at hate, it's in between I freeze (2023) takes the form of a video filmed at the Alhambra Palace Hotel in Ramallah, Palestine. The project retraces the historical context and consequences of a concert that never took place. In 2009, Leonard Cohen was due to perform in Israel. Due to increasing pressure from pro-Palestinian voices to dissuade Cohen from performing in Israel, a parallel event was organised in Palestine. Amid protests and claims that this latest concert was merely a symbolic show of solidarity and a hollow attempt to appease the demonstrators, the concert was boycotted and eventually cancelled. This story illustrates Cohen's personal struggle with art and politics, the cultural histories of Palestine and Israel, and the ethical dilemmas facing artists under the conditions of a boycott.
Conversation with Michael Rakowitz, Friday 20 September at 5.30pm at the Restaurant de La Commune (free admission). The conversation will be in English, without translation.
Exile Is A Hard Job, Nil Yalter
Exile Is A Hard Job is an installation of a series of ephemeral immigrant posters painted with the slogan ‘C'est un dur métier que l'exil’ (‘Exile is a hard job’), an ongoing project that Nil Yalter began in 1975. Exile is a Hard Job contemplates the often difficult experience of being an ignored and ostracised immigrant in a foreign land. The title of the work is taken from a poem by Nâzım Hikmet, an important Turkish poet who spent many years in exile in Russia.