Tarek Al-Ghoussein
K Files
January 29–March 7, 2014
The Third Line
Al Quoz 3
Dubai
UAE
T +9714 3411 367
www.thethirdline.com
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The Third Line is pleased to exhibit Tarek Al-Ghoussein’s K Files, displayed as part of a two-person show at the first ever Kuwait Pavilion at the 55th Venice Biennale 2013, and showing for the first time outside the biennale. For the Project Space, Tarek puts together an installation of found objects, personal artifacts and newspaper clippings that consider the story of his family life via public forums such as eBay.
Keeping in line with his study of identity crises in the face of ideological politics, Tarek produced a special body of work for the Kuwait Pavilion titled National Works. This was in continuation of the larger archival sequence K Files, which documents found material from family albums, antique shops, the Internet and other sources in an ongoing process. The performative photographs feature interactions between the artist and sites of grandness and importance in an attempt to track significant places in Kuwait’s development.
Presenting new work in the Project Space, Tarek assembles an installation of personal paraphernalia that tells the story of his family life, pursuing a personalised investigative turn into his K Files documentation. His father’s role as the Kuwaiti dignitary to the United Nations, and later as an ambassador to the United States, led towards the discovery that many moments of his family’s life are now public property. While he refrains from direct political commentary, Tarek does take into account how the mergence of the public and the private have been imperative in shaping his own life, largely contributing towards the artist’s engagement with his identity.
About Tarek Al-Ghoussein
Tarek Al-Ghoussein was born in Kuwait in 1962. He received his BFA (Photography) from New York University in 1985 and his MA (Photography) from the University of New Mexico in 1989. As a Kuwaiti of Palestinian origin, much of Tarek’s work deals with how his identity is shaped in a context of inaccessibility and loss. His work explores the boundaries between landscape photography, self-portraiture and performance art.
Tarek is currently a Professor of Photography at the NYU Abu Dhabi. His work has appeared in international solo and group exhibitions in the USA, UK, Spain, Germany, France, Poland, Denmark, the Netherlands and extensively throughout the Middle East. He recently represented Kuwait in the country’s first official representation at the Venice Biennale (2013) and was also part of Photoquai, Photography Biennale, Paris (2013). Tarek’s works are part of permanent collections at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, Victoria and Albert Museum in London, Royal Museum of Photography in Copenhagen, Mori Art Museum in Tokyo, Darat Al-Fanun in Amman, and the Sharjah Art Foundation Collection in Sharjah.
Tarek lives and works in Abu Dhabi, UAE.
About The Third Line
The Third Line is a Dubai based art gallery that represents contemporary Middle Eastern artists locally, regionally and internationally. The Third Line also hosts non-profit, alternative programs to increase interest and dialogue in the region.
The Third Line also publishes books by associated artists from the region. Books published to date include Presence by photographer Lamya Gargash (2008), In Absentia by Tarek Al-Ghoussein (2009), Cosmic Geometry, an extensive monograph on Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian, edited by Hans Ulrich Obrist and Karen Marta (2011), and most recently the self-titled treatise Huda Lutfi about the artist’s Cairo-based practice.
Represented artists include Abbas Akhavan, Ala Ebtekar, Amir H. Fallah, Arwa Abouon, Babak Golkar, Ebtisam Abdulaziz, Farhad Moshiri, Fouad Elkoury, Golnaz Fathi, Hassan Hajjaj, Hayv Kahraman, Huda Lutfi, Joana Hadjithomas & Khalil Joreige, Laleh Khorramian, Lamya Gargash, Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian, Pouran Jinchi, Rana Begum, Sahand Hesamiyan, Sara Naim, Sherin Guirguis, Shirin Aliabadi, Slavs and Tatars, Sophia Al-Maria, Tarek Al-Ghoussein, Youssef Nabil and Zineb Sedira.
Media contact
Saira Ansari, PR & Media Manager
saira [at] thethirdline.com / T +9714 3411 367
