Nashashibi/Skaer: Future Sun

Artists Rosalind Nashashibi and Lucy Skaer, a painter and sculptor respectively, are also known as film-makers. They have been reflecting upon and reacting to one another’s practices for the last fifteen years, which has often led to collaborative works as the artistic partnership Nashashibi/Skaer. This dialogue is one of the foundations of their friendship. Future Sun, their new exhibition for S.M.A.K., brings their joint and individual oeuvres together for the first time.

In Future Sun, Skaer and Nashashibi pass themes back and forth, such as myths, the representation of animals, time travel and non-linear time. One of their sources of inspiration is The Shobies’ Story (1990), a novella by Ursula Le Guin, in which a group of test pilots of various ages and from different planets embark on a space voyage that allows them to experience non-linear time. Rosalind Nashashibi takes this as a discussion point and weaves it through her recent films: Part One. Where there is a joyous mood, there a comrade will appear to share a glass of wine (2018) and Part Two. The moon nearly at the full. The team horse goes astray (2019). Lucy Skaer chose a selection of motifs, revolving around time and transition, and refolded them in highly material, process-based sculptures.

Films by Nashashibi/Skaer explore themes that personally touch the artists, such as identity, the portrayal of women, beauty and its pitfalls, colonisation and political conflicts. In Future Sun, they present Flash (2006), a nocturnal journey through the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Why Are You Angry? (2017), a critical interpretation of looking and being watched, conquering and caring, prompted by the oeuvre of Paul Gauguin. They also debut their new film Lamb (2019), an evocation of the myth of life and giving birth.

Rosalind Nashashibi (b. 1973, Croydon, UK) lives and works in London, where she is also a Senior Lecturer at Goldsmiths University. She won the Beck’s Futures prize in 2003, represented Scotland at the Venice Biennale in 2007 and was nominated for the Turner Prize in 2017. That same year, she also participated in documenta 14 in Athens and Kassel. She has recently exhibited at the CAAC, Seville (2019), Secession, Vienna (2018) and Witte de With, Rotterdam (2018).

Lucy Skaer (b. 1975, Cambridge, UK) lives and works in Glasgow. She represented Scotland at the Venice Biennale in 2007 and was nominated for the Turner Prize in 2009. In 2017, she participated as Nashashibi/Skaer in documenta 14 and was selected for the Carnegie International in Pittsburgh (US) in 2018. Recent solo exhibitions include the KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin (2017), Witte de With, Rotterdam (2016) and the Musées Gallo-Romains, Lyon (2015).

Nashashibi/Skaer is the joint practice of Rosalind Nashashibi and Lucy Skaer. They have exhibited at Tate, St. Ives (2018), Musée Matisse, Le Cateau Cambrésis (2013), Musée du Château des ducs de Wurtemberg, Montbéliard (2012) and Centro de Arte Dos de Mayo, Madrid (2012). Their films have been screened at documenta 14, Athens and Kassel (2017), KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin (2017), Tate Modern, London (2017) and Tate, St. Ives (2016).