Prinz Gholam: Dial F for Father

Prinz Gholam: Dial F for Father is a major solo show by the Berlin-based German-Lebanese artist duo. In their performances, Prinz Gholam work with images that are part of our cultural memory, developing stances, postures, and gestures from historical sources. Using the movement of their bodies, they fuse contemporary experience with history.

Dial F for Father deals with the often-difficult relationship with (historical) father figures. The setting is Innsbruck’s Hofkirche or Court Church, built in the 16th century by Emperor Ferdinand I to house the monumental tomb of his grandfather Emperor Maximilian I, the founder of the Habsburg dynasty. The tomb is surrounded by 28 larger-than-life bronze figures that represent members of the imperial family and other royal houses. Against this backdrop, and in the midst of tourists viewing the monument, Prinz Gholam place their actions, which they have meticulously developed by referring to a variety of historical materials: Shakespeare’s Hamlet, illustrations for the play by Eugène Delacroix, and several film adaptations of the tragedy. From this multitude of historical gestures, Prinz Gholam develop a complex sequence of movements that combines these experiences.

This performance, which Prinz Gholam present as a video installation, is complemented by a large-format preparatory drawing, several lithographs and drawings from the ‘Hamlet’ cycle by Eugène Delacroix, and historic film footage.

Prinz Gholam—Wolfgang Prinz (born in Leutkirch, 1969) and Michel Gholam (born in Beirut, 1963)—have been working together since 2001 in the media of drawing, performance, and video. In 2020/21, they are scholarship holders of the German Academy Villa Massimo Rome.

Performances and exhibitions (selection): Hofkirche, Innsbruck (2019), Pola Museum of Art, Hakone (2019), Punta della Dogana, Venice (2018), Kupferstichkabinett Dresden (2018), Galerie Jocelyn Wolff, Paris (2018), documenta 14, Athens and Kassel (2017), National Gallery, Prague (2016), Museion, Bozen (2014/15), Schweizerische Plastikausstellung, Biel/Bienne (2014), NGBK Berlin (2012), Momentum Biennale, Moss (2011), Centre Pompidou Metz (2010) and the evolving and itinerant exhibition project La Monnaie Vivante (2006-2010).