I Want to See / Struggle in Jerash

I Want to See / Struggle in Jerash
15 April – 30 May 2010

Opening: 15 April 2010, 6.30 – 9pm

155 Vauxhall Street
London SE11 5RH
info [​at​] gasworks.org.uk

www.gasworks.org.uk

Gasworks presents an exhibition linking two films: I Want to See (2008) by Lebanese artists Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige, and Struggle in Jerash (2009) by London-based artists Eileen Simpson and Ben White.

Respectively set in Lebanon and Jordan, the films emphasise cinema’s potential to create new ways of negotiating reality in the context of the Middle East. Both films mix fiction and documentary, foregrounding the subjective glance and voice.

In I Want to See (2008), Catherine Deneuve, playing herself, asks actor Rabih Mroué, also playing himself, to show her the aftermath of the 2006 Lebanon war. As they drive towards the border and share the anxiety of the surrounding danger, a half-spoken complicity develops between them. Deneuve both denies and takes advantage of her status as a cinema icon to lend a fresh glance as well as to gain physical access to a landscape exploited and saturated by the media.

For Struggle in Jerash (2009), Eileen Simpson and Ben White retrieved the last surviving copy of the first feature film produced in Jordan; now out of copyright. The film – a tale of thievery and romance set against the backdrop of historical Jordan and Jerusalem – was then screened to local cultural practitioners, whose translation and live commentary connects contemporary and historic Jordan, resulting in unexpected and engaging discussions on liberty and theocracy.

The films are shown twice a day and are accompanied by contextual material and two publications available for sale.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

Wednesday 21 April, 7-8.30pm
TALK: Eileen Simpson and Ben White, followed by Q&A with Anna Colin, Gasworks’ exhibitions curator.

Eileen Simpson and Ben White will start by presenting a selection of projects related to Open Music Archive – an initiative to source and distribute out-of-copyright sound recordings and a platform for collaborations exploring the archive material and its potential. Focusing on Struggle in Jerash, the work on show at Gasworks, the following discussion will address the politics of reanimating archive material and how their artistic methods were adapted to the Jordanian context.

Saturday 29 May, 3-6pm
An afternoon with Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige, including a lecture performance, a conversation with art historian and critic T.J. Demos and a screening.

3pm LECTURE PERFORMANCE: Aida, Save Me
4pm CONVERSATION lead by T.J. Demos
5pm SCREENING: The Lost Film (2003, 42 min)

ALSO ON AT GASWORKS:

Current residencies:

David Bestué (Spain)
Mateo López (Colombia)
Güneş Terkol (Turkey)

Forthcoming Exhibition:

Mateo López
5 June – 25 July 2010

For press information of images, please contact Kristel Raesaar: press@gasworks.org.uk.