The Shade
Curated by Jean-Marc Prévost
Lawrence Abu Hamdan, Etel Adnan, Mounira al Solh, Dana Awartani, Yto Barrada, Taysir Batniji, Dineo Seshee Bopape, Alia Farid, Samia Halaby, Tarik Kiswanson, MARWAN, Rabih Mroué, Walid Raad, Khalil Rabah, Aref el Rayess, Marwan Rechmaoui, Wael Shawky, Rayyane Tabet, Sung Tieu, and Akram Zaatari
Walid Raad, Festival of Gratitude, 2020–25, HD video, loop, color, silent, 12 seconds, 3 + 1 AP
A series of computer-generated birthday cakes and slices designed by Walid Raad for loved and/or detested 20th and 21st century global dictators, strong(wo)men, kings and queens, princes and princesses, emirs, sheikhs and sheikhas, sultans, popes, shahs, emperors and empresses, ayatollahs, presidents, prime-ministers, bosses, CEOs, and GOATs.
Rayyane Tabet, AMNES(T)IA, 2025, LED neon, 25 × 165 cm, 7 + 2 AP
The Lebanese Civil War ended with a treaty that put into effect a general amnesty law which absolved all crimes committed before March 28, 1991.
Known as Law 84/91, this general amnesty turned out to be a ratification of the law that followed the civil unrest of 1958, which was a ratification of the amnesty that followed the civil conflict of 1860, which was a ratification of the amnesty that followed the communal tensions of 1845, which, in turn, was a ratification of the amnesty that followed the 1839 strife in Mount Lebanon.
Each one of these laws was enacted in an attempt to prevent future civil strife, but in essence, not only prescribed the wars to come but also contributed to centuries of impunity and prevented public recognition, restitution and reconciliation of the successive injuries enacted on people, places, and objects.
AMNES(T)IA is a neon by Rayyane Tabet that endlessly flickers between the words for Amnesty and Amnesia in Greek, a commentary on the endless cycle Lebanon and the world has been caught in for the last 200 years. Alongside the work is a pamphlet that reproduces the full text of the General Amnesty Law of 1991; a foundational text of contemporary Lebanon that is rarely published or discussed.
