Press
"My project for the Preis der Nationalgalerie builds on my exhibition ›Multiboy‹ at GfZK in Leipzig. That exhibition was based on a flight list that showed which Vietnamese contract workers went to which factories in East Germany. I then collected the original products—from tampons and condoms to shoe polish and detergent—that were produced by these workers. My aim was to lay open the various forms of invisible labour that went into these goods."
Read here [German]
«"The exhibition says much more about the GDR than about the Vietnamese contract workers," says Tieu, whose father was one of them. When the Wall fell in 1989, there were about 60,000 Vietnamese contract workers in the GDR. For them, the collapse of the East German economy meant not only the loss of training and jobs, but often also the loss of their housing in the company-owned dormitories where they were usually isolated from the rest of the population.» [Translation]
Read here [German]
„The sun is a perfect form of the round, because we see the sun in reflections. In Lebanon, after the rain there is the sun, and when you look while walking, there are puddles and, in the water, you see the image of the sun. It is very interesting for a child to see the sun when he walks in the water.“ (Etel Adnan)
Ahead of their presentations at Art Basel, Hans Ulrich Obrist interviews the artists and long-time partners Etel Adnan and Simone Fattal.
Read the interview here
Meet Dubai-based artist Lawrence Abu Hamdan
Lawrence Abu-Hamdan decodes the world through sound. A self-proclaimed ‘private ear’, the Dubai-based artist leads audio investigations that uncover often unsavory truths, such as goods trafficking or life inside a Syrian prison. ‘Ear-witness testimony, as opposed to eye-witness testimony, is the most prevalent source of evidence,’ says Abu Hamdan, who has collaborated with institutions including Amnesty International and Defense for Children International. ‘Why?’ he asks. ‘Because sound leaks.’ It is precisely those leakages that the artist captures and dissects: the ‘pops’ of murderous bullets and regional accents used to determine asylum seekers’ legitimacy. For Abu Hamdan, sounds are telltale signs of the many invisible – and usually oppressive – political forces at play.
For this new episode of Meet the Artists, Abu Hamdan welcomed Art Basel to his studio in Dubai’s former industrial quarter Alserkal Avenue.
![ORF Austria: „Beirut in der Krise“ [German]](/sites/default/files/styles/1_nms_images_gridview_1920_/public/release/2021-08/Beirut%20in%20der%20Krise_German_ORF_at.jpg?itok=YxCvWHbK)
One year after Beirut has suffered unimaginable losses, the Austrian broadcaster ORF paid a visit to several cultural institutions to shed light on the current life in the city. The extract shows an interview with Marwan Rechmaoui and Beirut gallery director Lina Kiryakos.
Watch full video of „Beirut in der Krise“ [German]
"The contract workers, too, had to be able to do many things, were coveted and yet socially excluded. Through her artistic exploration of the relationship between work and life, individual and system, Sung Tieu brings this past to light."
"And in this opus, with its sunny cover, we plunge into the radiant intensity of these abstract and colorful "threaded works of art" (the tracing of which took a year of research throughout the world for the gallery team), as well as into the fluid narration of the stages of their creation."
"Rechmaoui always approaches the city in a very concrete way. Not only in his choice of material. His working method is also down-to-earth in the sense that he has walked, photographed and mapped all the districts, seeking to grasp the many religious, social and cultural fault lines as well as the genealogical, geographical and historical layers."
Live interview with Marwan Rechmaoui on Al Araby TV as part of the Shababik programme.
"The Franco-Palestinian artist Taysir Batniji tells the story of exile, the search for identity, disappearance, impermanence." (French)
Join contemporary artist Rayyane Tabet and Met curators to explore the development of Rayyane Tabet / Alien Property.
Lawrence Abu Hamdan opens up his studio and discusses his thoughts, research, and works.
“It was a must to show what happened in the blast. Because when we entered the Gallery on the 5th of August it was really horrible. Everyone in the Gallery was working silently, trying to pick up things from the rubble, and trying to put some order to things. […]” –Marwan Rechmaoui.
Listen to the full interview
Hear artist Wael Shawky discuss his use of a variety of media, processes, and the dream of development. Shawky's use of storytelling through drawing, sculpture, and film captures societies in transition and how that transition takes time.
Watch the full film