Akram Zaatari

28 March - 24 May 2009
Galeriestraße 4
80539 München, Germany

http://www.kunstverein-muenchen.de

Akram Zaatari - "This Day. Akram`s audio recordings. Basf cassette", 2007
Color light-jet print, 49 x 40 cm - Courtesy the Artist & Sfeir-Semler Gallery

Kunstverein München is pleased to present the first survey exhibition of Lebanese artist Akram Zaatari (*1966 Saida, Lebanon)

Zaatari studies the cultural and political conditions of the Lebanon's postwar society, dedicating part of his research to the phenomenon of the national resistance movements, underlining the limitations in the representation of territorial conflicts ('All Is Well on the Border', 1997, 'In This House', 2005 and 'Nature Morte', 2008). In his feature length film 'This Day', 2003 Zaatari presents a geographical and mental voyage that comments on the production and circulation of images across the Middle East. "In these moments, film ceases to be part of "an uninterrupted chain of images over which we have lost all power" and is transformed into a tool for investigating how, and in whose interests, images are assigned meaning in the world. The active role of the viewer in that investigation echoes the challenge that for example Godard and Miéville issue at the end of their film: "To learn to see in order to hear elsewhere. To learn to hear one's self speaking in order to see what others are doing. The others, the elsewhere of our 'here'." (Hannah Feldman)

As co-founder of the Arab Image Foundation in Beirut, collecting, archiving and analysing the visual history of the Middle East form the basis of Zaataris work. His 'Madani Project' for example, is an extensive investigation in to the archive of the photographer Hashem el Madani (*1928), studying social relationships in relation to portrait photography and the urban history of the city Saida.

Akram Zaatari`s artistic practice is an ongoing study of historical photographic documents, and there correlation to personal histories - confronting personal with historical political events. Presenting the history of intimate everyday experiences, as a parable for the political and cultural shifts taking place in Beirut and across the Middle East.

Akram Zaatari (*1966 Saida, Lebanon) lives and works in Beirut.
Solo exhibitions: 2006, Paris Photo La Caixa (Barcelona); 2005, Grey Art Gallery (New York); 2004 Portikus, Frankfurt; 2002, Palais des Beaux Arts (Brüssel). Group exhibitions: 2008, Centre Georges Pompidou (Paris); 2007, 52. Biennale, Venice; 2006, Sao Paulo Biennale, Gwangju Biennale (Korea), Sydney Biennale.


Talks & Screenings

Sunday, 29 March 2009, 3 pm:
Artisttalk
Akram Zaatari, Suzanne Cotter (Curator, Modern Art Oxford) and Stefan Kalmár (Director, Kunstverein München)

Sunday, 26 April 2009, 5 pm:
Filmscreening
'This Day' ('Al Yaoum') 2003, 86 min, Akram Zaatari
At Werkstattkino, Frauenhoferstrasse 9, 80469 München

Sunday 5 May 2009, 5 pm:
Filmscreening
'All Is Well On The Border' ('Al-Sharit Bikhayr') 1997, 43 min, Akram Zaatari
'Here and Elsewhere' ('Ici et Ailleurs') 1975, 67 min, Jean-Luc Godard
At Werkstattkino, Frauenhoferstrasse 9, 80469 München