Join us for the UK premiere of Ali Cherri’s new film The Dam, presented alongside the two previous chapters of his Telluric Trilogy, The Disquiet, 2013, and The Digger ,2015. The screening is introduced by the artist.
The Disquiet explores Lebanon's history of earthquakes and the concept of catastrophe. It approaches the country’s geologic and seismic situation as a metaphor for the continuous outbursts of violence which have marked the broader region. The Digger, shot in a five-thousand-year-old neolithic necropolis in a desert in the United Arab Emirates, focuses on the daily caretaking rituals of Zeib Khan, the lonely custodian of the site. The film comes to reflect on the possibility of constructing a national narrative on the ruins of the past.
Closing the trilogy, The Dam reflects on the possibility of building a new world. Departing from the documentary aesthetic of Cherri's two earlier works, it opens a path towards the supernatural, embracing the foundational myth of the golem (a being made of mud). In this allegorical tale, we follow the steps of a Sudanese brick-maker working near the Merowe Dam, as he secretly wanders off into the desert and starts constructing a mysterious mud tower. While the Sudanese people rise to claim their freedom, his creation slowly starts to take on a life of its own...
The screening is co-presented with the Institut Français du Royaume Uni. A conversation with the artist and Emma Ridgway, Chief Curator at Modern Art Oxford, will be held on 10 October at the Institut Français du Royaume Uni.
Programme
Introduction by the artist
• The Disquiet, 2013, HD video, colour, sound, 20 min, Arabic with English subtitles
• The Digger, 2015, HD video, colour, sound, 24 min, Arabic and Pashto with English subtitles
• Break, 15 min
• Introduction by the artist
• The Dam, 2022, 2K video, colour, sound, 80 min, Arabic with English subtitles
Courtesy the artist
Courtesy the artist
Ali Cherri (b. 1976, Lebanon) is a filmmaker and visual artist based in Paris. His work explores the links between archaeology, historical narrative and heritage, paying particular attention to excavation and the relocation of cultural objects into museums. He was the 2021 Artist in Residence at the National Gallery, London, and his resulting exhibition If you prick us, do we not bleed? is currently touring the UK. He is the winner of the Silver Lion Award for Promising Young Participant in the 2022 edition of the Venice Biennale.
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