Joana Hadjithomas & Khalil Joreige Ismyrna (2016) HD video
Heading to Paris this summer? If you’re making a stop in the City of Light, be sure to scope out this multimedia exhibition while visiting the French capital. Lebanese artists and filmmakers Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige are set to take one of their largest exhibitions yet, Se Souvenir de la Lumière to the prestigious Jeu de Paume gallery in Paris. Represented by Dubai’s The Third Line art gallery, the duo will present the work from June 7th until September 25th.
First unveiled at the Sharjah Art Foundation in March, the exhibition is a collective of the artists’ works and cinematic projects that date back to the late ‘90s. Through photographs, installations, documentaries, and fictional films, Hadjithomas and Joreige explore and highlight the history of Lebanon to illustrate the turbulent wars and political conflicts it is known for. Among the self-taught filmmakers’ notable projects include the fictional feature Je Veux Voir (I Want to See), which premiered during the Cannes Film Festival in 2008, and starred French actress Catherine Deneuve and Lebanese actor Rabih Mroué.
Joana Hadjithomas & Khalil Joreige Circle of Confusion (1997) digital print glued on to a mirror, 400cm x 300cm
The exhibition will also showcase the artists’ earlier works such as Circle of Confusion (1997), which is a blown up, bird’s-eye view of Beirut. Conceived with small images fixed to a mirror, the piece invites onlookers to take a fragment away with them. Geometry of Space (2014) is a series of suspended, oxidized steel sculptures presented with emails that chronicle various scams from political, financial, and environmental situations. Meanwhile, more recent works on display include the visually stimulating video Remembering the Light (2016) where Hadjithomas and Joreige experiment with light under water, and Ismyrna (2016)—a video that is co-produced by the Jeu de Paume and the Sharjah Art Foundation—where people are showcased walking down Turkey’s Port Izmir as shadows.
The Se Souvenir de la Lumière exhibition will open on June 7th and run until September 25th at the Jeu de Paume, Paris.
