Adel Abdessemed
Saadane Afif
Doa Aly
Allora & Calzadilla
Tarek Atoui
Stan Douglas
Radhouane El Meddeb
Mounir Fatmi
Mona Hatoum
Bouchra Khalili
Sandra Madi
Basim Magdy
Rima Maroun
Selma & Sofiane Ouissi
Tino Sehgal
Jalal Toufic
Okwui Enwezor
Locus Agonistes - Practices and Logics of the Civic. The transnational multidisciplinary event is inspired by the momentous historical forces and the emancipatory logics that are currently reshaping debates on civic identities, political subjectivities, cultural strategies, and artistic practices in Arab societies; and conceived as a response to the various scenarios of rupture between antagonistic political camps, and civic critical cultures.
Curated by Okwui Enwezor
Argos welcomes Meeting Points 6: Locus Agonistes – Practices and Logics of the Civic, a transnational multidisciplinary event curated by Okwui Enwezor and initiated by The Young Arab Theatre Fund (Brussels). After its launch in Beirut in April 2011, both KVS and Argos host the second stop of this event that will tour historical cities in the Arab World (Amman) and Europe (Berlin, Athens).
The collapse of the regimes in Egypt and Tunisia, and the tottering regimes in Libya, Syria, and Yemen have further exposed the urgent civic and political demands of diverse populations across the entire Middle East. While the events of change, transformation, and renewal move beyond the frontier of reform, new horizons of the future are already being imagined and constructed.
Through its exhibitionary, performative and discursive aspects, the artists that take part in Locus Agonistes explore aesthetic strategies and ways in which contemporary representations advance concepts of civic imagination and struggle.
By initiating a series of discursive and perceptual systems in which fresh hypotheses of the civic can be articulated, presented, and debated, Locus Agonistes aims to participate in the dynamic, lively, and complex debates of contemporary critical cultures in Arab societies and localities adjacent to them in Europe. The project is inspired by the momentous historical forces and the emancipatory logics that are currently reshaping debates on civic identities, political subjectivities, cultural strategies, and artistic practices in Arab societies; and conceived as a response to the various scenarios of rupture between antagonistic political camps, and civic critical cultures.
Participating artists include Adel Abdessemed, Saâdane Afif, Doa Aly, Allora & Calzadilla, Tarek Atoui, Stan Douglas, Radhouane El Meddeb, Mounir Fatmi, Mona Hatoum, Bouchra Khalili, Sandra Madi, Basim Magdy, Rima Maroun, Selma & Sofiane Ouissi, Tino Sehgal and Jalal Toufic.
Meeting Points 6; Locus Agonistes – Practices and Logics of the Civic is a multidisciplinary event organized in collaboration with Young Arab Theatre Fund and KVS.
Image: Basam Magdy, My Father Looks for an Honest City, 2010. Courtesy Newman Popiashvili Gallery.
Press & Communication T +32 2 2290003 // F +32 2 2237331 communication@argosarts.org
Opening night 01.10.2011 – 18.00 – 21.00
Argos Centre for Art and Media
Werfstraat 13 rue du Chantier - 1000 Brussels
Open: Wed-Sun 11am - 6pm