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10/5/2012

Chkoun Ahna

Carthage National Museum, Carthage

The First International Contemporary Art Exhibition at the National Museum of Carthage

The international group exhibition CHKOUN AHNA is the main part of the first edition of Carthage Contemporary. The exhibition is sheltered in the east wing of the archaeological museum of Carthage, where contemporary art encounters ancient relics. It is followed by several collateral events and programs, like off-space exhibitions at the Centre National d’Art Vivant and the B’chira Art Centre, artist talks, and a gallery weekend in the northern suburbs of Tunis.

The National Museum is located on the hill of Birsa where the exhibition CHKOUN AHNA is surrounded by Phoenician and Roman ruins, Byzantine and French architecture. The excavated past reveals that Tunisian history has always been characterized by diversity and cultural exchange. In this sense, the curators Khadija Hamdi and Timo Kaabi-Linke have invited artists from countries that are historically connected with Tunisia to install new and recent works that relate to the place and its past.

The expression chkoun ahna is Tunisian dialect written in Roman letters. It means both “about us” and “who are we?”, able to be phrased as a statement or a question.

Many things changed after spring 2011. Today, Tunisian society seems to culminate in a hunt for identity. The international exhibition will slow down this endeavour and offer a unhurried view on the current state of emergency. There are at least two hypothetical reasons to do so: First of all, even the state of emergency is part of our modern life, and history shows that any catastrophe is absorbed into the everyday in the long run. Secondly, all efforts to purify Tunisian heritage and sort out a homogeneous cultural identity are doomed to fail. Tunisian history was and still is a cross-cultural joint venture. There were Capsian and Berber civilizations, Phoenicians, Romans, Vandals, Arabs, Ottomans and the French. Discussion of Tunisian culture implies all these hybrid influences.

For this reason, the exhibition will raise the question CHKOUN AHNA as a statement powered by the media of contemporary art, such as installations, video and photo-projections, photographs, performance, interventions, and drawings. Similar to the cross-cultural history of Tunisia, the invited artists hail from countries that have left historical traces in Carthage, in the more or less chronological order of Algeria, Lebanon, Italy, Germany, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Spain, Turkey, and France.

The Carthage National Museum usually display archaeological findings and is one of the two main archaeological museums in Tunisia. It is sited at the hill of Byrsa in the center of the city of Carthage and was founded in 1875. Along with the Bardo Museum it is one of the country's most extensive museums. The singularity of this place is that the museum building is surrounded by archaeological excavations revealing the Punic and Roman history of this place.

ARTIST:

Ahmed Mater
Ahmet Ogut
Ali Tnani
Amina Menia
Ayse Erkmen
Boris Kajmak
Fakhri El Ghezal
Felix Fernandez
Hala Elkoussy
Hrair Sarkissian
Ismail Bahri
Kader Attia
Lara Favaretto
Maha Malluh
Mouna Karray
Mustapha Akrim
Nadia Kaabi-Linke
Nicene Kossentini
Nida Sinnokrot
Pascal Hachem
Saadane Afif
Sirine Fattouh
Taysir Batniji
Timo Nasseri
Yousef Moscatello
Ziad Antar
Zineb Sedira

Further Inquiries:

General inquiries: CarthageContemporary
contact@carthagecontemporary.com
tel +216 71 908 488
fax+216 71 908 486

Aziza Amri (coordination and press)
aziza@carthagecontemporary.com

Khadija Hamdi (curator)
khadija@carthagecontemporary.com

Timo Kaabi-Linke (curator)
timo@carthagecontemporary.com

Press Conference: May 11, 2012 at 4pm

Opening: May 11, 2012 at 5pm

Artist's talk: May 11, 2012 from 2pm to 4pm at acropolium de Carthage

The National Museum of Carthage - UNESCO Heritage
Center Hill of Byrsa - Carthage, Tunisi

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