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27/6/2012

Moataz Nasr

Oslo Kunstforening - Fine Art Society, Oslo

curated by Marianne Hultman

Oslo Kunstforening and the foundation Akershus festning for Art and Culture (SAKK) are proud to announce Hidden Landscape, the first solo exhibition by Egyptian artist Moataz Nasr in Norway. For the first time, the Oslo public, visitors from the rest of the country and abroad will be able to walk around Akershus Fortress, to discover spaces that are seldom open to the public, as well as experience an exhibition by one of the leading exponents of contemporary pan-Arab art.

Showing complex cultural processes currently underway in the Islamic world, the work of Moataz Nasr manages to surpass idiosyncrasies and geographical limits. The feeling of belonging to a specific geopolitical and cultural context and the need to maintain a link with his homeland are key elements of the artist’s life and work. Art and life are inseparable to him. Childhood memories, frustrations and the society in which he is evolving seem to fuel his sculptures, installations and video work. Moataz Nasr’s work concerns an Egypt with its traditions, people, colors, without ever slipping into exoticism or creating distances. It is, on the contrary, closely related to everyone’s preoccupations. In fact, Egypt is a backdrop, a territory inhabited by human beings whose fragility is universal, as are indifference, powerlessness and solitude, weaknesses inherent in human nature.

The aim of the exhibition is to create a dialogue between the middle age fortress, its architecture and history, and Nasr’s contemporary work. In this specific context history and the present, the local and the global merges into one, a notion that is omnipresent in Nasr’s own production. The title Hidden Landscape works on several levels, the most obvious one being the geographical landscape, located in the micro society found within the walls of the middle age fortress. You physically have to discover it by walking the surroundings, climbing up- and down steep steps to reach each work. The different sites function as a backdrop to Nasr’s work, representing religious, royal and military power structures that go back thousands of years.

Moataz Nasr’s art positions itself in the gap between a deep lust for life and the desire to detach oneself from its materiality. In resent years his interest for Sufi philosophy has become more visible in his work. The landscape of his art is always visibly hidden – may it be in the form of a tower of clay, tear drops made of crystal, an ancient poem written in neon letters, a Sufi message shaped as a key or in a huge maze of grass. His mentality follows the path of mysticism found in the monotheistic religions: Judaism, Islam and Christianity. They all differ from one another but are still steeped in the same form, shaped by the belief of a higher meaning, a divine geometry that connects all as one through the message of beauty, compassion and love. This is visible to all, if you choose to see it, if not it will remain hidden. That is the key to all mysticism as in Cathrine of Siena’s words, sighted in connection to the work Tears: “the heart is linked to the eye”, a fact that the artist Moataz Nasr seem to be confident of.

Hidden Landscape presents a site-specific maze covering 2 000 square meters of the grass lawn on Prince Carl’s Bastion. The slogans written across the maze in Kufi handwriting read: The People Want the Fall of the Regime; Bread, Freedom and Social Justice; Fall Fall of Military Rule. These slogans were chanted during the revolution in Egypt and the so called Arab Spring in the Middle East. They are still being chanted.

Moataz Nasr’s was born in Alexandria in 1961. After studying economics, he decided to change direction. This self-taught artist gained local recognition marked by many prizes before breaking into the international art scene in 2001, notably winning the Grand Prix at the 8th International Cairo Biennial. Since, he has participated in large international gatherings like the Venice, Seoul and Sao Paulo biennials and exhibited in prestigious contemporary art venues. I 2008 Moataz Nasr started Darb 17 18, a centre for art and culture in Fustad in Old Cairo.

Hidden Landscape is a part of the yearly culture festival Akershusfestlighetene at Akershus Fortress. The exhibition is a part of the commitment to culture at Akershus Fortress with focus on music, theatre, dance, exhibitions and song in the period May to August 2012.

The exhibition is produced by Oslo Kunstforening/Oslo Fine Art Society and the foundation Akershus festning for Art and Culture (SAKK)
Hidden Landscape was made possible through the support of Arts Council Norway, Public Art Norway (KORO/URO) and the Fritt Ord Foundation
We wish to thank Galleria Continua San Gimignano / Beijing / Le Moulin, Museo del Cristallo di Colle val D'Elsa and Raffaella and Stefano Sciarretta Collection, Nomas Foundation for their generous support. A special thank you to Simon Njami.

Press contact:
Marianne Hultman: marianne@oslokunstforening.no

Opening Thursday June 28, 2012

Oslo Kunstforening
Radhusgaten 19, 0158 Oslo, Norway
Tue-Fri 12-17, Sun 12-16. Monday closed

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