Monira Al Qadiri : The Craft

13 Jul-10 Sep 2017

Overview

Gasworks presents The Craft, the first UK solo exhibition by Amsterdam-based artist Monira Al Qadiri. The exhibition comprises sculptures, videos and sound works that envisage international diplomacy as an alien conspiracy. Shown in two distinct environments – an American diner and a 1980s-style living room – these semi-autobiographical works of science fiction unearth the unlikely stories lurking in the shadows of the artist’s childhood in Kuwait. Revisiting the fantasies that she and her sister elaborated during these early years, they depict the culture and rituals of diplomacy by which they were then surrounded as literally otherworldly compared to the current rise of nationalism and political populism. Co-commissioned by Gasworks and the Sursock Museum, Beirut with support from Shubbak: A Window on Contemporary Arab Culture, 1–16 July 2017 & Cockayne—Grants for the Arts and the London Community Foundation.