The Zeitz MOCAA offers two interesting exhibitions of stories: Past Disquiet, curated by Lebanese curator-writers Kristine Khouri and Rasha Salti; and Seismography of Struggle: Towards a Global History of Critical and Cultural Journals curated by French-Algerian art historian, and author, Zahia Rahmani.
Past Disquiet
Past Disquiet is an archival exhibition that uses catalogues of exhibitions, posters, postcards, photographs, excerpts from newspaper and magazine clippings, books, pamphlets, art publications, and handwritten notes to tell the story of solidarity and political resistance from the “International Art Exhibition for Palestine”. The exhibition centres around Palestine, but it travels throughout the world.
“The struggle for Palestine galvanized many artists, as did opposition to the US war in Vietnam, the apartheid regime in South Africa, and the United States–backed dictatorships in Chile and Central America. The 1978 Beirut exhibition became a prism through which to look at these movements and the artistic practices affiliated with them,” explains Kristine Khouri.
Seismography of Struggle: Towards a Global History of Critical and Cultural Journals
Zahia Rahmani’s research project and exhibition looks at critical and cultural journals as tools of resistance in anti-colonial and liberatory movements. Rahmani focuses on the decentralization of European narratives in the re-telling of history.
In the South African context, Rahmani highlights the rich legacy of Black-led and anti-apartheid publications in South Africa. Influential magazines like DRUM, Zonk! and Staffrider, alongside Sechaba, DAWN, and Mayibuye are included.
In light of Women’s Month in South Africa, let’s delve deep into the workings of these three women, and how they came together to curate a powerful, one-of-a-kind exhibition without art.
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Kristine Khouri
Kristine Khouri is a researcher and writer specialising in modern and contemporary art history, and archives of the Arab world. She is a member of the Arab Image Foundation and is based in Beirut. Her interest lies in the history of arts circulation, hence the focus on pamphlets, posters and catalogues in Past Disquiet.
Photo credit: Belal Hibri via Zeitz MOCAA Website
Kristine Khouri was on the frontline, hunting down leads to stitch together the stories of art and its role in the resistance of political movements for Past Disquiet.
Rasha Salti
She has always been intrigued by poster art in the political arena. Back in 1993/1994 she discovered a catalogue for the “International Art Exhibition for Palestine” at the Agial Art Gallery in Beirut and she photocopied that catalogue. All these years later, she used that photocopy to state her case to reconstruct the exhibition’s history.
Photo credit: Christoph Terhechte via Zeitz MOCAA Website
“In the end, of course, the history we tell in “Part Disquiet” is only speculative. We offer various versions of the exhibition’s genesis and hope, over time, that more people will come forward with more material, stories, corrections, additions,” said Kristine in Artforum.
Zahia Rahmani
French-Algerian art historian and author Zahia Rahmani is the curator of Seismography of Struggle. She is one of France’s leading art curators and writers of fiction, memoirs and cultural criticism. Her literary trilogy is dedicated to figures of those that’s been banished from their homelands.
Photo credit: Sebastien Dolidon via Zeitz MOCAA Website
- The first in Rahmani’s series is her 2003 work, Moze deals with Rahmani’s Harki identity and her father’s suicide.
- Her semi-autobiographical work, Musulman, Roman (Muslim: a Novel) explores the stereotypes surrounding Muslim identity in France and issues surrounding immigration
- Her final work, France récit d’une enfance (France, story of a childhood) is her memoir.
Catch Past Disquiet and Seismography of Struggle at the Zeitz MOCAA from 3 August 2023 until 24 March 2024.
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Feature image: Unsplash
