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When Solidarity Is Not a Metaphor
View of the exhibition "When Solidarity Is Not a Metaphor", 2024
Alongside its many regular events, including Open Studios and exhibitions, 2024 saw the Cité’s artistic and cultural programme extend beyond its walls and across international borders. In Venice, during the professional preview days of the International Art Biennale, the Cité presented the exhibition When Solidarity is not a Metaphor, bringing together artistic practices ranging from installation and photography to performance, alongside a concert and a series of listening sessions and discussions.
The Cité internationale des arts and Dubai-based artist residency centre Alserkal Avenue partnered with Lightbox to present an exhibition during the professional preview days of the 60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, exploring the notions of hospitality and solidarity. Inspired by the title of Decolonization Is Not a Metaphor (2012), in which Eve Tuck and K. Wayne Yang examine the material realities and enduring violence of colonialism, the exhibition approaches solidarity as a practice in its own right.
The invited artists—former and current residents of, or collaborators with, the Cité and Alserkal Avenue—have made long-term commitments to addressing some of the most dehumanising conditions of the contemporary world. Their work challenges any understanding of solidarity as merely an object of theorisation or discourse.
Performance of Zora Snake, 2024
Several of the artists share the experience of forced displacement and are driven by a dual commitment: to examine the realities of exile while advocating ethical approaches to artistic practice. The exhibition brought together works and interventions ranging from installation and photography to performance and listening sessions, creating over six days a generous space for encounters, exchange and dialogue.
Presented from 16 to 21 April 2024, When Solidarity is not a Metaphor welcomed more than 2,000 visitors, including art enthusiasts, arts professionals, collectors and artists from around the world, reflecting the diverse audience that characterises the opening week of the Venice Biennale.
View of the exhibition "When Solidarity Is Not a Metaphor", 2024
View of the exhibition "When Solidarity Is Not a Metaphor", 2024
View of the exhibition "When Solidarity Is Not a Metaphor", 2024
View of the exhibition "When Solidarity Is Not a Metaphor", 2024
View of the exhibition "When Solidarity Is Not a Metaphor", 2024
Majd Abdel Hamid, Yana Bachynska, Rehaf Al Batniji, Paula Valero Comín, Saad Eltinay, D Harding, Adelita Husni-Bey, Nge Lay, Museum of Breath, Koushna Navabi, Shada Safadi, Dima Srouji & Jasbir Puar
16–21 April 2024
Curator: Nataša Petrešin-Bachelez
Curatorial team: Simona Dvorák, Kevin Jones and Zaina Zaarour
With contributions from:
DAAR – Sandi Hilal and Alessandro Petti; Initiative for Practices and Visions of Radical Care (Bani Khoshnoudi, Magdi Masaraa and Elena Sorokina); Maya Al Khaldi and Sarouna; Nepal Picture Library; R22 Tout-Monde; Zora Snake; Saul Williams; and Anisia Uzeyman.
Exhibition conceived by Alserkal Initiatives in partnership with the Cité internationale des arts, in collaboration with Lightbox.
My Art Guides Venice Meeting Point
Navy Officer’s Club
Arsenale
Venise
Italie
