Family Tree (Arbre Généalogique)

In conversation with Marie Muracciole

An exterior territory is necessary to resolve conflicts. Problems are never resolved face to face. Intercession is needed. Simplified polarities which divides the good from the bad, doesn't work. To take up the biennial's proposal, I believe neither in the conspiracy theory that ought to be publicly denounced, not in the family secret that ought to be stifled. I believe in all possibilities besides those. And addressing matters obliquely is certainly a terrific method when working on the notion of representation at the speed of art, not at the speed of information. Let's consider the example of Vespidae, the mason wasps. They make their nests with soil in the ground or against some other support. Each nest is filled with anesthetized prey (spiders or worms) destined to nourish future larvae. I accumulate the supplies in the form of documents: images, bits of memory. This 'food' is not dead but paralyzed; it finds place in time through a process of classification, digestion, reading, redistribution.

Courtesy of the Artist, Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Beirut/Hamburg, and Polaris, Paris.


April 2011

This project was part of Sharjah Biennial 10

This project was produced by Sharjah Art Foundation