Chaos into Clarity: Re-Possessing a Funktioning Utopia

Overview

Chaos into Clarity: Re-Possessing a Funktioning Utopia is an investigation of the Aesthetic of Funk. Curated by Shannon Ayers Holden, the exhibition is an exploration of the radical power of transformation, the theme of transcendence and the presentation of a new world material culture as seen through the works of three artists from the African Diaspora: American textile artist Xenobia Bailey, Moroccan born Photographer and Designer Hassan Hajjaj and British Trinidadian Filmmaker and Sculptor Zak Ové.

Each Artist has a shared ancestral link to the continent of Africa, which provides them fertile ground to address issues of identity, belonging and community.

The Aesthetic of Funk is an underlying theme in Chaos into Clarity: Re-Possessing a Funktioning Utopia and is fundamental to the work of all three artists. Each artist explores how the prisms of duality and multiculturalism repossess their view of the world in their own personal ways through video and installations.

The works also explore the personalised yet multi-faceted nature of each artist’s African heritage. This exhibition was developed as part of Campus Art Dubai 1 January―June 2013. Campus Art Dubai is held in partnership with Dubai Culture & Arts Authority (Dubai Culture)