The Sun Rises in the West and Sets in the East, guest curated by curator and writer Sara Raza, explores social and cultural seismic shifts and how the traditional culture and classification of science, philosophy, biology, and economics have collapsed in contemporary society. The exhibition features 11 contemporary artists who challenge geopolitical narratives, systems, and power dynamics, including new and recent works by Lida Abdul, Kader Attia, Yael Bartana, Asli Çavuşoğlu, Ergin Çavuşoğlu, Ali Cherri, Anton Ginzburg, Emily Jacir, Nadia Kaabi-Linke, Nyugen E. Smith, and Nari Ward.
Embracing sculpture, mixed-media installation, film, and performance, The Sun Rises in the West and Sets in the East captures the importance of art’s role in inspiring dialogue and reassessing political futures and structures. The exhibition borrows its title and main critical inquiry from a mixture of fable and medieval miniatures which depict the ‘signs of the hour’ in the lead up to the ‘Day of Judgement.''
Lida Abdul
Image credit: Lida Abdul "What We Have Overlooked," 2011, 2-channel video installation, 16 mm film transferred to Blu-ray3’44’’ Courtesy Giorgio Persano Gallery
Yael Bartana
Yael Bartana, Mary Koszmary, 2007, One channel video and sound installation, 16 mm film transferred to DVD color/sound duration: 10:50 minutes. Credit for all images: Courtesy of the artist and Petzel, New York
Ergin Çavuşoğlu
Ergin Cavusoglu. Lundy, Louis, Barge and Troy, 2014, Two channel synchronized (1080x1920) HD video, sound, MDF, 6:31 min. Dimensions Variable. Courtesy of the artist
Anton Ginzburg
"Burnt Constructions. Gushul Initiative", 2016, Based on Alexander Rodchenko's Spatial Studies Burnt Wood. Installation size: 60 x 96 x 80 inches, photographed at Barbara Davis Gallery, Houston (2018)
Nadia Kaabi-Linke
Nadia Kaabi-Linke, Road Works (Remont ll), 2021, Site specific installation, granite MDF, acrylic paint and sand. Courtesy of Imane Fares Gallery and the artist
Nari Ward
Courtesy the artist and Lehmann Maupin, New York, Hong Kong, Seoul, and London.Photography by Daniel Kukla
Kader Attia
Kader Attia Untitled, 2019wood, steel 47.5 x 20 x 12 inches LM30661. Courtesy the artist and Lehmann Maupin, New York, Hong Kong, Seoul and London
Aslı Çavuşoğlu
ASLI ÇAVUŞOĞLU, Future Tense, 2017
Ali Cherri
Ali Cherri, Dead Inside (set of 12). Watercolor, 2020. Courtesy of Imane Fares Gallery and the artist
Emily Jacir
Emily Jacir, Where We Come From, 2001-2003, detail (Jihad) American passport, 30 texts, 32 c-prints and 1 video-photo: John Sherman © Emily Jacir, courtesy Alexander and Bonin, New York
Nyugen Smith
Untitled Performance (for Ibrahim Ahmed's, It will Always ComeBack to You)Photo by: Pascal Bernier 2021
Key Questions/Questions for Self-Guided Exploration:
- What is lost by a reliance on mainstream/Western information streams? How can we counter our colonial knowledge with other forms of knowledge?
- There are different ideas of reparation present in this exhibition. What is visible? What is concealed? What does repair mean to you?
- Think about the buildings and spaces you inhabit or move through. What is beneath the surface? What traces of time are present?
- Many of the artists in this exhibition have grown up with the legacy of recent war and conflict. What does it mean to come of age in these spaces of upheaval?
- How do artists use poetics and metaphor to convey complicated situations or messages?
- Yael Bartana says her challenge is “finding the right balance between the real and the fictional.” How far can experiments in speculation go? Where can we take these ideas?
- How is cultural heritage constructed?
- What are the social, psychological, and cultural impacts of continual dislocation/disruption or the threat thereof?