SUMMERACADEMY.AT

Language: English
Location: Residenzplatz 10, 5020 Salzburg

Many of the works in the exhibition On Becoming Two call for a localised critique from Beirut, a place where – marred by the unresolved civil war – the relationships between architecture, memory and popular representation are specific, with specific consequences for contemporary art practices. In response to this situation, Chakar has developed a conversation around presence and forgetfulness that borrows from different disciplines and fields. In On Becoming Two, Chakar questions notions of “here” and “there”, “map” and “territory”, “word” and “object”, “building” and “home”. (artradarjournal.com)

Chakar will speak about his art in a present time characterised by war, as he demonstrated in his last exhibition.
Tony Chakar, born in Beirut in 1968, is a Lebanese architect and writer. His work incorporates literature, philosophy and theory, and has been included in numerous exhibitions internationally. His work One Hundred Thousand Solitudes (2012) is a lectureperformance which examines images that have emerged from the Arab revolutions. Chakar shows how unlikely towns outside of the capital cities in the Middle East, once considered backward and marginal, have now emerged as creative centres of the revolt against political oppressors such as Bashar al Assad. The performance also includes an image of a protester in Tahrir Square holding a sign that reads: “From Egypt to Wall St. Don’t be afraid. Go ahead” – demonstrating that Egyptian citizens are vocal and willing to encourage their counterparts in Western democracies to voice their opposition to current representations of authority and power. Chakar contributes to art and architecture magazines, and teaches history of art and architecture at the Académie Libanaise des Beaux-Arts, University of Balamand, Beirut.

Exhibitions
2017 On Becoming Two, Beirut Art Center, Beirut. 2014 Bienal de São Paulo (BR). 2013 Sharjah Biennial, Sharjah.

Publications
Tony Chakar, “To Speak Shadow”, Afterall: A Journal of Art, Context and Enquiry, 35, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 2014, pp 18–29.
Haig Aivazian, “Tony Chakar: On Black Holes”, in: Afterall: A Journal of Art, Context and Enquiry, 35, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 2014, pp 30–37.
Tony Chakar “On seeking incuriously”, in: Erick Beltrán, Nuria Enguita, Charles Esche (eds.), How (…) things that don’t exist, exh. cat. 31st Bienal de São Paulo, Fundação Bienal de São Paulo, 2014, p 90.

Marwa Arsanios, lives and works in Beirut, Lebanon. She received her MFA from the University of the Arts London in 2007 and was a researcher in the Fine Art department at Jan Van Eyck Academie from 2011 to 2012.

Exhibitions
2017 Beirut Art Center, 2016 Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, Witte de With, Rotterdam, the Netherlands, 2015 Kunsthalle Lissabon, Lisbon, Art in Generel, New York. Her work was also shown at the Thessaloniki Biennial (2015), 55th Venice Biennale (2013), the 12th Istanbul Biennial (2011), Home Works Forum in Beirut (2010, 2013, 2015), Ludwig Museum (2016), New Museum, New York (2014), M HKA, Antwerp, Belgium (2013) and nGbK, Berlin (2012).
Screenings of her videos have taken place at the Berlinale, Berlin (2010, 2015), e-flux storefront, New York (2009) and Centre Pompidou, Paris (2017, 2011). In 2012 Arsanios was awarded the special prize of the Pinchuk Future Generation Art Prize. She was nominated for the Han Nefkens Foundation award in 2014 and more recently the Paulo Cunha e Silva art prize. Marwa is also the co-founder of 98weeks research project.
- Web: www.tonychakar.com

Week 3 / Monday 31 July–Sunday 06 August

Tony Chakar / Marwa Arsanios