Dream projects' editorial by Hoor Al Qasimi
Friday, 22 september - 2:00 PM
Caserne El Attarine
Drawing inspiration from the sites and scenes of the historic Tunisian Medina, this exhibition activates sites that resonate with the work undertaken by Dream City over the years. Central to the project is the transformation and activation of the Caserne El Attarine, bringing daily life back to this structure formerly frequented by Tunisian thinkers and cultural figures. Built in 1813 as a military barracks in the reign of Hamouda Pacha, the building became a library during the French protectorate, housing collections of books and manuscripts in Arabic alongside with collections in French inherited from the colonial era. Later, the National Institute of Archaeology and Art was based in the building. Newly configured for these Dream Projects, the space invites audiences to gather and engage with books, archives, discussions and artworks that offer reflection on the current social and political situation. There are social spaces, a library, and gallery rooms where a range of artworks are on view.
In Gabriela Golder’s Conversation Piece (2012), two girls read the communist manifesto with their grandmother as they try to understand the histories of class struggle and social rebellion. The grandmother in this film is the artist’s mother, who was a militant in the Argentine Communist Party.
Manthia Diawara reflects on the life and work of the American activist in Angela Davis: A World of Greater Freedom (2023). Diawara’s footage presents as a poetic compendium of Davis’ critical thought and inspiration for new imaginaries and new relations within an emergent new world. Also screened are Diawara’s films Edouard Glissant: One World in Relation (2010) and Negritude: A Dialogue Between Wole Soyinka and Senghor (2015).
In Crude Eye (2022), Monira Al Qadiri brings to life a childhood memory of a sprawling metropolis – that was in fact a vast oil refinery. The video work is reminiscent of scenes from futuristic cartoons and science fiction films.
The Living and the Dead Ensemble present their second project titled The Wake (2021). Centered around the potential of the night as a place for the composition and creation of political struggles for young people today, on both sides of the ocean, this new project traces an imaginary link between those who have been pushed to the peripheries of the world and who decide to speak up at the moment of our global crisis.
The exhibition brings together Marwa Arsanios’ complete quadrilogy of films from her series Who is Afraid of Ideology? (2017 – ongoing). Taking a collaborative and interdisciplinary approach to research and filmmaking, Arsanios confronts long-established political and socioeconomic systems of oppression and exploitation by portraying alternative ways of living in harmony with nature. Women’s lived experiences and anti-colonial struggles marked by collectivism, care and self-defence become an example for wider social and political change.
Returning to the history of Caserne El Attarine, Ferielle Doulain-Zouari reflects on the legacy of this place as a souk for perfumes and henna with Where do the roads end and the writing begins? (2023) The artist uses terracotta and glass to create graphic, root-like lineal elements that emerge from the earth referencing the source of the aromatic herbs once used in the production of these perfumes.
In Caserne’s attic, Forward stitch – Backward stitch (2023) by Sonia Kallel explores the history of the L’Ecole des Cadres au Collège of Bab Djedid, which trained generations of girls from around the country. This archive presents documents, photographs and field surveys that capture the importance of this institution’s original and influential teaching.
Dream Projects activates other historic sites in the medina.
At Makhzen el Rachidia, an old stable and storage space, Gabriela Golder’s film Broken Eyes (2023) reflects on punitive state violence, illustrating how riot police intentionally aim for protestors’ eyes. Taking scenes from the mass protests across Chile in 2019 during which more than 400 victims of police brutality sustained eye injuries, the work also includes scenes from other protests in Hong Kong, Beirut, etc.
At Tourbet Sidi Boukhrissan, a mausoleum dating from the 12th century, Khalil Rabah creates a site-specific installation titled Olive Gathering (2023) as part of his ongoing project ‘The Palestinian Museum of Natural History and Humankind’ (2003 – ongoing). Working with olive trees – central to life in both Palestine and Tunisia—the artist challenges the architecture, ideas and purposes of museums while investigating the ways in which history is socially constructed and embedded in identity and culture.
Michael Rakowitz presents his project Return (2004 – ongoing) in Dépôt Aloulou - facing à Dar Othman. In this small, renovated warehouse Rakowitz recreates his grandfather’s import-export company, established in 1920’s Iraq. Also on view is his film The Return, which chronicles the complexities behind importing Iraqi dates to the US during his attempts in 2006.
In Zaouia Sidi Ali Chiha, tomb of the Sufi holyman Sidi Ali Chiha, once the largest Sufi gathering site in Tunisia, sound artist Tarek Atoui will present Al Qabali, a new research and performative project that began in 2015 and premiered in Córdoba in 2022. Influenced by the traditions of Tarab music, Atoui combines recordings from across the Arab world in his performances.
The Association des Anciennes du Lycée Rue de Pacha, an association of the alumni of Tunisia’s first school to accept women students, will feature an installation by Mounira Al Solh as well as a public programme organised with the association’s members.
Outside the Medina, Gallery Central’s two locations in downtown Tunis will present works by Bouchra Khalili and Remi Kuforiji. Khalili’s film installation The Circle (2023) examines and reactivates the legacy of the French Arab Workers Movement and their theatre groups Al Assifa and Al Halaka in the 1970s.
Remi Kuforiji’s Water No Get Enemy: Counter-Cartographies of Diaspora (2020 – ongoing) is a multifaceted research project that develops a novel model of resistance to neocolonial practices of crude oil extraction and ecocide within the Niger Delta.
Nil Yalter quotes the influential figure of modern Turkish literature, Nâzım Hikmet, an exile himself, by painting the words Exile is a Hard Job, in various languages, over posters that are plastered all over the walls of the medina.
On the 27th of September, Le 4eme Art will present a screening of Manthia Diawara’s An Opera of the World (2017). The film reflects upon migration and the ongoing refugee crisis, building on Chadian poet Koulsy Lamko’s Bintou Wéré, a Sahel Opera, which tells the story of a young woman desperately seeking a better future for herself and her unborn child.
On the 28th there will be a screening of Les Ambassadeurs, produced in 1975 by Naceur Ktari. It won the Tanit d'or for best film at Carthage Film Festival in 1976 the special jury prize at Locarno International Film Festival the same year, and was selected for the 1978 Cannes Film Festival in the category "Un Certain Regard". The film follows the troublesome relationships between North African immigrants and their French neighbours in Paris. The film will be followed by a discussion with the director Naceur Ktari.
The works on view offer multiple approaches, viewpoints and perspectives on the most urgent challenges of our times. We hope that Dream Projects will provide audiences a space for contemplation, exchange and solidarity.
Hoor Al Qasimi