“The exhibition enables viewers to experience a range of concerns among artists from a variety of access points to showcase the cross-circulation of knowledge. One of them is the migration of ideas and peoples in an age of anxiety, when civil liberties and freedom of movement have come under repeated attack. Another is architecture seen as an ideological tool and in reference to the former colonial powers that shaped the region. The exhibition’s artworks also embed numerous proposals—we might think of them as ‘conceptual contraband’—that contradict the mass media’s highly politicized representation of the Middle East and North Africa. As such, But a Storm Is Blowing from Paradise highlights the formation of the present while acknowledging the continued influence of the past.” — Sara Raza, Guggenheim UBS MAP Curator, Middle East and North Africa
Abbas Akhavan, Study for a Monument, 2013–15. Bronze and cotton, overall dimensions variable. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, Guggenheim UBS MAP. Purchase Fund 2015.83 © Abbas Akhavan. Installation view: Abbas Akhavan: variations on a garden, Mercer Union, Toronto, September 12– October 31, 2015. Photo: Nikolaus Steglich
Kader Attia, Untitled (Ghardaïa), 2009. Couscous, two inkjet prints, and five photocopy prints; couscous diameter: 500 cm; inkjet prints: 180 x 100 cm; photocopy prints: 21 x 29.7 cm, edition of 3. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, Guggenheim UBS MAP. Purchase Fund 2015.84 © Kader Attia. Installation view: Looking Inside-out, Kunstnernes Hus, Oslo, February 20–April 29, 2009. Photo: Kader Attia
Ergin Çavuşoğlu, Crystal & Flame, 2010. Three-channel color video installation, with sound: channel 1: 38 min., 15 sec.; channel 2: 24 min., 53 sec.; channel 3: 30 min., 56 sec., dimensions variable. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, Guggenheim UBS MAP. Purchase Fund 2015.85 © Ergin Çavuşoğlu. Installation view: PEER, London, 2010 © Chris Dorley-Brown. Courtesy the artist, Rampa, Istanbul and Film and Video Umbrella, London
Ali Cherri, Trembling Landscapes—Beirut (Paysages Tremblants—Beirut), 2014. Lithograph and archival ink stamp, four parts, 70 x 100 cm each. Edition 4/7. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, Guggenheim UBS MAP. Purchase Fund 2016.5.2 © Ali Cherri
Rokni Haerizadeh, But a Storm Is Blowing from Paradise, 2014. Gesso, watercolor, and ink on inkjet prints, 18 parts from a 24-part work, 30 x 40 cm each. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, Guggenheim UBS MAP. Purchase Fund 2015.89 © Rokni Haerizadeh. Photo: Ramin Haerizadeh
Susan Hefuna, Building, 2009. Ink on tracing paper, nine parts, 21.5 x 62.5 cm each. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, Guggenheim UBS MAP. Purchase Fund and partial gift of the artist and Pi Artworks 2015.90 © Susan Hefuna. Photo: Courtesy Susan Hefuna and Pi Artworks, London
Iman Issa, Heritage Studies no. 10, 2015. Copper, aluminum, and vinyl, 55 x 235 cm. Edition 1 of 3. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, Guggenheim UBS MAP. Purchase Fund 2015.91 © Iman Issa. Installation view: Iman Issa: Heritage Studies, Pérez Art Museum Miami, April 2–October 4, 2015. Photo: Studio LHOOQ
Nadia Kaabi-Linke, Flying Carpets, 2011. Stainless steel and rubber, 420 cm x 13 m x 340 cm. Edition 2/2 (First edition commissioned by the Abraaj Group Art Prize). Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, Guggenheim UBS MAP. Purchase Fund 2015.92 © Nadia Kaabi-Linke Installation view: The Abraaj Group Art Prize, Madinat Jumeirah, Dubai, March 16–19, 2011. Photo: Thomas Brown
Hassan Khan, Bank Bannister (Banque Bannister), 2010. Brass, 209 x 206 x 22 cm, edition 1/3. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, Guggenheim UBS MAP. Purchase Fund 2015.94 © Hassan Khan
Ala Younis, Plan for a Greater Baghdad, 2015. 83 inkjet prints, two with graphite and colored pencil, one with colored pencil, and painted plastic, dimensions variable. Edition 2/2. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, Guggenheim UBS MAP Purchase Fund 2015.98 © Ala Younis. Installation view: Venice Biennale: All the World’s Futures, May 9–November 22, 2015
Images courtesy Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
You must be logged in to post a comment.