NODE #2

NODE #2 exhibition at De School • 20—28 April during regular club nights ** Agnieszka Polska, Basel Abbas & Ruanne Abou-Rahme

This presentation features recent video based works by Agnieszka Polska and artist duo Basel Abbas & Ruanne Abou-Rahme. Each of the works evokes a political condition of continuous upheaval where technological advancements have very distinct meaning and impact on everyday life. Abbas and Abou-Rahme’s And Yet My Mask Is Powerful Part 1 takes viewers through the point of view of a group of youth walking through a destroyed Palestinian village inside Israeli borders. The protagonists don masks modelled on archeological findings from the West Bank and surrounding areas, as a gesture of recalling close ancestors in a place where contingency reigns and progress is elusive. In Agnieszka Polska’s New Sun, an anthropomorphised star stares directly at the viewer with its large, all- consuming eyes, while indulging in a half-sung monologue. The omnipresent gaze of the affectionate but sometimes delirious sun looks at a very real issue: humanity’s collective apathy amidst states of crisis. Both works delve into layers of memory. While Abbas and Abou-Rahme’s cinematic video employs a human scale and horizontal view within an almost testimonial frame of reference, Polska’s computer-generated media take on an external perspective, considering these issues from a cosmic view.

( BRACE FOR IMPACT )