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An image from the exhibition Bouchra Khalili. Between Circles and Constellations

Bouchra Khalili's works, a reflection on belonging and civic action

The MACBA is hosting an exhibition of the work of the visual artist born in Casablanca over the last ten years.

Films, videos, installations, photographs and documentary material are part of the exhibition Bouchra Khalili. Between Circles and Constellations, which will be on view at the Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona (MACBA) from 17 February to 21 May. Curated by Elvira Dyangani Ose and Hiuwai Chu and co-produced by MACBA and the Sharjah Art Foundation, the exhibition brings together many of the works produced over the last ten years by this visual artist born in 1975 in Casablanca, who studied film at the Sorbonne Nouvelle and Fine Arts at the École nationale supérieure des arts de Paris-Cergy, and who currently lives in Berlin. Among the works on show is the European premiere of the video installation The Circle, which examines and reactivates the legacy of the Arab Workers' Movement and the related theatre groups Al Assifa and Al Halaka in France in the 1970s.

Khalili's projects can be understood as a platform for political minorities to elaborate, narrate and share strategies and discourses of resistance. The artist develops critical and ethical approaches to question citizenship, community and politics. She especially explores anti-colonial struggles and histories of liberation and post-colonial solidarity. As for the title of the exhibition, MACBA explains, "it refers to Al-Halqa, literally "the circle" or "the assembly", a centuries-old tradition in Morocco that consists of presenting oral stories in public spaces, in which the intervention of the listeners plays an essential role and the narrative unfolds in multiple layers". The exhibition will be accompanied by a publication with a selection of Khalili's works and essays by KJ Abudu, Övül Durmusoglu, Olivia Harrison and Rocé.

For more information, check the link.

Publication date: Wednesday, 08 February 2023
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