We Dance, We Smoke, We Kiss at Fahrenheit

Artists: Sophia Al Maria, Meriem Bennani, Phil Collins, GCC, Kareem Lotfy, Tala Madani, Jumana Manna, Slavs & Tatars, Téléramadan

Exhibition title: We Dance, We Smoke, We Kiss

Curated by: Myriam Ben Salah

Venue: Fahrenheit, Los Angeles, US

Date: September 16 – December 10, 2016

Photography: ©Jeff McLane, all images copyright and courtesy of the artists and Fahrenheit

This is a tale of a slicked wedding singer from the Gaza Strip who won Arab Idol.
This is a tale of joy blooming from a loosely defined region where nuances are overlooked and histories are simplified through the lenses of failure, conflict, and narrow aesthetic formulas.

This is a tale of strangers in strange lands, of non-native wanderers with attitude, of individuals who navigate the chasms between cultures and don’t care anymore about what Edward Said said.
« I’m telling you, if you don’t come now and bring Viagra for your father, I’ll go shame us all. »1 This is a tale of male thugs and of father tongues, of alternative imagination, of alchemical reactions, and of human intimacies.
This is a tale of dark humor and light spirit, of grooming of bodies and cars and carpets, of bifurcated gender relations, and of a “Global” South / “Middle” East / “non” West burdened with symbols and placed within the vacuums of loaded cardinal points.
This is a tale of the familiar and the foreign, and of the unapologetically vernacular.
Un-a-po-lo-ge-tic.

This is a tale of sensuality.
This is a tale of cracking into the sidelines and cracking jokes.
This is the tale of Scheherazade in One Thousand and One Nights: a failure to amuse means kaput.

Jumana Manna, Blessed Blessed Oblivion, 2010. HD video, 23 minutes. Courtesy of the Artist and CRG Gallery, New York

Tala Madani, Rear projection : Soft, 2013. Oil on linen, 46 x 51 cm. Collection of Marija Karan and Joel Lubin. Courtesy of the artist, Pilar Corrias, London and David Kordansky, Los Angeles

Tala Madani, Avatar, 2012. Oil on Linen, 55.2 cm x 61 cm. Collection of David Hoberman. Courtesy of the artist, Pilar Corrias, London and David Kordansky, Los Angeles

Tala Madani, Up and Down, 2012. Oil on linen, 52.1 x 59.7 cm. Collection of Viveca Paulin-Ferrell and Will Ferrell. Courtesy of the artist, Pilar Corrias, London and David Kordansky, Los Angeles

Bidoun Magazine, selected issues. Quarterly publication, 2004-2014

Téléramadan. Publication, 2016, p.112. Founded by Mouloud Achour, Mehdi Meklat and Badroudine Saïd Abdallah

Sophia Al Maria, Your Sister, 2014. Single channel digital video with audio. Edition of 3. 2min 33 sec. Courtesy of the Artist and The Third Line, Dubai

Slavs and Tatars, Mother Tongues and Father Throats, 2012. Woolen Yarn, 300 x 500 cm. Courtesy of the artists and Tanya Bonakdar Gallery

Kareem Lotfy, Sosa Ibrahimovic, 2016. Print on photographic paper, mounted on Diasec, 105 x 107 cm. Courtesy of the artist

Kareem Lotfy, Yoshitoshi, 2016. Print on photographic paper, mounted on Diasec. 105 x 107 cm. Courtesy of the artist

Meriem Bennani, Gradual Kingdom, 2016. Film installation, styrofoam screen, projection. Variable dimensions. Courtesy of the artist and SIGNAL, New York

Documentation of the presentation of JNOUN, a fashion line based in Rabat and New York and developed by Meriem Bennani and Zahra Bennani. © Deborah Farnault