Collapse, 2009
Still: Courtesy the artists | Carroll / Fletcher, London
Collection
Single-channel video installation (series of nine images), b/w, sound
8 min 20 sec
The work of Basel Abbas and Ruanne Abou-Rahme investigates the resonance between imagined and real moments of resistance and loss. Although they first began to explore imagery and sound individually during their studies in London, and later formed a sound and image group Tashweesh with performer boikutt,
Collapse represents the duos first work in their collaborative artistic practice. The installation is presented as a multi-layered documentary of original material combined borrowed imagery from films such as Henry Barakat’s 1964 classic The Open Door, focused on women in 1960s Egypt and their struggle for independence; Battleship Potemkin (1925), Sergei Eisenstein’s iconic film about the Bolshevik’s October Revolution; and Gillo Pontecorvo’s 1966 epic The Battle of Algiers (1966). In contrast to later works, Collapse does not follow a linear narrative; here, the fractured imagery is set to an atemporal soundscape invoking an incomplete memory of the transition from past to present. The tension within the work highlights struggle and frustration, personal and historical traumas, and the disruption that shapes shared histories, in Palestine and elsewhere.
In their practice the duo undertakes a rigorous form of research, which includes visiting the locations, interviews, and discussions with academics, as well as the intensive examination of historical documents, maps, photographs, films, and music from their area of focus. Drawing on this information, they weave between real and potential narratives to achieve a dramatic exploration of what might have been. – Alicia Reuter
*1983 in Nicosia, Cyprus and Boston, USA | Living and working in Ramallah, Palestine and New York, USA
8 min 20 sec
The work of Basel Abbas and Ruanne Abou-Rahme investigates the resonance between imagined and real moments of resistance and loss. Although they first began to explore imagery and sound individually during their studies in London, and later formed a sound and image group Tashweesh with performer boikutt,
Collapse represents the duos first work in their collaborative artistic practice. The installation is presented as a multi-layered documentary of original material combined borrowed imagery from films such as Henry Barakat’s 1964 classic The Open Door, focused on women in 1960s Egypt and their struggle for independence; Battleship Potemkin (1925), Sergei Eisenstein’s iconic film about the Bolshevik’s October Revolution; and Gillo Pontecorvo’s 1966 epic The Battle of Algiers (1966). In contrast to later works, Collapse does not follow a linear narrative; here, the fractured imagery is set to an atemporal soundscape invoking an incomplete memory of the transition from past to present. The tension within the work highlights struggle and frustration, personal and historical traumas, and the disruption that shapes shared histories, in Palestine and elsewhere.
In their practice the duo undertakes a rigorous form of research, which includes visiting the locations, interviews, and discussions with academics, as well as the intensive examination of historical documents, maps, photographs, films, and music from their area of focus. Drawing on this information, they weave between real and potential narratives to achieve a dramatic exploration of what might have been. – Alicia Reuter
*1983 in Nicosia, Cyprus and Boston, USA | Living and working in Ramallah, Palestine and New York, USA
Collapse (Extract)
Lopud 2012 - Basel Abbas and Ruanne Abou-Rahme