Common Grounds

For the exhibition at the Museum Villa Stuck, twelve artists counter the flood of images coming form the Middle East with diverse artistic practices that reflect on social conditions.

Dor Guez, <i>The Sick Man of Europe: The Painter</i>, 2015

The rising cities of the Gulf region and arenas of conflict in the Middle East are captivating subjects of media coverage.

Both in terms of their content and through their manipulative aesthetic, the often extreme images from these areas shape our western view of the region. Twelve artists counter this flood of images with more diverse artistic practices that reflect on social conditions. Some of these artists ‒ Ahmed Mater, Hazem Harb, and Nasser Al Salem ‒ are for the first time introduced to the German and Munich public.

Ahmed Mater, <i>Al Mansur District</i>, 2012,140 x 200 cm. Courtesy the artist and Athr Gallery, Jeddah — **Above**: Dor Guez, *The Sick Man of Europe: The Painter*, 2015. **Top**: Ahmed Mater, *Al Mansur District*, 2012,140 x 200 cm. Courtesy the artist and Athr Gallery, Jeddah

The exhibition title refers to the concept of “grounding” in communication theory, which posits that communication partners share common knowledge, which allows for dialog to be successful. The artists’ cross-media works put this knowledge to the test. Ultra-modern urban construction and mass demonstrations are subjects that point to global aspiration and tradition. There is a notable broadening of artistic imagemaking to reflect on overriding themes such as space itself and the characteristics and possibilities of public space. Conceptual works go beyond a documentary approach and reveal social structures oscillating between West and East, sensing a cultural continuity under the surface of new urban phenomena such as Dubai or Abu Dhabi. The change in this region can also be seen as a global realignment.

The collecting and archiving of objects, which gain in value due to personal selection and presentation, makes for a subjectively structured and at times also biographical narrative style, thereby reflecting and condensing collective historiography. The artists included in the exhibition conceive of themselves as scholarly and searching; in their works they collect, archive and research imagery that, as material appropriated from others, reveals stories which lie underneath the surface of known historiography. They have adopted a view from the outside, which allows them to subject their own experiences to scrutiny and to process such analytical reflections in artistic terms.

Bouchra Khalili, Garden Conversation, 2014. Digital Film, 16min 22sec. Foto: Courtesy Abraaj Group Art Prize. Photo © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2015

Abbas Akhavan, Study for a Hanging Garden, 2014. Photo © Abraaj Group Art Prize. Photo Vipul Sangoi

DAAR, The Red Castle and the Lawless Line, 2010. Courtesy DAAR Photo Amina Bech

Parastou Forouhar, Zeit der Schmetterlinge, 2015. Im Auftrag des Museums Villa Stuck. Photo Nikolaus Steglich

Left: Susan Hefuna, Red Building, 2012. Courtesy of Pi Artworks Istanbul/London. Photo: Achim Kukulies. Right: Bouchra Khalili, The Constellations, Fig. 5, 2008-2011. Courtesy the artist and Galerie Polaris, Paris © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2015

Ahmed Mater, Human Highway, 2012.Courtesy the artist and Athr Gallery, Jeddah

until May 17, 2015
Common Ground
curated by Verena Hein
Project coordination: Nadja Henle
Assistance: Claudia Gebauer, Kateryna Kavunenko, Victoria Schmoll
Conservatorial supervision: Susanne Eid
Exhibition design: Christian Reinhardt, Tommy Jackson, Johannes Koch, Joseph Köttl, Rene Landspersky Christian Langenholt, Patrick Matthews, Ruth Munzner, Andrea Snigula, Nikolaus Steglich, Luca Steiner, Friederike Warneke
Museum Villa Stuck
Prinzregentenstraße 60, 81675 München

Common Grounds

For the exhibition at the Museum Villa Stuck, twelve artists counter the flood of images coming form the Middle East with diverse artistic practices that reflect on social conditions.

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