Opening reception: Thursday 12 May from 18:00 to 21:00.
About the exhibition
What stories do objects tell? How do ancient artefacts relate to contemporary cultures and value systems?
Using material gathered from archaeological digs, wildlife parks, and auction houses around the world, this new body of work by Ali Cherri raises important and timely questions regarding the value we place on historical artefacts, their complicity in fuelling conflict, and our complicity in their life and death.
Filmed in a wildlife park in the UAE desert, the video installation Petrified takes us on a journey tracing the life of archeological objects and their inscription into the discourse of value and authenticity.
The installation Fragments looks at the market value of history, assembling together artefacts, both real and fake, from auction houses in Paris. Here, historiography is reflected through the lens of our desire for material possessions.
The film The Digger will be screened regularly throughout the run of the exhibition. Shot in the Sharjah desert in the UAE, The Digger follows the everyday life of Sultan Zeib Khan, the Pakistani caretaker who has been guarding the ruins of a Neolithic necropolis for twenty years.
To mark the opening of his exhibition, A Taxonomy of Fallacies: The Life of Dead Objects, Ali Cherri will be in conversation with the Sursock Museum’s Head of Programs and Exhibitions Nora Razian on Thursday 12 May, from 19:00 to 20:00. The discussion will focus on Cherri’s new body of work investigating the relationship between the construction of historical narratives and the market-driven circulation of archeological artifacts.
In conjunction with the exhibition, Cherri's The Digger (2015) will be screened regularly in the Sursock Museum auditorium. Shot in the Sharjah desert in the UAE, the film follows the everyday life of Sultan Zeib Khan, the Pakistani caretaker who has been guarding the ruins of a Neolithic necropolis for twenty years.
The Digger will be screened at the following times:
23 May – 3 June: Mon-Fri at 12:00 and 16:00
25 July – 29 July: Mon-Fri at 12:00 and 16:00
About the artist
Ali Cherri (b. 1976 Beirut) is a visual artist working across film, installation, and print making. Recent exhibitions include But a Storm Is Blowing from Paradise, Guggenheim New York (2016), The Time is Out of Joint, Sharjah Art Foundation, UAE (2016), Desires and Necessities, MACBA, Spain (2015), Lest the Two Seas Meet, Warsaw Museum of Modern Art (2015), Mare Medi Terra, Es Baluard Museu d’Art Modern i Contemporani de Palma, Spain (2015), and Songs of Loss and Songs of Love, Gwangju Museum of Art, South Korea (2014).
Exhibition guide
Download the exhibition guide in Arabic, English, and French.