The Aesthetics of Disappearance: A Land Without People
Lead Research Organisation:
University of the Arts London
Department Name: London College of Communication
Abstract
Through a new portfolio of photographic and video work it is my intention to explore the disappearance of both the physical body and the 'virtual' body (through its representation in art and architecture) in the real and imagined landscapes of the Middle East. What happens to the physical evidence of atrocity and genocide and how does it affect our understanding of, the often beautiful, landscapes into which the bodies of victims disappear?
I plan to investigate the destruction of art and architecture for ideological, religious and political reasons and the problems inherent in the representation of the body. In particular, I want to explore the issue of idolatry from as far back as the Reformation in Britain to the destruction of the Bamiyan Buddahs by the Taliban in Afghanistan and the recent demolition of buildings associated with the prophet Mohammed by the current Saudi Arabian government.
I wish to examine how personal and political narratives relate to contested landscapes, in particular those burdened with conflicting signification and the way in which confession (in both the religious sense, the documentary film making tradition and the confessional mode in contemporary art practice) is adopted as a means of confronting and coming to terms with these events. I am also interested in the way historic visual material (the archive) informs and influences the way in which we understand and represent the present and how the tension between documentary and fiction can be resolved in a work of art.
I plan to investigate the destruction of art and architecture for ideological, religious and political reasons and the problems inherent in the representation of the body. In particular, I want to explore the issue of idolatry from as far back as the Reformation in Britain to the destruction of the Bamiyan Buddahs by the Taliban in Afghanistan and the recent demolition of buildings associated with the prophet Mohammed by the current Saudi Arabian government.
I wish to examine how personal and political narratives relate to contested landscapes, in particular those burdened with conflicting signification and the way in which confession (in both the religious sense, the documentary film making tradition and the confessional mode in contemporary art practice) is adopted as a means of confronting and coming to terms with these events. I am also interested in the way historic visual material (the archive) informs and influences the way in which we understand and represent the present and how the tension between documentary and fiction can be resolved in a work of art.
People |
ORCID iD |
| Jananne Al-Ani (Principal Investigator) |
Publications
Anthony Downey
(2011)
The Future of a Promise (exhibition catalogue)
Gresh Kristen
(2013)
She Who Tells a Story: Women Photographers from Iran and the Arab World
HG Masters
(2013)
Disembodied Perspectives
in Art Asia Pacific
Jean-Yves Jouannais
(2011)
Topographies de la Guerre (exhibition catalogue)
Myrna Ayad
(2010)
Look and You Shall Find
in Canvas Magazine
Nat Muller
(2014)
Technologies of History: Jananne Al-Ani in conversation with Nat Muller
in Ibraaz
Niki Seth-Smith (Author)
(2008)
An interview featured in the article Art into Reality - The London Magazine Talks to Four Women Arab Artists
in The London Magazine
Pedro Azara
(2012)
Antes del Diluvio (exhibition catalogue)
Rachel Withers
(2011)
Conversation with Jananne Al-Ani
in RES Magazine
Sharmini Pereira
(2011)
Footnote to a Project* (exhibition catalogue)
| Title | Aerial I-VI |
| Description | Six stills from the film Shadow Sites II produced as a series of archival pigment prints. |
| Type Of Art | Artwork |
| Year Produced | 2011 |
| Impact | The series Aerial I-VI has been exhibited widely both nationally and internationally including group exhibitions She Who Tells a Story, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (2013); Memory Material: Jananne Al-Ani & Stéphanie Saadé, Akinci Gallery, Amsterdam (2014); My Sister Who Travels, Mosaic Rooms, London and the solo exhibition Excavations at the Hayward Gallery Project Space, London (2014). Four of the six images were acquired by the Art Fund for the V&A collection, London. |
| Title | Excavations (solo exhibition) |
| Description | Solo exhibition at the Hayward Gallery Project Space, London including Shadow Sites I, Excavators and Aerial I-VI. |
| Type Of Art | Artistic/Creative Exhibition |
| Year Produced | 2014 |
| Impact | The exhibition was part of the Southbank Centre's Women of the World Festival and was accompanied by a discussion with Hayward Gallery Chief Curator Stephanie Rosenthal and a screening and 'in conversation' with the writer and critic Irit Rogoff, which was part of Film and Video Umbrella's anniversary programme of screenings and special events, 25 Frames. |
| Title | Excavators |
| Description | A single channel small scale monitor based work made from digitised super 16 mm film and shown in a gallery context. The film features a group of ants building a nest in the sand. filmed from above, in a perfectly vertical position, reminiscent of footage shot by fighter pilots in action, Excavators sets up a tension between a 'microscopic' view on the ground and a long-distanced cartographic view from the air. |
| Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
| Year Produced | 2010 |
| Impact | The Guide and Flock were first show in the 2008 Whitstable Biennale and in solo exhibitions at Darat al Funun, Amman, Jordan (2010), the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Washington DC (2012) and the Beirut Art Center, Lebanon (2013). |
| Title | Groundwork (solo exhibition) |
| Description | Large survey exhibition of photographic and moving image works at the Beirut Art Center, Lebanon. |
| Type Of Art | Artistic/Creative Exhibition |
| Year Produced | 2013 |
| Impact | Founded by artist Lamia Joreige and curator Sandra Dagher, The Beirut Art Center opened in 2009 and is one of the most significant independent venues in the region and beyond. The exhibition included The Guide and Flock, Shadow Sites I, Shadow Sites II and Excavators. The exhibition opened with a public discussion about the critical function of documentary practices in the specific context of past and current conflict zones between Jananne Al-Ani, Eric Baudelaire and Diane Dufour, Director of LE BAL, Paris. |
| Title | Jananne Al-Ani (solo exhibition) |
| Description | Survey exhibition of photographic and moving images works at Darat al Funun in Amman, Jordan, one of the most significant contemporary art venues in the Middle East. The exhibition included The Guide and Flock and Shadow Sites I. |
| Type Of Art | Artistic/Creative Exhibition |
| Year Produced | 2010 |
| Impact | The May/June 2010 issue of Canvas Magazine, which covers art and culture in the Middle East, featured a substantial profile of my work focusing on the new work being showcased in the exhibition at Darat al Funun. |
| Title | Shadow Sites I |
| Description | Shadow Sites I is a single channel large scale projection made from digitised super 16 mm film and shown in a gallery context. The film is an outcome of the research project The Aesthetics of Disappearance: A Land Without People, which explores the disappearance of the body in contested and highly charged territories by examining the evidence of atrocity and genocide in the often beautiful landscapes into which the bodies of victims disappear. Referring to the use of aerial surveillance and reconnaissance in modern warfare, the film takes the form of an aerial journey, scanning the surface of the earth to reveal landscapes bearing traces of natural and man-made activity. Filmed in the south of Jordan and made from a succession of vertical aerial shots, Shadow Sites I exposes agricultural, industrial and military sites ranging from the ancient to the contemporary such as early farm settlements, bronze age copper mines, Roman forts and modern intensive farming. |
| Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
| Year Produced | 2010 |
| Impact | The film has been screened and exhibited widely both nationally and internationally, including the Sydney (2012) and Sharjah (2013) biennials, and has been acquired by Arts Council England Collection, London and the Mori Art Museum collection, Tokyo. |
| Title | Shadow Sites II |
| Description | A single channel large scale projection made from high-resolution digital photographs shown in a gallery context. The film is an outcome of the research project The Aesthetics of Disappearance: A Land Without People, which which explores the disappearance of the body in times of war and examines the relationship between film, photography and 20th century military conflict. Made from high-resolution aerial photographs shot in Jordan, Shadow Sites II adopts the vantage point of a Predator drone and replicates the action of 'locking onto a target'. By sequencing the images, the rich and varied traces imprinted on this landscape by ancient farming, mining, archaeological and military activity, can be deciphered. The audio track combines ambient sounds collected on location with appropriated and digitally manipulated contemporary military recordings. |
| Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
| Year Produced | 2011 |
| Impact | Shadow Sites II has been exhibited and screened widely included the biennials of Venice (2011); Sydney (2012); Sharjah (2013); and Istanbul (2013). The film was acquired by the Abraaj Capital Collection, Dubai; the Fondation Louis Vuitton pour la Création, Paris; the Museum of Fine Art, Boston and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Stills from the film are also in the V&A collection, London. |
| Title | Shadow Sites: Recent Work by Jananne Al-Ani (solo exhibition) |
| Description | Solo exhibition at the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Washington DC. The Guide and Flock, Shadow Sites II and Excavators were shown 'in conversation' with a selection of extraordinary original panoramic photographs from the collection by renowned archaeologist Ernst Herzfeld (1879-1948). |
| Type Of Art | Artistic/Creative Exhibition |
| Year Produced | 2012 |
| Impact | The exhibition included The Guide and Flock, Shadow Sites II and Excavators which were shown 'in conversation' with a selection of extraordinary original panoramic photographs from the collection by renowned archaeologist Ernst Herzfeld (1879-1948). |
| Title | The Guide and Flock |
| Description | The Guide and Flock is a two channel video installation. The Guide is a large scale projection made from digitised Super 16mm film and Flock is a small scale monitor based work shot of digital video. Part of a larger portfolio of photographic and moving image work produced during the research project The Aesthetics of Disappearance: A Land Without People, The Guide and Flock explores the role of both the physical body and the 'virtual' body (through its representation in art and architecture) in the real and imagined landscapes of the Middle East. As a desolate desert track comes into focus on a large screen, an unidentified man walks away from the camera, eventually fading into the distance. In contrast, a postcard-sized monitor shows a herd of sheep grazing on the edge of a busy highway. The calm image is interrupted repeatedly by heavy traffic passing closely in the foreground. The work draws us into the nineteenth-century Orientalist stereotype of the desert as an unoccupied site while playing on the biblical figure of the lonely shepherd and his flock. |
| Type Of Art | Artistic/Creative Exhibition |
| Year Produced | 2008 |
| Impact | First shown in the 2008 Whitstable Biennale, The Guide and Flock have been included in solo exhibitions at Darat al Funun, Amman, Jordan (2010); the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Washington DC (2012) and the Beirut Art Center, Lebanon (2013). The Guide and Flock are part of the Khalid Shoman Foundation Collection, Darat al Funun, Amman, Jordan. |
| Title | The Guide and Flock (solo exhibition) |
| Description | First US exhibition of The Guide and Flock at Modified Arts, Phoenix, Arizona. |
| Type Of Art | Artistic/Creative Exhibition |
| Year Produced | 2008 |
| Impact | When The Guide and Flock were shown at Modified Arts they were projected on to the opaque glass windows at street level and were visible from inside and outside the gallery, making the work accessible to all passers-by. |
| Title | The Guide and Flock (solo exhibition) |
| Description | The Guide and Flock were first shown in the UK during the 2008 Whitstable Biennale. |
| Type Of Art | Artistic/Creative Exhibition |
| Year Produced | 2008 |
| Impact | The Guide and Flock were installed in a shipping container on the main beach and in addition to artists and arts professionals who were in Whitstable for the Biennale, the installation also attracted the attention of holiday makers and locals using the seafront who might not otherwise have visited an art gallery or museum to see the work. |
| Description | The questions I addressed during my AHRC funded fellowship addressed how personal and political narratives relate to contested landscapes, in particular those burdened with conflicting signification and the way in which confession (in both the religious sense, the documentary film making tradition and the confessional mode in contemporary art practice) is adopted as a means of confronting and coming to terms with these events. I also examined the way historic visual material (the archive) informs and influences the way in which we understand and represent the present and how the tension between documentary and fiction can be resolved in a work of art. During the fellowship I produced a new and ambitious body of photographic and moving image work while documenting a rich variety of sites were identified through a research process based on the examination of material in photographic, film and sound archives; by carrying out field trips and by investigating a range of subjective accounts of atrocity and genocide. I pushed my own boundaries both technically and aesthetically by working with aerial film and photography and combining old and new processes by bringing together analogue film and digital photography and adopting cutting edge HD post-production work flows. |
| Exploitation Route | The work produced during my AHRC funded fellowship continues to be exhibited, reviewed, published and acquired by major art institutions both nationally and internationally. |
| Sectors | Creative Economy,Education,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
| Description | The AHRC fellowship funded fellowship provided me with an exceptional opportunity to focus fully on my practice as an artist, engaging with the academic life of the University of the Arts and developing my skills as a researcher and an active member of the academic and artistic community both nationally and internationally. I addressed the questions raised in my programme of research through field trips, time spent in film, photography and sound archives and by exploring the work of other artists through exhibitions, screening, lectures and face-to-face discussion. My work has contributed to the growing intellectual debate on contemporary art practices from the Middle East through the organisation of talks and seminars and the presentation of key papers at significant conferences and events in the UK, the US and the Middle East. As the fellowship drew to a close I had a full programme of solo and exhibitions in place, showing to new and growing audiences, in some of the most significant venues in the Middle East. These exhibitions were followed by a series of Solo and groups shows in a number of high profile galleries in Europe, the United States and beyond. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2008 |
| Sector | Creative Economy,Education,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
| Impact Types | Cultural |
| Description | I received a £5,000 Grants for the Arts Award from Arts Council England (ACE) in 2008 for the post-production of The Guide and Flock. |
| Amount | £5,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Arts Council England |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 04/2008 |
| End | 09/2008 |
| Description | In 2010 I received a £15,000 Grants for the Arts Award from Arts Council England for the production of the film Shadow Sites I |
| Amount | £15,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Arts Council England |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 04/2010 |
| End | 09/2010 |
| Description | In 2010 I was awarded 2,500 Euro by the Young Arab Theatre Fund towards the production of the film Shadow Sites. |
| Amount | £1,800 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Young Arab Theatre Fund |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | Belgium |
| Start | |