Gasworks opens the first solo exhibition in London by artist Bassam Al-Sabah
The First Art Newspaper on the Net    Established in 1996 Wednesday, November 27, 2024


Gasworks opens the first solo exhibition in London by artist Bassam Al-Sabah
Bassam Al-Sabah, I AM ERROR, 2021. Video HD, 28 min. Film still. Commissioned by Gasworks, in partnership with De La Warr Pavilion, with the generous support of the Freelands Foundation.



LONDON.- Gasworks presents the first solo exhibition in London by Belfast-based artist Bassam Al-Sabah, I AM ERROR, from 21 July to 19 September 2021. His work embraces the shape-shifting potential of computer-animated worlds, creating fantasy dreamscapes in which personal mythology, historical trauma and queer possibility intersect. Al Sabah’s exhibition centres on a new animation film displayed in an immersive environment, combining fantasy erotica and body horror to explore questions of identity and masculinity in action-adventure video games.

In previous works, Al-Sabah reflected on geographical dislocation through reference to Japanese anime cartoons broadcast throughout the Middle East during his childhood. Packed with imagery of warfare, anime cartoons and video game culture take on a heightened political significance within Al-Sabah’s practice, whose family was exiled from Baghdad after the Iraq War.

The exhibition at Gasworks explores the construction of masculinity in action adventure video games. Presented in an immersive cinematic environment, Al-Sabah’s newly commissioned CGI films confront the armouring of the male body in gaming culture by queering its military ethos from within.

The centrepiece is a 28-minute-long animation projected on to a large curved screen. It features a collection of cinematic sequences from an imaginary game in which the hero’s body is constantly in flux, undergoing metamorphoses as a result of his encounter with other lifeforms, whose physical touch makes him vulnerable to change, threatening his identity and selfhood.

Combining fantasy erotica and body horror, Al-Sabah’s films celebrate the hero’s growth and transformation in all itsliteralness, as his body sprouts and blends into its surroundings, among writhing flowers and tentacular creatures. The tactile, hyperrealistic quality of the footage contrasts with the immersive architecture of the film installation, which engulfs the viewer to induce a sense of disembodiment. The show is punctuated by digitally sculpted objects that explore the materiality of organic decay, extending the eerie atmosphere of Al-Sabah’s animations into the gallery space. Bassam Al-Sabah’s exhibition is part of the Freelands Gasworks Partnership.

Bassam Al-Sabah lives and works in Belfast and Dublin. He graduated from IADT Dún Laoghaire in 2016, and was awarded the RHA Graduate Studio Award (2016-2017) and the Temple Bar Gallery Residency Award (2018-2019). Recent exhibitions include RTÉ Illuminations (2020); Solstice Arts Centre, Navan (2019); The LAB, Dublin (2018); and Eight Gallery, Dublin (2017).

Al-Sabah is the fifth artist to take part in the Freelands Gasworks Partnership, a programme for emerging UK artists based outside of London. Made possible thanks to a generous grant from the Freelands Foundation, the programme combines a three month residency with a solo exhibition, commissioned by Gasworks in partnership with De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill-on-Sea, where a second instalment of the show will be presented in 2022. Previous participants were Jamie Crewe, Rachal Bradley, Libita Sibungu, and Lauren Gault.










Today's News

July 22, 2021

A famous blue butterfly: Still extinct but more distinct

Art Basel announces exhibitor list for 2021 in-person Basel edition, with 273 leading galleries

Art Fund Museum of the Year 2021 shortlist announced

UNESCO removes Liverpool from world heritage list

Man admits to 1971 theft of Revolutionary War-era rifle

Kennedy Center taps Joni Mitchell and Berry Gordy for awards

Jerry Garcia Family to release NFT collection of artworks created by the music legend

Contemporary Jewish Museum names Chad Coerver Executive Director

Creative Folkestone Triennial 2021 opens with 23 major new public artworks across the coastal town

CURRO opens a summer group exhibition: 'Simulacro y simulación'

New York International Antiquarian Book Fair returns to New York September 9-12

'Dines Carlsen: In His Own Manner' opens at the National Nordic Museum

Exhibition provides glimpse at the many ways artists question, expose and confront power

ComicConnect's massive pulps auction underscores genre's growing popularity

Important group of medals awarded to Captain Peter Townsend fetches £260,000 at Dix Noonan Webb

Monterey Museum of Art names Corey Madden as Executive Director

First Tange Kenzo survey in Tokyo presented at National Archives of Modern Architecture

Gasworks opens the first solo exhibition in London by artist Bassam Al-Sabah

Carol Easton, biographer of arts figures, dies at 87

Gil Wechsler, an illuminating fixture at the Met Opera, dies at 79

Cartoon Museum calls for protest placards to be shared to accompany V for Vendetta exhibition

First Nations artist Jenna Lee appointed to Craft Victoria Board

Bruce Lee's handwritten letters bring $462,500 at Heritage Auctions

Marilyn Monroe's $1.28 million sale is bombshell opening for Heritage Auctions' all-star entertainment event

How can Double Mattress Protector Help You in Preventing Mattress?

"Difference" and "Great Harmony" Humanistic Orientation in Yixin Wang's New Exhibition




Museums, Exhibits, Artists, Milestones, Digital Art, Architecture, Photography,
Photographers, Special Photos, Special Reports, Featured Stories, Auctions, Art Fairs,
Anecdotes, Art Quiz, Education, Mythology, 3D Images, Last Week, .

 



Founder:
Ignacio Villarreal
(1941 - 2019)
Editor & Publisher: Jose Villarreal
Art Director: Juan José Sepúlveda Ramírez
Writer: Ofelia Zurbia Betancourt

Attorneys
Truck Accident Attorneys
Accident Attorneys
Houston Dentist
Abogado de accidentes
สล็อต
สล็อตเว็บตรง
Motorcycle Accident Lawyer

Royalville Communications, Inc
produces:

ignaciovillarreal.org juncodelavega.com facundocabral-elfinal.org
Founder's Site. Hommage
to a Mexican poet.
Hommage
       

The First Art Newspaper on the Net. The Best Versions Of Ave Maria Song Junco de la Vega Site Ignacio Villarreal Site Parroquia Natividad del Señor
Tell a Friend
Dear User, please complete the form below in order to recommend the Artdaily newsletter to someone you know.
Please complete all fields marked *.
Sending Mail
Sending Successful