BERLIN.- For the second iteration of Double Feature, three films by the French artist and poet Tarek Lakhrissi is on view. Through text, film, installation, and performance, Lakhrissi explores socio-political narratives that relate to diasporic and queer embodied experiences in Europe.

Drawing on the work of other artists and writers such as French writer Kaoutar Harchi and Cuban-American artist Félix González-Torres, Lakhrissi generates dreamlike environments where multiple voices, generations, and perspectives coexist. The artist thus disrupts any sense of historical canon and dominant narrative being linear. At once nostalgic and speculative, Lakhrissi’s work brings tenderness to the fore, not only as a means of resistance in the face of systemic violence, but as a way of relating to the past, present, and future.

Bright Heart (2023) is a wistful exploration of queer resistance. The film guides viewers on a journey into the night as Jahid, the main character, wanders through the dimly lit streets of Paris. Jahid’s path takes a sinister turn as he is followed by a figure clad in a motorcycle helmet and gear. Seeking solace in an old museum, the Musée des Arts et Métiers, Jahid encounters two vampiric characters, Opal and Kahina, who take turns reading from Comme nous existons (The Way We Exist, 2021) by Kaoutar Harchi. They describe the internalization of shame that occurs under hierarchies of violence and how people who are oppressed can begin to believe in their own inferiority. Opal and Kahina’s words serve as a warning, illuminating a world in transformation, a society in tumult. “I hear old Europe trembling,” one of the vampires says, “You must be ready to face this world and open your bright heart.” Their call to overcome fear and shame is also an invitation to embrace love, to wield its power.

In Spiraling (2021), the camera moves along tracks, slowly guiding the viewer’s gaze from a dark gallery space into one that is brightly lit. A vertical pole is installed on a round platform in the center of the room. Stage lights envelop the space in a warm haze as a figure in a sheer, neon dress and translucent heels walks over to the pole and begins to dance while Lakhrissi’s voice-over recounts a coming-of-age story. The figure is queer rights activist and performer Mila Furie, whose fluid choreography creates a palpable tension with the imposing walls that surround her. Filmed in a gallery at the Haus der Kunst in Munich, Spiraling centers the presence of queer bodies of color within institutional spaces. Drawing inspiration from Félix González-Torres’s 1991 work, Untitled (Go-Go Dancing Platform), Furie’s performance brings a sense of intimacy into the cold and totalitarian architecture of the Haus der Kunst – a building infamously known as the first major architectural project commissioned by the Nazi Party in 1933. Furie commands the viewer’s attention and, in doing so, subverts the power dynamics of the space. As if eavesdropping on a private rehearsal, the viewer is acutely aware of their own gaze, as well as that of the camera and surrounding stage lights.

Hard To Love (2017), Lakhrissi’s first video, considers the impact of colonialism and xenophobia on our ability to love and be loved. The film consists of a single clip, in which a hand is seen picking up a glass of water and putting it back down, played over and over again for the duration of the work. This repeated motion echoes the rhythm of the narrator’s words. “I didn’t learn to speak,” Lakhrissi asserts in the voiceover, alluding to the loss of meaning and fragmentation that can occur in the process of translation. Moving between Arabic, English, and French, the artist traces the link between language and self-perception, the external factors that shape our internal worlds. Repeating, stuttering, and interrupting his own words, Lakhrissi creates a sense of rupture throughout Hard To Love. “I told you last time…you are hard to love,” he says, “but I forgot to say that it was first hard to love me.” In its poetic simplicity, the work highlights the nuanced repercussions of losing a mother tongue or being forced to speak in a language that is not one’s own. When there is always, inevitably, something lost, missing, or misconstrued in the utterance of a word or phrase, how can one ever be understood?

Double Feature is an ongoing series of solo presentations by emerging artists, taking place in Berlin and Düsseldorf simultaneously. The series is curated by Line Ajan & Lisa Long.

Tarek Lakhrissi (b. 1992, Châtellerault, France) is a French artist and poet with a background in literature. While rooted in past and present political events, his texts, films, installations, and performances are equally imbued with speculative potential. Lakhrissi often sets his work in surrealist environments and gives them magical attributes, with an approach that seeks to transform reality. Lakhrissi’s work has been exhibited internationally, including at Palais de Tokyo, Paris; Hayward Gallery, London; La Verrière - Fondation Hermès, Brussels; Haus der Kunst, Munich, and Palazzo Re Rebaudengo/Sandretto, Guarene/Torino. He has an upcoming solo show at Migros Museum in Zurich (opening 9 February 2024), which is curated by co-director Michael Birchall.