“DOE NEUTRAAL” exhibition
Ongoing installations throughout New Radicalisms 2024 by artists Diana Al-Halabi, Nabil Aniss, and Tala Abdalhadi
'Clean Cut' by Diana Al-Halabi, is an acrylic painting on canvas (120x180 cm, 2024). She quotes: “Those who are against Fascism without being against capitalism, who lament over the barbarism that comes out of barbarism, are like people who wish to eat their veal without slaughtering the calf. They are willing to eat the calf, but they dislike the sight of blood. They are easily satisfied if the butcher washes his hands before weighing the meat. They are not against the property relations which engender barbarism; they are only against barbarism itself. They raise their voices against barbarism, and they do so in countries where precisely the same property relations prevail, but where the butchers wash their hands before weighing the meat.” From Writing The Truth Five Difficulties - Bertolt Brecht, 1935
'Archeology of Violence' by Nabil Aniss, is a moving image installation in the form of a series of three films, 'Reminder of creeping intentionality' (14 min), 'Politics of assembly' (12 min), and 'Don't comment on existence' (18 min). By provoking a radical shift against ‘neutrality’ and ‘universalism’, Nabil Aniss sheds light on the severe violence and mutilation that political institutions inflict on diasporic bodies under the guise of impartiality. Aniss’ work, therefore, explores the complex interplay between power, identity, and marginalization, challenging the facade of neutrality that conceals systemic violence. Archeology of Violence delves deeply into how the notion of neutrality from political or arts institutions is a form of violence in itself, by which diasporic bodies face physical segregation and mutilation. These intellectual and political effects of violence manifest in the social spheres of labor, health, and education. Consequently, Aniss demands resistance to this obfuscation of violence, by exposing the paradoxical paradigm of the dominant society which utilises “nothing justifies violence” as a form of self-preservation. Re-appropriations of violence, for instance, the self-mutilation rituals of the Gnawa society in Morocco, therefore become an instrument of resistance against the facade of neutrality.
'Producing What We Never Witnessed, Without Reproducing What We Ever Only Lived' by Tala Abdalhadi
The multimedia installation of Tala Abdalhadi challenges the attempt to condition communities under oppression to “normalcy” and “docility” standards of the oppressive ruling entity. It especially addresses the youth who only existed in that conditioned reality. This resulted in kinetic sculptural fashion pieces made by shirts previously owned and lived in by European Israeli settlers. The shirts hold strong meanings in the Palestinian context. They refer to ‘Al-Musta’ribeen,’ Israeli soldiers who disguise themselves as Palestinians during protests and operations. These shirts, visually connected to those worn by settlers, bear witness to the complex and painful history of settler colonialism. Through this installation, Tala’s aim was to ‘bring back home’ these shirts to Europe. Re-constructed by the oppressed to defy upholding the structures of oppression. Putting them face to face with the people who can either confirm or defy the docility of the oppressive powers.
However, Tala’s visa application to The Netherlands was refused 5 days before the exhibition’s opening. Instead of showing the physical fashion pieces, she has now converted them into augmented reality 3D model scans. After scanning the QR code, press on the ‘AR’ logo to see the 3D model floating and juxtaposing with other figures in the surrounding space.