Closer

jananne al-ani · tony chakar · antoine d’agata · mona hatoum · emily jacir · jill magid · anri sala · lina saneh · lisa steele · akram zaatari · cynthia zaven

beirut art center (bac) has the pleasure to announce its opening with the inaugural exhibition closer. how does one define “the intimate”? when is a story worthy of becoming public? what marks the border between a personal experience and an artistic one?

beirut art center’s opening exhibition closer, features art works drawn from personal and intimate stories, which create a space to reflect on experiences both common and unique, familiar and without precedent, public and intensely private.

all of the works included in this exhibition have in common a defined starting point from which narratives can take on various lives of their own. in initiating a process—whether it is switching on a camera before a relative without knowing where it may lead, or recording the passage of time through self-portraits taken over years—these art works create a field in which actions, ideas, and emotions can materialize unexpectedly, and even, accidentally.

often, these works shake our notions of reality by fictionalizing intimate stories and/or situating the artist as the subject/object of the work itself.

the exhibition is loosely built around three strands:

works in which artists create narratives around the presence of one or a few close members of their families.

works in which artists take a personal story in order to reflect on our collective histories and their multiple narratives.

and finally, works in which artists represent themselves at the center of the piece, raising questions as to the relations between one’s self image and one’s public image.