Ghita Skali’s “Narrative Machines” & discussion with the Knowledge Workshop

To mark the launch of Narrative Machines in Beirut, we are excited to have Ghita Skali’s with us to present excerpts of the publication and to be in conversation with the Knowledge Workshop (KW) around questions and frameworks that inform their respective practices of (re)writing the past, storytelling, and the common threads between Skali’s focus on the anecdotal on the one hand, and KW’s focus on oral practices as alternative histories on the other.

Narrative Machines is an artist’s book disguised as a medical publication written by six fictional women characters from Morocco. The publication, co-written with Ayla Mrabett and Kaoutar Chaqchaq and designed by Roxane Maillet, explores the underlying relationship between mythmaking, scientific advancement and their use in political agendas by commenting on paranoia, fake news, patriarchy, and media ganging together in the Maghreb (and everywhere else). But it also shows a chosen community of women who confide, support each other and laugh a good load. 

This collective publication resonates with the Knowledge Workshop’s (re)search on local women’s stories and histories, and their latest two publications: What Remains: Eco-Feminist Pursuits – which grew out of their work on oral histories of women in the environmental movement – and Feminist 90s, a multi-fold approach of essays, letters, and recorded oral history interviews.

This event will be conducted in English at Beirut Art Center

About Ghita Skali:
Ghita Skali (born 1992 in Casablanca) is an artist based in Amsterdam. She studied in France, first at Villa Arson, Nice then at the post-graduate program of the Fine Arts School in Lyon. She was a De Ateliers (Amsterdam) resident between 2018 and 2020. She notably exhibited recently at Kunsthal extra City (Antwerp), Palais de Tokyo (Paris) and at the Stedelijk Museum (Amsterdam).

About Knowledge Workshop:
The Knowledge Workshop (KW) is a feminist organization founded in 2015. KW’s work focuses on (re)searching local women’s stories and histories, and creating and making accessible feminist resources. KW engages women from different communities and movements in Lebanon, and connects with feminists across generations and spaces.

Visuals prepared by Ghiya Haidar in the framework of BAC Graphic-Designer in Residence Program