BEHOLD, WE ARE HERE

Ikram Abdulkadir, Aftenskole, Meriç Algün, Arkiv S, Rebeca Carapiá, Madubuko Diakité, Susanna Jablonski, Vincent Meessen, Roberto N Peyre

Lunds konsthall and locations throughout Lund

Opening on Friday, 9 September at 6–8pm.
Performance during the opening by Roberto N Peyre, in collaboration with choreographer/musician/dancer Marcus Doverud, at 6.30pm.

Artist talk on Saturday, 10 September at 1pm with Susanna Jablonski and Hanni Kamaly.

A billboard by Arkiv S will be installed on the facade of Lunds konsthall during the exhibition period.

BEHOLD, WE ARE HERE revolves around nine artistic practices that reflect critically on the position of the individual in contemporary society and on how the past continues to shape the present.

The participating artists return to interpretations of events that are both intimate and global. Their work questions public and collective memory. Whose stories are forgotten? What role do history and memory play in the formation of the Self? How have current power structures grown out of a shared past?

The artists also question the relationship between subjectivity and power. How does society define a person as a political being? What happens when someone is faced with chains of command, regulations and boundaries? Different perspectives are brought together to engage artistically with the stories and histories that inform today’s political landscape.

The exhibition operates with different degrees of urgency, from the local to the geographically distant. It highlights the complexities of personal experience. It speaks of love and desire as a reason for crossing borders. It juxtaposes political narratives with images of beauty and grace.

BEHOLD, WE ARE HERE is curated by the artist Hanni Kamaly, whose practice and research form the basis of the exhibition. Kamaly searches archives and other collections for traces of bodies which were, throughout history, deprived of a name and a voice. The resulting work weaves together histories and exposes structures of patriarchal and colonial power, racism and nationalism also in the present.

We extend our warm thank you to Hanni Kamaly for the exhibition's highly relevant theme and content and for a great collaboration. A big thank you also to all the participating artists for their strong and insightful presentations. Thanks also to all the lenders and to Simon Klose for the valuable work on Madubuko Diakité's films. Special thanks to the great collaboration with IASPIS in Stockholm and Konstepidemin in Gothenburg that made possible Rebeca Carapiá's participation and production of a new artwork for the exhibition.

Curator: Hanni Kamaly

Photographer: Olof Nimar

Guided tour of the exhibition every Sunday at 3 pm.