Vlag / Flag #7 Hussein Shikha – 'Huriya, Huriya, Huriya, Huriya'
NL
Hussein Shikha is een multidisciplinair kunstenaar, schrijver en grafisch ontwerper die werkt met traditionele motieven en het rijke erfgoed van Zuid-Irakese tapijt- en textielfabricage, vaak op het snijvlak van kunst en design. Hussein neemt deze persoonlijke ervaring van het navigeren door ontheemding en diasporische culturele identiteit als uitgangspunt.
De vlag die hij maakte, op uitnodiging van 019 en Cas-co, combineert de geschiedenis van vroege computertechnologie en pixels met het maken van tapijten. Huriya betekent vrijheid in het Arabisch. Husseins eerste geweven tapijt is momenteel te zien in Kunsthal Extra City in Antwerpen, als onderdeel van hun semi-permanente collectie.
De vlag wordt geïnaugureerd met een performatieve rondleiding door Hussein Shikha en Yasmina Reggad, performancekunstenaar en regisseur, schrijver, onderzoeker, dramaturg en onafhankelijk curator. De rondleiding start aan Cas-co en eindigt met het hijsen van de vlag.
EN
Hussein Shikha is a multidisciplinary artist, writer and graphic designer, working with traditional motifs and the rich heritage of Southern Iraqi carpet-making and textile, often at the edge of art and design. Hussein takes this personal experience of navigating displacement and diasporic cultural identity as a starting point.
Invited to conceive a flag for 019 and Cas-co, the piece blends the history of early computer technology and pixels with carpet-making, Huriya meaning freedom in arabic. Hussein’s first woven carpet is currently on view at Kunsthal Extra City in Antwerp, as part of their semi-permanent collection.
On the opening night, and departing from Cas-co, a Performative Guided Tour will lead us towards the hoisting of the flag with Hussein Shikha and Yasmina Reggad, performance artist and director, writer, researcher, dramaturge and independent curator.
Yasmina Reggad is a performance artist and director, writer, researcher, dramaturge and independent curator based in Brussels, Belgium. She co-founded and was the curator at aria (artist residency in algiers) and previously worked at the Delfina Foundation (UK) and Art Dubai Projects (UAE). Recently, she was curator of Zineb Sedira’s solo presentation Dreams Have No Titles at the French National Pavilion — the 59th Venice Biennale (2020−2022), and artistic director of the first edition of the Bienal das Amazônias (Brazil) in 2020 – 2022.
As a performance artist, she conducts research and develops projects that investigate alternative systems of knowledge and artistic modes of production as well as explore performative methodologies informed by past and present militant actions and practices.
Yasmina Reggad has created personal projects that span different genres from performance and lecture-performance to dance pieces, and sound interventions and (pirate) broadcasting. Her works is often based on unconventional audio-visual and documentary archives, and operates as a companion to the practice of essay writing. Her work was recently staged at at Performa at Roma Tre University (IT); The Mosaic Rooms (UK); Beursschouwburg, KANAL – Centre Pompidou and Kaaistudio’s (Belgium); La Cantine Syrienne de Montreuil, Cité internationale des arts, Les Rencontres à l’échelle — Mucem; and Chimurenga’s PASS Liberation radio for Documenta 15 (Tanzania), among others.
Portrait credits: Valérie Nagant