Curated by Deirdre Morrissey supported by Directors Matthew Nevin & Ciara Scanlan

The exhibition is kindly supported by The Arts Council of Ireland,  Goethe Institut Dublin and the  Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen.

[Closing event: Late Opening for Culture Night, Friday 22 September, 5 – 9pm]

The MART Gallery’s curatorial vision for 2017 is to select artists who work under the parameters of risk and political agitation, creating powerful, informative and experimental work. We are delighted to present ‘Freedom of Movement’ an exhibition of film work by renowned German artists Nina Fischer & Maroan el Sani.

MART first introduced the work of Fischer & el Sani to Ireland in 2014 when the artists presented film works ‘Narita Field Trip’ and ‘Spelling Dystopia’ in an exhibition curated by Barry Kehoe.  Both pieces were created when the artists were Associate Professors at the School of Art and Design in Sapporo City University in Japan and explored tensions that arise between the forces of globalisation and specific local narratives.

Always keen to build upon established relationships with international artists, MART has invited Fischer and El Sani back to Dublin for the presentation of two recent film installations ‘Identity’s Rule of Three’ (2015) and ‘Freedom of Movement’ (2017) These films pose questions on various aspects of human identity and society, the limits of geographical, artistic and social structure, and race relations.

Nina Fischer & Maroan el Sani are visual artists and directors who have worked collaboratively since the 1990s and both live and work in Berlin. Through their work they have explored narratives in various sites around the world juxtaposing hidden histories with the lived experiences of contemporary society and questioning cultural perspectives

Fischer & el Sani have participated in numerous international exhibitions, including Seoul Media City Bienniale (2014, 2012), Aichi Triennale (2013), Curitiba Biennale (2013), the Istanbul Biennale (2007), the Gwangju Biennale (2008, 2002, 1995), the Sydney Biennale (2002), Manifesta 4, Frankfurt (2002), Liverpool Biennial of Contemporary Art (1999).

Their solo shows have been hosted by, among others: Maxxi Museum, Rome (2017), K21 – Kunstsammlung NRW, Düsseldorf (2016), MART, Dublin (2014), Museu de Arte Moderna Aloisio Magalhães, Recife (2013), the Berlinische Galerie – Museum of Modern Art, Berlin (2012), the Austin Museum of Art – Arthouse, Austin (2012), the Hiroshima Museum of Contemporary Art (2010), the Cobra Museum, Amstelveen (2010), Kunsthaus Glarus (2009), the Stedelijk Museum Bureau, Amsterdam (2007), Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media (2005), Metropolitan Museum of Photography, Tokyo (1998)

Identity’s Rule of Three

HD, colour, stereo, 20 min., 2015

An an­i­mated film that seizes the highly controversial de­bate around the planned pre­sen­ta­tion of eth­no­log­i­cal col­lec­tions in the re­con­structed Berlin City Cas­tle as an op­por­tu­nity to en­vi­sion a dif­fer­ent fu­ture. Play­ful and yet se­ri­ous, it ex­plores ques­tions of au­then­tic­ity and iden­tity of the in­di­viduum, art, ar­chi­tec­ture and so­ci­ety.

Freedom of Movement

3 chan­nel video in­stal­la­tion, HD, 9:45 min, 2017

Evok­ing the Olympic marathon from Rome 1960, in which the Ethiopian Abebe Bik­ila con­quered the African con­ti­nent’s first gold medal, run­ning bare­foot and be­com­ing a sport­ing leg­end and a sym­bol of an Africa that is free­ing it­self of colo­nial­ism, Fis­cher & el Sani have re­con­tex­tu­alised amidst Rome’s ra­tio­nal­ist ar­chi­tec­ture, a new race in­volv­ing refugees and im­mi­grants stak­ing a claim to their “free­dom of move­ment”, also un­der­stood as the pos­si­bil­ity of being welcomed in an­other coun­try.