Sensory Spaces 14 – Latifa Echakhch
9 June – 30 September 2018
Sensory Spaces is a series of commissioned solo projects in the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen. Artists are invited to respond to the architectural qualities of the exhibition space, emphasizing notions of transformation and surprise.
Latifa Echakhch (b. 1974, El Khnansa) presents a new installation for the fourtheen edition of Sensory Spaces in Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen. It is the first time this internationally-renowned artist – winner of the 2013 Marcel Duchamp Prize and the 2015 Zurich Art Prize – has a solo exhibition in the Netherlands. Especially for the Willem van der Vorm Galerij, Echakhch creates a dramatic scene with clothes drenched in black ink. On the floor are the traces left by the clothes as they were dragged across it. The interplay of lines is reminiscent of the star-shaped patterns in mosques and Oriental palaces. These figures can be repeated endlessly and touch upon the divine and absolute in the Islamic faith. Echakhch, however, breaks open the star shape and creates her own paths. She detaches the motif from its original meaning and makes room for new interpretations.
Echakhch seeks to examine preconceived ideas about identity, nationality and cultural traditions. She deconstructs, or literally destroys ‘Arab’ or other culturally determined forms, objects and materials. Visitors to her installations often witness the remains of a physical act in which the traces left behind evoke feelings of loss, emptiness and grief. Using minimal interventions, Echakhch creates works with a strong emotional impact.
If you would like to find out more about the artist and the installation, watch the video about Latifa Echakhch on arttube.nl or read my essay here.
Latifa Echakhch, Sensory Spaces 14, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam, 2018. Photo: Hans Wilschut
Latifa Echakhch, Sensory Spaces 14, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam, 2018. Photo: Hans Wilschut
Latifa Echakhch, Sensory Spaces 14, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam, 2018. Photo: Hans Wilschut
‘L’air du temps’, 2014 – Photo: Fabrice Seixas – Courtesy of the artist and the galleries: Dvir, Tel Aviv; kaufmann repetto, Milan; kamel mennour, Paris; Eva Presenhuber, Zurich
‘L’air du temps’, 2014 – Photo: Fabrice Seixas – Courtesy of the artist and the galleries: Dvir, Tel Aviv; kaufmann repetto, Milan; kamel mennour, Paris; Eva Presenhuber, Zurich
‘Tkaf’, 2011 – Bricks and pigment – Photo: Fabrice Seixas Courtesy of the artist and kamel mennour, Paris
‘Dérive’, 2015 – Acrylic paint on canvas – Photo: Elad Sarig – Courtesy of the artist and Dvir Gallery, Tel Aviv/ Brussels
