The Universal Periodic Review by Hanan Benammar
Published
Artist Hanan Benammar invites you to a performative event that aims to challenge fundamental concepts such as nationalism, resistance and cultural hegemony in the context of Western Sahara’s struggle for self-determination. The audience is given participatory rights during the conversation, mimicking the Universal Periodic Review, a process through which all UN member states are provided the opportunity to review the human rights records of all other member states.
Performance
Time: 10 November at 18:00
Place: Østre, Østre Skostredet 3
Western Sahara has been occupied by Morocco since 1975, after being occupied by Spain between 1884 and 1975. After four decades of peaceful resistance amidst Moroccan occupation, how can Western intellectuals help us to apply theory into a methodology and an analysis of a conflict that is very little discussed?
The guests participating in the performance are Asria Mohamed (activist and journalist), Dag Herbjørnsrud (historian of ideas, author and a founder of Center for Global and Comparative History of Ideas in Oslo), Erik Hagen (director of the Norwegian Support Committee for Western Sahara), Asbjørn Grønstad (professor of Visual Culture at the University of Bergen), Mads Andenæs (professor at the Faculty of Law of the University of Oslo and former UN special rapporteur) and Ylva Rian (musician).
Based on the symposium performance, Hanan Benammar will open an exhibition at Hordaland kunstsenter (HKS) on Sunday 13 November, 17:00, transforming the recorded and gathered material into a spatial, visual and audible exhibition, highlighting and pushing the boundaries of what an art context can be and contain. The Universal Periodic Review is Part Two of “That place of familiarity that holds and hurts”, an exhibition curated by Amber Ablett for HKS, and made in collaboration between BEK and HKS.
Hanan Benammar
Hanan Benammar is an Algerian/French artist based in Oslo, who works conceptually in the field between geopolitical, environmental and social conditions. Benammar was educated at the Academy of Fine Arts in Oslo and the Dutch Art Institute in the Netherlands. She has a broad display practice in visual and performing arts.
AMBER ABLETT
Amber Ablett is an artist and writer based in Bergen, Norway. Using performance, text, sound and re-enactment, her work looks at the importance of place and belonging to how we can be together, with a focus on how our society shapes, reflects, controls and limits our multifaceted identities. Stepping away from spectacle, Ablett often uses workshops and gatherings as a platform to share and open up her practice. Ablett’s work is informed by her experience of being a woman in Norway of British, Irish and Caribbean descent.
Image credits: “The Universal Periodic Review”. Image courtesy of Hanan Benammar.