HD, Video, 2009
Courtesy of the Nadour Collection.
HD, Video, 2009
Courtesy of the Nadour Collection.
Installation shot at #COMETOGETHER, London 12
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In A Space Exodus, Larissa Sanour revives scenes from Stanley Kubrick’s cult film 2001 A Space Odyssey (1968), as well as some sequences from the first American lunar landings broadcast on the television (1969).
In the video, the symphonic poem Thus Spoke Zarathustra by Richard Strauss, used in the original soundtrack of Stanley Kubrick’s film, is remixed with Eastern overtones. The flag planted on the moon’s soil is that of the Palestinian people and the American astronaut Neil Armstrong’s famous phrase is altered to “one small step for the Palestinian, one giant leap for mankind”. The ironic, indeed humorous tone, suggesting pastiche and misappropriation is counterbalanced by the nostalgic aspect of the title A Space Exodus, implying the impossibility of the Palestinian people ever establishing their own state. Is the moon the only place left for a people in search of a homeland?
Marion Guilmot
1973 born in Jerusalem, Palestine and lives and works in London, UK.
Larissa Sansour was born in East Jerusalem and studied Fine Art in Copenhagen, London and New York. Her work is interdisciplinary and uses film, photography, installation and sculpture.
Larissa borrows heavily from the language of film and pop culture. By approximating the nature, reality and complexity of life in Palestine and the Middle East to visual forms normally associated with entertainment and televised pastime, her grandiose and often humorous schemes clash with the gravity expected from works commeting on the region.
Solo exhibitions include the Bluecoat in Liverpool, Chapter in Cardiff, New Art Exchange in Nottingham, Nikolaj Kunst in Copenhagen, Turku Art Museum in Finland, Wolverhampton Art Gallery, Kulturhuset in Stockholm and DEPO in Istanbul.
Larissa's work has featured in the biennials of Istanbul, Busan and Liverpool. She has exhibited at venues such as Tate Modern, London; Centre Pompidou, Paris; LOOP, Seoul; Barbican, London; Al Hoash, Jerusalem; Queen Sofia Museum, Madrid; Centre for Photography, Sydney; Cornerhouse, Manchester; Townhouse, Cairo; Maraya Arts Centre, Sharjah, UAE; Empty Quarter, Dubai; Galerie Nationale de Jeu de Paume, Paris; Iniva, London; Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris; Third Guangzhou Triennial, Guangzhou , China; Louisiana Museum of Contemporary Art, Denmark; House of World Cultures, Berlin, and MOCA, Hiroshima.
Larissa is represented by Lawrie Shabibi in Dubai and Montoro12 Contemporary Art in Rome.
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