In March, The Mosaic Rooms, London opened Imagined Futures, the first solo UK exhibition by Hrair Sarkissian. The exhibition features new video and previously unseen photographic work that reflect on concepts of place, conflict, and future. The private view was a busy affair and the exhibition received good press coverage, including The Metro, Hyperallergic, and Nafas Magazine amongst others.
Sarkissian was in conversation with Tate Modern’s curator Shoair Mavlian for the artist talk where the artists first publication, Background was launched. The book reflects on the disappearing tradition of studio portraiture in the Middle East and features hundreds of images taken by Sarkissian of studio backdrops from six cities in the region. The project was selected as one of ‘outstanding non-commercial art projects’ to be showcased on the first Art Basel Crowdfunding Initiative in partnership with Kickstarter.
The public programme of events included a panel discussion on the issues facing the disputed region of Nagorno Karabakh with Marina Nagai, Dr Hratch Tchilingirian, Dennis Sammut and Andrew Jack, two very well attended book launches, ‘My House in Damascus’ by Diana Darke and ‘Renaissance Emir’ by Ted Gordon. The later evoked the stories from the book through a variety of musical performances illustrating the 17th century Emir’s journey from the Levant to Tuscany. Two film screenings were also programmed, ‘Concerning Violence’ by Goran Hugo Olsson, a documentary exploring the struggle for national liberation in Africa from colonial rule in the late 60’s and 70’s through Franz Fanon’s ‘The Wretched of the Earth’ and ‘Haunted (Maskoon), a UK premier of a new documentary by Liwaa Yazji exploring what it means to flee your home in a war and the relationship Syrian people have with their homes during the current on-going conflict.
The Mosaic Rooms team also enjoyed a delicious team lunch prepared by Omar Al-Qattan and served in the main gallery room. The team hopes to make a team lunch a regular monthly occurrence.