Shirin Neshat on display in Matera to present two videos from her feature film Looking for Oum Kulthum

On the occasion of Matera European Capital of Culture 2019, Iranian artist Shirin Neshat (Qazvin, 1957) presents in the city Lucania, at the Museum of Palazzo Lanfranchi, from Sept. 11, 2019 to Jan. 12, 2020, two works from her latest feature Looking for Oum Kulthum (2017) featuring Mitra, an Iranian-born filmmaker who has a dream of making a film dedicated to the legendary Egyptian singer Oum Kulthum, beloved throughout the Arab world. Dreamlike images are superimposed on historical reconstructions of the singer’s life and the account of Mitra’s existence, made even more tormented by the disappearance of her son.

As if transported in a dream, in the first of the two works, Remembrance, we see a boy led by the singer’s voice into a kind of space-time labyrinth. The young man’s gaze, reveals to us the many facets of Kulthum’s icon, her intimate and melancholy side and at the same time the strength of her stage presence and deep desire for freedom. In the video In Trance, the focus is on the mystical power of his music, capable of hypnotizing listeners. In this reflection on the ecstatic experience associated with Kulthum’s voice, the fragility and uncertainties of the young singer surface as she questions how to succeed in getting emotionally close to her audience.

On Sept. 11 at 6 p.m. there will be a talk with Shirin Neshat together with the Director of the Polo Museale della Basilicata Marta Ragozzino and MAXXI Arte Director Bartolomeo Pietromarchi. Following, 7 p.m., the screenings will be open to the public.

The exhibition opens daily from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. (Wednesdays from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.). Free admission. For all information you can visit the official MAXXI website.

Photo credit: Shirin Neshat. Courtesy Noirmontartproduction.

Source: release

Shirin Neshat on display in Matera to present two videos from her feature film Looking for Oum Kulthum

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