Something is rotten in the United States

ARTS & CULTURE
THE DAILY STAR
AGENDA
LE BAN O N
THEATER
‘Antigone Beirut’
Theatre Monnot, Achrafieh
Until December 11,
at 8:30 p.m.
+961 1 202 422
Ania Temler’s adaptation
of Sophocles’ tragedy
tackles themes of war
resistance, divine rights
and political rights.
MUSIC
Ziad Sahhab
Walimat Wardeh, Hamra
December 11, 10:30 p.m.
+961 1 343 128
The well-loved oud player performs a selection of
new songs with his band.
Lebanese National
Symphony Orchestra
St Joseph’s Church,
Achrafieh
December 11, 8:30 p.m.
+961 1 489 530
This week’s program features Bach’s “Double Violin Concerto,” “Sinfonia
Concertante” and Jolivet’s
“Concerto for Percussion.”
Walid Gholmieh conducts.
ImpertinAnce and
Christof Lauer
Assembly Hall, American
University of Beirut
December 10, 8 p.m.
+961 1 420 234
The ImpertinAnce
improvisational trio are
joined by saxophonist
Christof Lauer for an
evening of free jazz.
Just a thought
When you’re born you get
a ticket to the freak show.
When you’re born in America, you get a front row seat.
George Carlin
(1937-2008)
American comedian
thursday, december 10, 2009
R E VI E W
STAR SCENE
Something is rotten in the
United States
Beirut Art Center’s latest exhibition, ‘America,’ puts the US on the couch
Matthew Mosley
Daily Star staff
EIRUT: “America is
the most grandiose
experiment the world
has seen,” said Austrian neurologist Sigmund Freud,
“but, I am afraid, it is not going
to be a success.”
The father of psychoanalysis
was never afraid of generalizations and now the Beirut Art
Center (BAC) is similarly fearless in the theme of its new
show: “America.”
The aim is to put the US on
the couch.
This “is an attempt to question the [US] as a possible model of civilization,” says the exhibition blurb. “What does
‘America’ mean in our collective unconscious?”
To reach a verdict, the BAC
has corralled a selection of 15
works from artists of diverse
nationalities including, naturally, one or two Americans.
B
Visitors to
the
‘America”
exhibition
can play
Bilal’s video
game,
“The Night
of Bush
Capturing:
Virtual
Jihadi.”
Whether by consensus or by
curatorial decision, the general
opinion seems to chime with that
of Freud: Something is rotten in
the States. Many artists attempt
to pinpoint the problem, while
others look on the “grandiose
experiment” as something
already over and done, observing the bizarre edifices that have
been thrown up in the process.
The latter category results in
some of the most visually striking images. A series of photographs from Ziad Antar, titled
“New York Perime” (New
York Out-of-Date), captures
iconic locations on expired film
from 1976. The resulting
blotchy, smeared images project contemporary American
life into a grainy, nostalgic past
of luscious black-and-white.
Also in monochrome are the
crisper images of Catherine
Opie. An untitled series of prints
at the BAC show the monolithic
structures of Wall Street. Instead
of snapping upwards at the
looming buildings, Opie’s lens
captures the squashed, crowded
landscapes seen at street level.
Crammed with signage,
street furniture and slithers of
frontage, yet utterly devoid of
people, Opie’s streetscapes
could be a modern-day Ozymandias, manifesting both the
grandeur and the fragility of
human ambition. Her unpopulated portraits of America’s
financial district resonate all
the more loudly in the midst of
today’s financial crisis.
Due to the nature of America’s recent foreign policy, many
of the works deal
with the country’s relationship
with the Middle East. A striking
example is Wafaa Bilal’s video
game, “The Night of Bush Capturing: Virtual Jihadi.”
The history of Bilal’s piece
illustrates a pervasive pop-culture antagonism that persists
between the two regions. In
2003, a US software developer
released a video game named
“Quest for Saddam,” a multilevel shoot-‘em-up culminating
in a battle with the notorious
Iraqi president.
An
Al-Qaeda-sponsored
retaliation in 2006 manipulated
the original game, transforming
it into a hunt for the erstwhile
president of the US: “The Night
of Bush Capturing.”
Bilal’s version, available for
spectators to play at the BAC,
subjects the video game to yet
another spin. He casts himself as
a suicide bomber, recruited by
Al-Qaeda upon learning of the
death of his brother (Bilal’s
brother and father were real-life
casualties of the American invasion of Iraq).
Intended to draw attention
to racist stereotypes peddled by
such games as “Quest for Saddam,” as well as the increased
recruiting power of Al-Qaeda
in the wake of horrifically bungled US foreign adventures,
Bilal’s work was censored on a
recent showing in New York
when city officials described it
as “an act of terrorism.”
Racism is a prominent theme
in the “what’s wrong with
America” works. Kara Walker’s crude yet curiously charming shadow puppet show, “Testimony,” aims to upset conventional narratives of oppression
and resistance, in particular
“the image of the black woman
narrator as conveyor of silent
homilies and honest truths.”
Her raucous animation
shows the death and debauchery that ensues when the “masters” hand themselves over to
their slaves.
A series of Naji al-Ali’s cartoons, rendered unbearably
poignant by the ubiquitous presence of his down-hearted character Handala, show America
taking advantage of the Middle
East and, sometimes, regional
leaders shamefully acquiescing.
A show called “America” is
bound to lack focus and the disparate works on show at the
BAC sometimes feel disconnected. There is a link however:
Whether depicting the superpower’s complacent folly or its
colonialist abuses of power, the
works give us little reason to disagree with Freud’s comment.
“America” is on show at the Beirut
Art Center until January 16. For further details, call +961 1 397 018 or
visit www.beirutartcenter.org.
Wajih al-Bezri and Fadi Abboud
Zafer Shawi, Gaby Tamer and Robert Debbas
Fadi Saab and Joseph Raidy
Walid Abboud and Jessy Trad
Lilian
Abi Nader
Photos by Mahmoud Kheir
12
Tourism Minister Abboud feted at
the Habtoor Grand Hotel
SIN AL-FIL: Minister of tourism Fadi Abboud was feted
with a luscious honorary lunch on November 23 by the Association for Lebanese Industrialists, a society of which Abboud
is also president. Among those gathered to raise a glass at the
Habtoor Grand Hotel were Mohammad Ghandour, Mary
Hanna, Nicolas Nahas and Omar Natour.
HOROSCOPE
Aries (Mar. 21 – April 19)
Taurus (April 20 – May 20)
Gemini (May 21 – June 21)
You’ve got too much riding on today’s
activities – whether you know it or not
– to just say anything that comes to
mind. You may need a friend to help
yourself tighten the leash.
Now is the perfect time to open up to
your crush, your parents or anyone
else – your feelings are easy to express
and likely to get the best possible
response. You risk less than you think.
A friend or family member obviously has
something important to say, but they
seem unable to start the conversation or
get to the point. It’s up to you to get the
ball rolling — are you a good guesser?
Cancer (June 22 – July 22)
Leo (July 23 – Aug. 22)
Virgo (Aug. 23 – Sept. 22)
Make sure that you speak out early and
often today – things need to be hashed
out, and your great energy is the perfect way to ensure that it all goes
smoothly. Back up everything you say.
Your intellect is diving more deeply
than usual, and you’ll find that you’re
hitting on some new ideas that make
life a lot more interesting. It’s a great
day for making new friends, too.
Your people are helping you deal with
all the strange business going on in
your life today — and you may even find
yourself feeling more energized by the
time the evening rolls around.
Libra (Sept. 23 – Oct. 22)
Scorpio (Oct. 23 – Nov. 21)
Sagittarius (Nov. 22 – Dec. 21)
You need to step back from the big
picture and look around at the small
details of your life — just to soak them
in and appreciate them. You can linger
before getting back in the game.
Your inner life is stretching itself out
over your regular life today and it’s
awesome. You may feel as if you’re
walking through a dream at one point,
and things get even better after that.
Indulge your philosophical side today —
what good is having depths if you can’t
explore them? You may find yourself
changing course in some important life
path, so be ready for anything
Capricorn (Dec. 22 – Jan. 19)
Aquarius (Jan. 20 – Feb. 18)
Pisces (Feb. 19 – Mar. 20)
Your outgoing side is showing today
– so get out there and mix it up. You
may just want to make a few cold
calls or you may want to find a few
parties or networking opportunities.
Focus on your home life today —
maybe it’s time to clear out the clutter,
or maybe you need to address a festering pool of emotion that isn’t going
to take care of itself any time soon.
You and your people need a little break
– so see if you can get them to just kick
back for a while. You may need to
entertain them, but that is pretty much
effortless on a day like today.