Lateral Recovery Position

Dala Nasser, Untitled (detail), 2018. 160 x 195cm. Discarded fabric, survival blankets, coal, glitter, liquid latex, resin, chrome orange and DPP orange pigments. Courtesy the artist.

Lateral recovery posi­tion (Position latérale de sécu­rité)

From January 30 through April 20, 2019
Opening on Tuesday, January 29, from 6 to 9 p.m.

with Thelma Cappello, Xinyi Cheng, Nathanaëlle Herbelin, Liverpool Black Women Filmmakers & Rehana Zaman, Georgia Lucas-Going, Adrian Mabileau Ebrahimi Tajadod, Dala Nasser, Kameelah Janan Rasheed, Hamid Shams, Patrick Staff

Curated by Guslagie Malanda & Lucas Morin

Bétonsalon - Center for Art and Research is pleased to pre­sent Lateral Recovery Posi­tion (Position latérale de sécu­rité), a col­lec­­tive exhi­bi­­tion that ques­­tions the place of vio­­lence and con­flict in social and polit­ical spheres. The ten artists pre­sented in this exhi­bi­­tion explore the con­nec­­tion between affects and vio­­lence, with an emphasis on how it is embodied in sin­gular and inti­­mate nar­ra­­tives. The exhi­bi­­tion pre­sents both new works and existing works that have been adapted to the space. It is the first time that the works of Liverpool Black Women Filmmakers & Rehana Zaman, Georgia Lucas-Going, Dala Nasser, Kameelah Janan Rasheed, and Patrick Staff have been exhib­ited in France.

Be it social or phys­ical, vio­­lence is a con­tro­ver­sial mode of dis­­­course that high­­­lights soci­eties and indi­vid­uals in con­flict. Violence marks a break in dia­­logue and the estab­lish­­ment of new rela­­tion­­ships of strength, dom­i­­na­­tion, and resis­­tance that places those impli­cated in a posi­­tion where neu­­trality is no longer pos­sible. Be it vio­­lence through class, race, or gender, one will always be a victim or an accom­­plice, but never an inno­­cent bystander. Artists aren’t above this rela­­tion­­ship but are part of it, giving them a cer­­tain degree of respon­si­­bility.

The artists par­tic­i­­pating in Lateral Recovery Posi­tion (Position latérale de sécu­rité) explore the role and the con­struc­­tion of vio­­lence in their soci­eties. They ques­­tion the legit­­i­­macy of those who exer­­cise it, blur­ring the binary status of victim and per­pe­­trator. Each of the works looks at, with var­ious degrees of engage­­ment, con­flicts that artists do not shy away from watching. They choose to take a close look at bodies and emo­­tions, under­­s­tanding them as inti­­mate spaces where vio­­lence and power strug­­gles unfold.

Xinyi Cheng, Coiffeur, 2017, oil on linen, 80 × 140cm. Courtesy the artist and Balice-Hertling gallery, Paris.

The exhi­bi­tion estab­lishes formal dia­logues between young and estab­lished artists, pro­voking inti­mate and per­sonal exchanges. The art­works pre­sented here fuel much needed con­ver­sa­tions between artists influ­enced by queer and fem­i­nist theory, in the con­text of a French scene that strug­gles to adapt those con­cepts and prac­tices.

Certain works focus on col­lec­tive polit­ical prac­tices, including the video How Does an Invisible Boy Disappear?, pro­duced by the col­lab­o­ra­tion between artist col­lec­tive Liverpool Black Women Filmmakers and artist Rehana Zaman. The work deals with racial and urban vio­lence in England; building on the per­­sonal sto­ries, fears, and desires of a group of teenagers from the low-income neigh­bor­­hood of Toxteth, Liverpool. Artist, poet and edu­­cator Kameelah Janan Rasheed covers the large win­­dows of Bétonsalon with slo­gan-poems that chal­lenge the public directly, coun­­tering nar­ra­­tives that deny oppressed groups the legit­­i­­macy of their rage. The paint­ings of Xinyi Cheng and Nathanaëlle Herbelin con­nect bodies with their envi­ron­ment, paying atten­tion to the everyday ges­tures, power plays, and tragedies that they expe­ri­ence. Patrick Staff’s film, depol­­lute, unflinch­ingly looks at the mate­ri­al­iza­­­tion of pol­i­tics in vio­­lence done to one’s own body. Georgia Lucas-Going’s per­­for­­ma­­tive short videos make use of a scathing and per­­sonal humor that simul­ta­ne­ously coun­ter­bal­ances and sup­­ports the gravity of the themes evoked; a humorous manner also pre­sent in the sculp­­tural instal­la­­tions of Thelma Cappello and Adrian Mabileau Ebrahimi Tajadod. In Hamid Shams’ Comfort Zone, an instal­la­­tion made of uri­­nals and a del­i­­cate back-room sling high­­­lights the ambi­­guity of the con­­cepts of dom­i­­na­­tion and sub­­mis­­sion, through an envi­ron­­ment both public and domestic. Finally, Dala Nasser’s abstract ban­ners offer a more dis­tant but no less inci­sive look at the raw mate­rials that make up vio­lence in the world.

Lateral Recovery Position is spon­sored by Fluxus Arts Projects, a Franco-British pro­gram for con­tem­po­rary art sup­ported by the French Ministry of Culture and Communication, the Institut français, and the British Council.