IF A TREE FALLS
IN A FOREST
On The Edges and Lacunae of SightEN IF A TREE FALL IN A FOREST is research project
designed to explore topics of perception, representation and knowledge within photography in Africa. Developed as a work in progress within the framework of the Curatorial Research Grant: Rencontres d'Arles / Institut Français' Africa Projects, this research is carried out in two phases. First, an online platform where invited collaborators will respond to questions raised and addressed by the edges and lacunae of sights. Second, a collective show, displayed at les Rencontres d’Arles, France.
FR IF A TREE FALL IN A FOREST est un projet de recherche conçu pour explorer les questions de perception, de représentation et de connaissance dans la photographie en Afrique. Développé comme un work in progress dans le cadre de la Bourse de recherche curatoriale: Rencontres d'Arles / l'Institut Français, cette recherche est menée en deux phases. Dans un premier temps, elle prend la forme d’une plateforme en ligne où des collaborateur.trice.s invité.e.s répondront aux questions soulevées par ce que nous tendons à nommer les frontières et les lacunes du visible. Deuxièmement, une exposition collective, présentée aux Rencontres d'Arles, en France.
FR IF A TREE FALL IN A FOREST est un projet de recherche conçu pour explorer les questions de perception, de représentation et de connaissance dans la photographie en Afrique. Développé comme un work in progress dans le cadre de la Bourse de recherche curatoriale: Rencontres d'Arles / l'Institut Français, cette recherche est menée en deux phases. Dans un premier temps, elle prend la forme d’une plateforme en ligne où des collaborateur.trice.s invité.e.s répondront aux questions soulevées par ce que nous tendons à nommer les frontières et les lacunes du visible. Deuxièmement, une exposition collective, présentée aux Rencontres d'Arles, en France.
PHASE 02
EXHIBITION /EXPOSITION
04.07.—25.09.2022, Collective Show at Arles, Les Rencontres de la Photographie
RAHIMA GAMBO
WIAME HADDAD
AMINA KADOUS
BELINDA KAZEEM-KAMIŃSKI
MAHMOUD KHATTAB
JANSEN VAN STADEN
EN The exhibition brings together ways of documenting silences and gaps. In doing so, it offers a critical look at various strategies ranging from reflecting on the photographic process, redefining the contours of the subjects, or breaking down the very semantics of photography.
FR L’exposition rassemble diverses manières de documenter les vides et les silences, en abordant la photographie par une série de détours critiques: repenser la démarche, redessiner les contours du sujet, rejeter les poncifs de la vérité, et faire éclater la sémantique même du photographique.
EXHIBITION /EXPOSITION
04.07.—25.09.2022, Collective Show at Arles, Les Rencontres de la Photographie
RAHIMA GAMBO
WIAME HADDAD
AMINA KADOUS
BELINDA KAZEEM-KAMIŃSKI
MAHMOUD KHATTAB
JANSEN VAN STADEN
EN The exhibition brings together ways of documenting silences and gaps. In doing so, it offers a critical look at various strategies ranging from reflecting on the photographic process, redefining the contours of the subjects, or breaking down the very semantics of photography.
FR L’exposition rassemble diverses manières de documenter les vides et les silences, en abordant la photographie par une série de détours critiques: repenser la démarche, redessiner les contours du sujet, rejeter les poncifs de la vérité, et faire éclater la sémantique même du photographique.
PHASE 01
RESEARCH /RECHERCHE
RESPONSES. ONLINE PROGRAMS. NOTES. /RÉPONSES, PROGRAMMES EN LIGNE.
09.2020. Untitled Duo | If A Tree Falls In A Forest. Draft 01. If A Tree Falls In A Forest explores topics of perception, representation and knowledge within photography in Africa. This project approaches photography not as a mere medium, but as a reflexive tool for assessing the context that photographers share with the issues they address.
01.2021. Untitled Duo | If A Tree Falls In A Forest. Draft 02. Online Program On a monthly basis, this series of online programs brings together free answers from artists, curators, filmmakers, writers and friends to the wide range of questions we have raised (See if A Tree Falls In A Forest. Draft 01). This way, it will mark out or broaden — depending on one's point of view — the possibilities of conversation in the time allotted to us between now and the execution of the exhibition which may or may not be nourished by it..
01.2021. Gian Spina | Images From The Same Forest.Departing from the idea of how we make, preserve and construct a past through the usage of images, this series of films will put in dialogue an attack on a colonial monument, the multiple usages of a river and an excavation of silenced past in colonial Rio de Janeiro.
02.2021. Yasmine Benabdallah | Lost, not to be found.How is one expected to have a sense of direction and of true existence, if amputated from their history? What happens when there are no past images of our own to look at, when so much was lost to modernity, when there are such gaps between the past and the future?
03.2021. Cindy Sissokho & Fabian Villegas | How to Articulate (a) Collective Gaze(s).This contribution proposes two collective discussions, on Wednesdays 24th and 31th March, that will encourage a critical reading of photography today for the shaping of a future way of seeing, understanding and interpreting photography.
04.2021. Faridah Folawiyo | MemoryLooking at two photographers (Monochrome Lagos & Amina Kadous) who work closely with memory, one preempting it and the other dissecting it, in this talk I hope to be able to gain a better understanding of the way in which photography can be used as a tool for the creation and upkeep of memory.
05.2021. Beya Othmani & Salsabil Kettaf | Alger InsoliteAlger Insolite est pensé comme un atelier de réflexion digital autour des politiques de l’espace et de ses enchevêtrements avec l’image. 03.>30.05.2021
RESEARCH /RECHERCHE
RESPONSES. ONLINE PROGRAMS. NOTES. /RÉPONSES, PROGRAMMES EN LIGNE.
09.2020. Untitled Duo | If A Tree Falls In A Forest. Draft 01. If A Tree Falls In A Forest explores topics of perception, representation and knowledge within photography in Africa. This project approaches photography not as a mere medium, but as a reflexive tool for assessing the context that photographers share with the issues they address.
01.2021. Untitled Duo | If A Tree Falls In A Forest. Draft 02. Online Program On a monthly basis, this series of online programs brings together free answers from artists, curators, filmmakers, writers and friends to the wide range of questions we have raised (See if A Tree Falls In A Forest. Draft 01). This way, it will mark out or broaden — depending on one's point of view — the possibilities of conversation in the time allotted to us between now and the execution of the exhibition which may or may not be nourished by it..
01.2021. Gian Spina | Images From The Same Forest.Departing from the idea of how we make, preserve and construct a past through the usage of images, this series of films will put in dialogue an attack on a colonial monument, the multiple usages of a river and an excavation of silenced past in colonial Rio de Janeiro.
02.2021. Yasmine Benabdallah | Lost, not to be found.How is one expected to have a sense of direction and of true existence, if amputated from their history? What happens when there are no past images of our own to look at, when so much was lost to modernity, when there are such gaps between the past and the future?
03.2021. Cindy Sissokho & Fabian Villegas | How to Articulate (a) Collective Gaze(s).This contribution proposes two collective discussions, on Wednesdays 24th and 31th March, that will encourage a critical reading of photography today for the shaping of a future way of seeing, understanding and interpreting photography.
04.2021. Faridah Folawiyo | MemoryLooking at two photographers (Monochrome Lagos & Amina Kadous) who work closely with memory, one preempting it and the other dissecting it, in this talk I hope to be able to gain a better understanding of the way in which photography can be used as a tool for the creation and upkeep of memory.
05.2021. Beya Othmani & Salsabil Kettaf | Alger InsoliteAlger Insolite est pensé comme un atelier de réflexion digital autour des politiques de l’espace et de ses enchevêtrements avec l’image. 03.>30.05.2021
CURATOR
Untitled Duo (Soukaina Aboulaoula
& Yvon Langué)
Untitled Duo (Soukaina Aboulaoula
& Yvon Langué)
SUPPORTED BY
Arles Les Rencontres de le Photographie
& Institut Français.
(FOR ARTISTS MOBILITY) WITH THE COMPLICITY OF
L’Institut Français
en Afrique du Sud, l’Institut Français au Maroc & l’Institut Français en Égypte.
Arles Les Rencontres de le Photographie
& Institut Français.
(FOR ARTISTS MOBILITY) WITH THE COMPLICITY OF
L’Institut Français
en Afrique du Sud, l’Institut Français au Maroc & l’Institut Français en Égypte.
CONTRIBUTORS
Gian Spina;
Yasmine Benabdallah; Cindy Sissokho
& Fabian Villegas;
Farida Folawiyo;
Beya Othmani
& Salsabil Kettaf
Gian Spina;
Yasmine Benabdallah; Cindy Sissokho
& Fabian Villegas;
Farida Folawiyo;
Beya Othmani
& Salsabil Kettaf
PLATFORM DESIGN
Untitled Agency
Untitled Agency
EXPLORE PHASE 01 PROGRAM
EXPLORER LE PROGRAMME DE LA PHASE 01
FR La phase 01 propose une diversité de formats: textuels (notes de recherches, articles, etc. (Drafts)), video (Films) et audio (Sounds), mais aussi bibliographies thématiques d’exploration collectées (Readers) sur les chemins sinueux de notre quête.