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.