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26th Nov - 15th Dec 2022

In the green escape of my palace

Shamiran Istifan

‘In the green escape of my palace’, the first exhibition in our new permanent gallery space, recognises the paradise garden’s eternal pull and inevitable impossibility; the perfect insta post; that absurdly turquoise sea in the perfume advert. Understanding the garden in its physical, virtual and metaphorical manifestations, the exhibiting artists are united in their use of discourse surrounding technology, globalisation, womanhood and future histories as tools for heterotopian world building.

Situated within the widening crevice of tension between tradition and hyper-modernisation, fragmented memories and digitised futures, 'In the green escape of my palace' invites us to question our position within this proposed heterotopia, our techno-obsessiveness, and its consequent danger in the desire for sublimity.‘In the green escape of my palace’, the first exhibition in our new permanent gallery space, recognises the paradise garden’s eternal pull and inevitable impossibility; the perfect insta post; that absurdly turquoise sea in the perfume advert. Understanding the garden in its physical, virtual and metaphorical manifestations, the exhibiting artists are united in their use of discourse surrounding technology, globalisation, womanhood and future histories as tools for heterotopian world building.

‘In the green escape of my palace’, the first exhibition in our new permanent gallery space, recognises the paradise garden’s eternal pull and inevitable impossibility; the perfect insta post; that absurdly turquoise sea in the perfume advert. Understanding the garden in its physical, virtual and metaphorical manifestations, the exhibiting artists are united in their use of discourse surrounding technology, globalisation, womanhood and future histories as tools for heterotopian world building.

Situated within the widening crevice of tension between tradition and hyper-modernisation, fragmented memories and digitised futures, 'In the green escape of my palace' invites us to question our position within this proposed heterotopia, our techno-obsessiveness, and its consequent danger in the desire for sublimity.‘In the green escape of my palace’, the first exhibition in our new permanent gallery space, recognises the paradise garden’s eternal pull and inevitable impossibility; the perfect insta post; that absurdly turquoise sea in the perfume advert. Understanding the garden in its physical, virtual and metaphorical manifestations, the exhibiting artists are united in their use of discourse surrounding technology, globalisation, womanhood and future histories as tools for heterotopian world building.

Alia Hamaoui

Alia Hamaoui’s works created for ‘in the green escape of my palace’ act as a sensorial voyage towards a fictional heterotopic panoptic garden world. â €
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The garden is heavily influenced by the myriad mediations on the Islamic gardens through the years, from the original Chandigarh formations, to how it has been translated into textiles and video games. â €
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Combined with research into Byung-Chul Han’s writings on Pyscho-politics, Hamaoui has created a space which acts as both a visual metaphor and a meditation on this contemporary condition.

Zein Majali