Past Disquiet: Excavating Solidarity in the Arts

A discursive programme of workshops, discussions and screenings.

Past Disquiet is an exhibition of stories collected over ten years of research and conducted by Kristine Khouri and Rasha Salti. Centred on retracing how four art collections came to be, the combined accomplishment of artists and militants that incarnated their support for a political cause and intended to become museums of solidarity.

More specifically, the research focused on investigating the stories of the International Art Exhibition for Palestine, which was held in Beirut in 1978; the Museo Internacional de la Resistencia Salvador Allende (MIRSA), which was established by Chilean exiles and their supporters following the 1973 coup d’état in Chile, as well as its earlier incarnation, the Museo de la Solidaridad, which existed from 1971 to 1973; the Museo de Arte Latinoamericano en Solidaridad con Nicaragua instigated by the first Sandinista government; and the Art Contre/Against Apartheid collection, which toured internationally in the years leading up to the fall of the apartheid regime in South Africa. 

These four collections share intersecting histories. When Khouri and Salti recount their stories, they also address the contexts in which they emerged, along with the key figures and protagonists involved in their making. Past Disquiet is a documentary and archival exhibition that retells forgotten or silenced histories using images, texts and videos.

At Ibraaz, Khouri and Salti will present their research and exhibition-making process in three workshops. The videos they montaged for the various editions of Past Disquiet will be screened in the Minassa. In addition, a program of panel discussions will invite researchers and activists to activate UK-based microhistories of solidarity and the arts connected to the four causes examined in the project.

Register for the Past Disquiet workshops. 

Find out more about the Past Disquiet screening programme. 

More details announced soon.  

Image credit: Poster for the exhibition titled Palestine, which Arab artists dedicated to Palestinian struggle, organised by the UAA at Bab Rouah Gallery in Rabat, March 1975. The exhibition included the works of Moroccan artists Megara, Melehi, Toujani, Chabâa, Bennani, Demnati, Hafid, Kacimi, Miloud, Ghattas, Belkahia. Courtesy: Hicham Daoudi.