Phantom Beard
Monira Al Qadiri has an unusual background, having moved from Kuwait to study in Japan at the age of 16, and then receiving her Ph.D. from Tokyo University of the Arts. She creates videos and performances, bringing together her acute insight regarding the Middle East, where she was born and raised, and a fascination with Japanese anime culture that she has harbored since a young age. Al Qadiri blends phenomena that society and religion have deemed separate--the sacred and the profane, men and women, the dead and the living, good and evil--transgressing these boundaries with her unique sorrow and humor.
Her work for Aichi Triennale 2019, co-produced with Wiener Festwochen and Kunstenfestivaldesarts, stems from her experience while studying in Japan of being told by a psychic that the spirits of 40 ancestors were attached to her. Why might 40 bearded men, unable to find their final peace, be sharing Al Qadiri's life with her? Is it because of the bloody history of these desert nomads, and the void left in Middle Eastern Arab history that erases and consigns them to oblivion?
Al Qadiri has gathered talent from around the world, including German film production group Transforma, and Indonesian metal band Senyawa, for a thrilling performance that will bring together the imagination of Japanese anime with the artist's acute insight into the Arab world.
Monira AL QADIRI
- Born 1983 in Dakar, Senegal
- Based in Berlin, Germany
At the age of 16 Monira Al Qadiri moved from Kuwait to study in Japan, and received her Ph.D. in Intermedia Art from Tokyo University of the Arts. She works in a variety of mediums, including video, sculpture, and installation, bringing together her early fascination with Japanese anime and her acute insight on the Middle East, where she was born and raised. Her artwork emerges from this intersection of a Japanese imaginativeness, and a critique of Middle Eastern society, which has been held at the mercy of both fossil energies and an historical void left in the wake of the establishment of nation states. Al Qadiri blends phenomena that society and religion have deemed seperate--the sacred and the profane, men and women, the dead and the living, good and evil--transgressing these boundaries with her unique sorrow and humor. In 2017, she created and performed Feeling Dubbing, appearing as an anime character dressed in men's clothing; she has additionally begun focusing on playwriting.
Selected Works & Awards
| 2018 | Asia Pacific Triennial, Brisbane, Australia |
| 2018 | 6th Athens Biennale, Athens, Greece |
| 2017 | The Craft (solo), Gasworks, London, UK |
| 2017 | Feeling Dubbing, Kunstenfestivaldesarts, Brussels, Belgium |
| 2017 | 20th Contemporary Art Festival Sesc_Videobrasil, Sao Paulo, Brazil |
Interview
Information
| Dates |
Thu, Sep 5, 19:00 ★TSUDA Daisuke(Aichi Triennale 2019 Artisic Director) ★There wil be a post-performance talk after every show. |
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| Duration | 50 min (TBC) | |||
| Language | Arabic and Japanese (with Japanese and English surtitles) | |||
| International Co-production | Wiener Festwochen, Kunstenfestivaldesarts | |||
Ticket
| Ticket prices | Adults ¥3,000 U25 ¥2,500 |
| Note | No children under school age are permitted. |
| Childcare Services | Available for all programs. Details will be announced in July. |
Map
Aichi Prefectural Art Theater / Mini Theater (B1)
Address
1-13-2 Higashisakura,Higashi-ku, Nagoya
461-8525 JAPAN
Access
・5 minutes on foot from Sakae-Machi Station on the Meitetsu Seto Line.