Date: Mon, 1 Sep 2003 02:42:31 -0400
Subject: with ex-Lebanese National Resistance fighter and icon, Soha Bechara.
From: julian samuel <jjsamuel-AT-vif.com>




Press Release

Jayce Salloum
everything and nothing and other works from the ongoing video 
installation, ‘untitled’, 1999-2003.

Opening Saturday, September 6 at 2 pm,
continues to October 4, Wed- Sun noon to 5 p.m.
Dazibao, Centre De Photographie Actuelles
4001 Rue Berri, #202
Montréal, (514) 845-0063

Dazibao, in coproduction with Le Mois de la Photo à Montréal, is 
pleased to present "everything and nothing and other works from the 
ongoing video installation, ‘untitled’, 1999-2003", an exhibition by 
Jayce Salloum. This seven-channel video installation demonstrates the 
artist’s continuing interest in the representation of social and 
geopolitical realities. His focus on borders, nationalisms, and 
movements complements his close attention to issues of subjectivity, 
one that he has carefully and expertly developed over the two and a 
half decades of his practice.  In this installation, Salloum 
deconstructs the traditional documentary format as he explores the 
various conditions of living between polarities of culture, geography, 
history, and ideology.

"everything and nothing", the video from which the exhibition takes its 
title, consists of an interview with ex-Lebanese National Resistance 
fighter and icon, Soha Bechara.  Rather than question her about her 
experience of capture, imprisonment and torture, Salloum conducts an 
intimate, if problematic, conversation in her tiny Paris dorm room, 
itself hardly bigger than a cell.  He asks her, off camera in stilted 
French, not about the hard facts but about her impressions and 
thoughts.  Bechara’s intelligent and positive answers in Arabic build a 
captivating alternative portrait of a woman who would be labeled a 
terrorist (in terms defined by the West).  Bechara and Salloum’s 
interaction, along with the combination of open-ended questions and 
assertive filmic devices, such as  extreme close-ups and quick zooms, 
remind the viewer of the camera’s presence, as well as both the subject 
and the artist’s positions.

Salloum's installation was at the heart of the controversy over the 
attempted cancellation of the exhibition, The Lands within Me: 
Expressions by Canadian Artists of Arab Origin, which open at the 
Museum of Civilization (Hull) in October 2001, immediately following 
the tragedy of September 11th.  After viewing Salloum’s tapes, the 
directors of the museum attempted to postpone the exhibition 
“indefinitely”. A large international public outcry forced the Museum 
to open and present the exhibition as originally planned.

Salloum’s work is further contextualized within the framework of the 
current Mois de la Photo à Montréal, entitled NOW. Images of Present 
Time. The festival’s theme investigates the current and historic 
dialogue between photography and history.  Artistic Director Vincent 
Lavoie’s aim to present artistic practices that " restore, destroy and 
refer to the testimonial function of the image" is well demonstrated by 
Salloum’s deep understanding of the way that our perceptions are 
constructed by the media.

Since 1975, Jayce has been working in installation, photography, mixed 
media and video, as well as curating exhibitions, conducting workshops 
and coordinating cultural projects.  His work critically engages in the 
representation and actualization of social manifestations and political 
realities.  A media arts philosopher and cultural activist, Salloum has 
lectured internationally and exhibited extensively throughout the 
Americas, Europe, Japan and the Middle East.  He is currently based in 
Vancouver.




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