(Im)Possible Union

By Mounir Fatmi

"Between mad desire and desperation, the possibility of intercultural sharing is a common thread that can be found throughout mounir fatmi’s work.
With The Impossible Union, mounir fatmi confronts himself to the most complex realities. Most of the inhabitants of Western countries are illiterate in Arabic, most of the inhabitants of Arab countries are illiterate, among others, in Greek and German... How can you understand a culture if you don't know the language? The union between two cultures that do not speak to each other, do not understand each other, do not know how to think, dialogue, exchange or discuss in the other’s culture seems truly impossible." Barbara Polla, September 2017

• Language: English
• Publisher: Mounir Fatmi
• Release date: Nov 1, 2021

Mounir Fatmi

mounir fatmi is a visual artist born in Tangier, Morocco in 1970. He constructs visual spaces and linguistic games. His work deals with the desecration of religious objects, deconstruction, and the end of dogmas and ideologies. He questions the world and plays with its codes and precepts under the prism of architecture, language and the machine. He is particularly interested in the idea of the role of the artist in a society in crisis. mounir fatmi's work offers a look at the world from a different glance, refusing to be blinded by convention. He brings to light our doubts, fears and desires.He has published several books and art catalogs including: The Kissing Precise, with Régis Durand, La Muette edition, Brussels, 2013, Suspect Language, with Lillian Davies, Skira edition, Italy, 2012, This is not blasphemy, in collaboration with Ariel Kyrou, Inculte-Dernier Marge & Actes Sud edition, 2015, History is not Mine, SF Publishing, Paris, 2015, and Survival Signs, SF Publishing, Paris, 2017. He has also participated in the collective book, Letter to a young Moroccan, edition Seuil, Paris, 2009.He has participated in several solo and collective exhibitions in museums and galleries around the world including: Mamco, Geneva, The Picasso Museum, Vallauris, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, The Brooklyn Museum, New York, N.B.K., Berlin, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, MAXXI, Rome, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Museum on the Seam, Jerusalem, Moscow Museum of Modern Art, Moscow, Mathaf Arab Museum of Modern Art, Doha, the Hayward Gallery, London, the Art Gallery of Western Australia, the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, and the Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven.His installations have been selected in biennials such as the 52nd and the 57th Venice Biennial, the 8th biennial of Sharjah, the 5th Dakar Biennial, the 2nd Seville Biennial, the 5th Gwangju Biennial and the 10th Lyon Biennial, the 5th Auckland Triennial, Fotofest 2014, Houston, the 10th and 11th Bamako Encounters, as well as the 7th Biennale of Architecture in Shenzhen.mounir fatmi was awarded several prizes such as the Cairo Biennial Prize in 2010, the Uriöt prize, Amsterdam, the Grand Prize Leopold Sedar Senghor of the 7th Dakar Biennial in 2006 as well and he was shortlisted for the Jameel Prize of the Victoria & Albert Museum, London in 2013.

Book preview

(IM)POSSIBLE UNION

mounir fatmi

(IM)POSSIBLE UNION

mounir fatmi

This publication was made on the occasion of the solo exhibition (IM)possible Union at the gallery Analix Forever in Geneva, Switzerland, by moroccan artist mounir fatmi, from September 13 th to November 13 th, 2017.

Curator: Barbara Polla

© 2020 mounir fatmi

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency.

Published by: mounir fatmi

Cover Design: Studio Fatmi

Cover Photography: mounir fatmi

Table of Contents

Forward

The Impossible Union

Language of Flowers – The Couple

The Blind Man

The Wall

Darkening Process

(IM)possible Union Show

Biography

Colophon

Forward

The possibility of intercultural understanding and sharing is a red thread throughout the work of Moroccan artist. Impossible Union: an occidental typewriter seems to be releasing Arabic letters… The couple on the other hand is the most basic form of (IM)POSSIBLE UNION : are we looking for our (better)