Rabih Mroue - I, the Undersigned

Between 21 May and 1 August, BAK, basis voor actuele kunst, Utrecht proudly presents I, the Undersigned, the first solo exhibition by Lebanese theater director, playwright, actor, and visual artistRabih Mroué.

Coming from a theater background, Mroué has explored different genealogies of the realm of performance, referring both to a tradition of critical theater in line with Brechtian methods and to performance art connected to developments in western contemporary art. His artistic practice escapes disciplinary frameworks by mixing methods and cultural cannons, by complicating the distinctions between fiction and reality, and by blending past "facts" with speculation about the current moment. Mroué belongs to the artistic generation that matured after the (formal) end of the Lebanese Civil War in 1990, and his work has been deeply influenced by the ongoing conflicts in the country, the Middle East region, and the urgency of the political and cultural issues that pervade this reality such as identity construction, historical narration, exclusion, and remembrance. In such a context, Mroué's work can be seen as a continuous inquiry into the artist's responsibility and position in both artistic frameworks enveloped by traditional conventions and in adverse political circumstances. His practice engages with some critical questions such as: How to express truth through fiction? Can artistic subjectivity create a communal, meaningful, and ethically grounded exchange with a public in times when individuals are increasingly divided by their religious and political outlooks? How can one establish dialogue in a traumatized society, aware of this reality but not falling into the trap of disconsolate mourning, as the politics of memory is often seen today? Grappling with these dilemmas has led Mroué toward an unambiguous stance. "I'm working with these issues in order to forget," he says, "not to remember." His "forgetting," however, cannot be regarded as irresponsible dis-identification with one's own history. Rather it is an active process of coming to terms with, and a refusal of, the implacability of the consequences of conflict and a rejection of a permanent state of exception.

The exhibition I, the Undersigned expresses some of these concerns, while at the same time analyzing the place of knowledge generated by art within exceptional, history-making situations. The exhibited works (which include two new installations presented with some of the artist's key recent pieces) remind us that even if the concrete political and cultural circumstances of Lebanon happen to be the artist's point of departure, questions about the power of individual resilience and responsibility vis-à-vis collective society have much wider resonance in a world full of entanglements, as we witness today.

Rabih Mroué (born 1967) is an actor, director, playwright, visual artist, and a contributing editor ofThe Drama Review (TDR) as well as a co-founder and board member of the Beirut Art Center (BAC), Beirut. In 2010 Mroué was awarded an Artist Grant for Theatre/Performance Arts from the Foundation of Contemporary Arts, New York and the Spalding Gray Award. Recent exhibitions include: Performa 09, New York, 2009; 11th International Istanbul Biennial, Istanbul, 2009; Tarjama/Translation, Queens Museum of Art, New York, 2009; Sjarjah Biennial, Sjarjah, 2009; Soft Manipulation – Who is afraid of the new now?, Casino Luxembourg, Luxembourg, 2008; and Medium Religion, Center for Art and Media (ZKM), Karlsruhe, 2008. Mroué lives and works in Beirut.

Rabih Mroue
I, the Undersigned