Past Disquiet: Excavating Solidarity in the Arts

A discursive programme of workshops, discussions and screenings.

Collected from over ten years of research, Past Disquiet is an exhibition of stories curated by Kristine Khouri and Rasha Salti. Presented at Ibraaz as a discursive programme, the project is centred on retracing how four art collections came to be. Through the combined accomplishment of artists and militants that incarnated their support for a political cause, these collections intended to become museums of solidarity.

The research focuses 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 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 programme 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.

Past Disquiet: Workshops - Register here

Past Disquiet: Screenings - Access the schedule here

*Panel Discussions details announced soon*