RABIH MROUÉ 

VIRTUAL WORKSPACE

Workspace open for participants: 15-19 June 2020  
Meeting online with the artist: 25 June 2020, 7:00pm

MY BODY-IMAGE

This workspace focuses on the human body during the current period of confinement – the characteristics of it being on the one hand isolated in order to protect it from others and to keep it as healthy as possible, and on the other hand still being present as a ‘live’ image on social media to meet with others and keep our human relations active.

What kind of body do we need today in order to meet with the world? What preparations do we need to make? What kind of care should we take?

The fact that the My body-Image meetings will take place in the virtual world of the worldwide internet, where each participant will be in her/his private space, will in itself be good material to work on together, to reflect upon this phenomenon and to work through it, trying to bring up some alternative thoughts and ideas for today’s artistic practices. 

RABIH MROUÉ BIO

One of the most interesting artists at work today, offering a new and unique theatrical language, Mroué is a theatre director, actor, visual artist and playwright.  Born in Beirut, he currently lives in Berlin. His work covers ground between theatre and visual arts, often combining mundane, real-life material with the fictitious narratives he develops for his performances. His work often plays on the tensions between the live physical presence of the body on stage and images which come to stand in for that body.

Mroué’s ambition, as he puts it, to 'de-sacralize' the image rather than produce more imagery. The artist explains that the central component in this process is the exploration of how narrative – through elision, selection and rhetoric – functions as a device for inflecting and refracting realities. His work is characterised by the use of political themes told through personal stories, the political situation in Lebanon frequently featuring in his works, to ask larger questions about representation, the power of images, and the subjective nature of history. Theater, for Mroué is a means to present unfinished ideas and doubts about the state of humanity.

One of the most interesting artists at work today, offering a new and unique theatrical language, Mroué is a theatre director, actor, visual artist and playwright.  Born in Beirut, he currently lives in Berlin. His work covers ground between theatre and visual arts, often combining mundane, real-life material with the fictitious narratives he develops for his performances. His work often plays on the tensions between the live physical presence of the body on stage and images which come to stand in for that body.

Mroué’s ambition, as he puts it, to 'de-sacralize' the image rather than produce more imagery. The artist explains that the central component in this process is the exploration of how narrative – through elision, selection and rhetoric – functions as a device for inflecting and refracting realities. His work is characterised by the use of political themes told through personal stories, the political situation in Lebanon frequently featuring in his works, to ask larger questions about representation, the power of images, and the subjective nature of history. Theater, for Mroué is a means to present unfinished ideas and doubts about the state of humanity.

ARTIST TALK