Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige, Two Suns in a Sunset. Images Courtesy of Sharjah Art Foundation

Two Suns in a Sunset features work by Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige one of the latest exhibitions at Sharjah Art Foundation

The exhibition features work from the the late 1990s to the present day, including two new video works commissioned for this exhibition, Remembering the Light and ISMYRNA.

Grounded in the context of Beirut and events that are close to their personal lives, the works of Lebanese artists and filmmakers Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige reflect the artists' ongoing interrogation of imagery, representation and history.
Research is at the centre of their practice—each project beginning with an idea that develops and evolves through the materials the artists encounter along the way. Images and stories from the past are reactivated in the present creating narratives that are often open-ended and performative and where reality and fiction are in constant flux.

Curated by Marta Gili (Jeu de Paume), Hoor Al-Qasimi (Sharjah Art Foundation), Anna Schneider (Haus der Kunst Munich) and Jose Miguel G. Cortes (Institut Valenica d'Art Modern), Two Suns in a Sunset is one of the best exhibitions I've seen here in the UAE and well worth spending a couple of hours, looking at the work and reading the guide (a beautifully published book in itself) which has information that is useful about the exhibited work.

The themes in Two Suns in a Sunset touch upon memories, rememberance and a play between fact and fiction. It is quite an extensive exhibition which includes works on paper, photographs, sculpture, sound and video installation (including a large scale installation The Rumour of the World (2014) which you should only see after you see all the other works), plus two works, Postcards of War (1997 – 2006)and Circle of Confusion (1997 – 2014) which invites visitors to be active participants by taking parts of the work.

The exhibition is spread over two buildings, be sure to start in Building P before moving to Building J where the exhibition continues with the installation, The Rumour of the World (2014).

Here are images images and a breakdown of the works in Two Suns in a Sunset. The exhibition is accompanied by screenings of films directed by Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige which I've listed at the end of this post.

The exhibition is on till 8th May 2016, make sure you don't miss it.

1. Postcards of War (1997-2006)

Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige, Two Suns in a Sunset. Image Courtesy of Sharjah Art Foundation

2. Circle of Confusion (1997-2016)

3. Archeology of Our Gaze: Equivalences (1997)

4. Archeology of Our Gaze: Bestiaries (1997)

5. Always With You (2001-2008)

6. Latent Images (1997-2006)

Photo by Hind Mezaina

Photo by Hind Mezaina

7. Lasting Images (2003)

Photo by Hind MezainaPhoto by Hind MezainaPhoto by Hind Mezaina

8. 180 Seconds of Lasting Images (2006)

Photo by Hind Mezaina

9. Faces (2009)

Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige, Two Suns in a Sunset. Image Courtesy of Sharjah Art Foundation

10. The President's Album - Part 2 of The Lebanese Rocket Society (2011)

Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige, Two Suns in a Sunset. Image Courtesy of Sharjah Art Foundation

11. Dust in the Wind - Part 6 of The Lebanese Rocket Society (2013)

Photo by Hind Mezaina

12. The Golden Record - Part 3 of The Lebanese Rocket Society (2012)

Photos by Hind Mezaina

13. Geometry of Space (2014)

Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige, Two Suns in a Sunset. Image Courtesy of Sharjah Art Foundation

14. Objects of Khiam (1999-2013)

Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige, Two Suns in a Sunset. Image Courtesy of Sharjah Art Foundation

Photo by Hind Mezaina

15. Khiam 2000 - 2007 (2008)

Photo by Hind Mezaina

16. "I stared at beauty so much..." Waiting for Barbarians (2013)

Video still, via www.hadjithomasjoreige.com

17. Remembering the Light (2016)

Video still. photo by Hind Mezaina.

The exhibition also includes the following sections which I didn't photograph, and best to see them in person, especially, The Rumour of the World.

18. Ismyrna (2016)

19. The Jerusalem Letter (2014)

20. The Rumour of the World (2014)

21. Elements for a Monument Cedar IV: A Reconstruction - Part 1 of The Lebanese Rocket Society (2011)

List of film screenings accompanying this exhibition at Mirage City Cinema, SAF Art Spaces, Behind Al Zahra Mosque:

Saturday, 16th April 2016 at 8.30pm
Around the Pink House
1998 | 92 minutes | Arabic with English subtitles

Beirut is under reconstruction. A surprising pink palace is threaten of being destroyed to be replaced by a commercial centre. This ambitious project divides the neighborhood. As the personal stories of those living in the pink house unveil, the wounds and dreams of a strange postwar period appear.

Saturday, 30th April 2016 at 8.30pm
The Lost Film
2003| Arabic with English subtitles

A copy of our first feature film disappeared in Yemen, on the day of the tenth anniversary of the reunification of North and South. A year later we are there, following the track of the lost film.
An enquiry that takes us from Sanaa to Aden, a personal quest centering on the image and on our status as filmmakers in this part of the world...

Ramad (Ashes)
2003 | 26 minutes | French, Arabic with English subtitles

Nabil returns to Beirut with the ashes of his father who has died abroad. He tries to overcome his bereavement, while his family insists on respecting rites and customs by burying a non-existent corpse...

14th May 2016 at 8.30pm
A Perfect Day
2005 | 92 minutes | Arabic with English subtitles

Stuck in a traffic jam, Malek catches a fleeting glance of the beautiful Zeina, the woman he loves. He desperately tries to get through to her by text message, but she does not want to see him. She vanishes into the throng of midday Beirut traffic. The young man has a syndrome, which interrupts his breathing during sleep. Whenever he stops moving, he dozes off adding to his disorientation.
His mother Claudia has still not accepted his father's disappearance after 15 years. She stays at home should her husband return; Malek drives around the city alone in his car. Each of them try to live with a void of lost love. But today may be the "perfect day " to lay their ghosts to rest.
Malek is taking his hesitant mother to declare her husband officially dead in the "absence of a body". And that evening, in a trendy nightclub where the young of Beirut go to dance and forget their troubles, Zeina looks ready to give Malek a second shot at the love for which he yearns.

Exhibition details
Dates: 12th March - 8th May 2016 | Open daily till 10.00pm
Venue: Buildings J and P, Sharjah Art Foundation Art Spaces, Sharjah (location map)
Free entry.

www.sharjahart.org/exhibitions-events/current-upcoming-events/joanakhalil

www.hadjithomasjoreige.com

Exhibition: Two Suns in a Sunset by Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige