Pie In The Sky
Flaka Haliti, Basim Magdy
curated by Didem Yazıcı
Opening Tuesday November 29 at 8pm
Platform Sarai Schweizer str.23 Frankfurt am Main
29 November 2011 – 10 January 2012
As a fanciful notion, an illusory promise, a dream that is unlikely to come true: ''Pie in the sky'' is a phrase that was coined by the immigrant labor activist and song writer Joe Hill at the turn of the 20th century. It appeared for the first time in his song ''The Preacher and the Slave'' in 1911.
The exhibition in Platform Sarai suggests to imagine and to think about the possible outcomes of what is desired to be achieved. Both artistic positions subjectify themselves through a certain (in)visible search. In ''My Father Looks For An Honest City'' Magdy collaborates with his father, the latter becoming an active agent of the work. Like the Greek philosopher Diogenes of Sinope, he is on a utopian search. In this way, the school of cynicism reveals itself through the urban context of Cairo. Correspondingly, Haliti's self-critical work ''Our Death Others' Dinner'' deals with moral issues. It raises questions around the ethics of socially engaged art by problematizing the exploitation of the victim. The work attempts to find a subtle language capable of speaking of issues of the victim without victimizing the Other. The hidden subject of this work, however is the missing people of Kosovo war (1997-1998).
The persistent search in Magdy's work responds to an invisible wish to find the missing people in Haliti's work. The dialogue between the two installations gives rise to an open-ended discourse. In the hybrid space of Platform Sarai, a space that is at the same time a kitchen, an arts library and exhibition space, Pie In The Sky intends to create a dual act.
Basim Magdy
Born in Assiut, Egypt in 1977, Basim Magdy currently lives and works in Basel, Switzerland and Cairo, Egypt. Magdy works with different media including drawing, painting, animation, installation, sculpture, film, video, sound and printed matter. He is particularly interested in creating narrative structures that explore the space between reality and fiction and its influence on science, history, global culture and the dissemination of knowledge. His work appeared recently in solo and group exhibitions Argos Art Center, Brussels; Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna; Institut Mathildenhöhe, Darmstadt; 1st D-O ARK Underground Biennial, Konjic/Sarajevo; Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCa), North Adams and 2nd Ateliers de Rennes Biennale d'art contemporain, Rennes among others.
Flaka Haliti
Born in Pristhina in 1982, Flaka Haliti lives and works in Frankfurt am Main. She graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts, Pristina University (2005), and is currently continuing her studies at Staedelschule, Frankfurt. Haliti works with conceptual language, and uses various mediums including video, sound, installation, photography and performance Her work has been shown in solo and group exhibitions, presentations, symposiums and workshops internationally. Flaka Haliti is the winner of the First Prize in "Agriculture and Banking", organized by Staedelschule Frankfurt/Main and Rentenbank, Frankfurt am Main (2009).
