Artistic Walk from Assabil Library to 98 Weeks Project Space

Swedish artist Per Hüttner invites the citizens of Beirut to an artistic walk through their city that will be followed by the screening of a short film that the artist has created specifically for the VOLUME project. Both works look at how metaphysics and politics of our everyday lives dialogue to shape our existence. Hüttner introduces an imaginary silence that mystically descends on the inhabitants of the city and keeps them from uttering or hearing any sounds.

The walk will be undertaken in silence and will start at the Assabil library in Geitawi and will end at 98weeks Project Space where the film will be screened. The walk will highlight certain encyclopaedic aspects of the routes and contradictorily enough the sounds that shape Beirut.

In the film we follow two women who are mysteriously trapped in a library and who follow the political changes that take place outside as a crippling silence descends on the city and their lives. Drawing from Ingmar Bergman and Louis Buñuel, The Silence is both a reflection on the library, Hüttner’s nordic upbringing and creates a wedge between imagination and reality that compels us to reflect on values that we normally take for granted.

About the Artist
Per Hüttner is a Swedish artist who lives and works in Paris. He was trained at Konsthögskolan, Stockholm and at the Hochschule der Künste, Berlin. He has shown extensively in Europe, North America, Australia and Asia. Solo exhibitions include >unkown at Zendai Contemporary in Shanghai, Repetitive Time at Göteborgs konstmuseum, and I am a Curator at Chisenhale Gallery in London. Participation in group shows include The Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, the Hayward Gallery in London, Palais de Tokyo in Paris, Moderna Museet in Stockholm, MACBA in Barcelona, MAM in São Paulo. He has performed at Tate Britain, Tate Modern and the Venice Biennial. A dozen monographs on the artists work have been published in the last decade. Hüttner is the founder and director of Vision Forum, a project-based international experimental research network.

For more information, email:
volume.beirut@gmail.com