Off-site event
Poetic Guerrilla, Theater, and French Postcolonial Avant-Gardes
20 Oct 2023
The event is over
Words are the last stronghold of power. Co-founded by Abdellatif Laâbi, the avant-garde journal Souffles (1966-72) undertook a genuine linguistic guerrilla war against all forms of oppression. In its pages, language is inhabited, appropriated, sometimes even violated with a view to open up new cultural horizons.
Mirroring this, artist Bouchra Khalili uncovers political struggles and liberation movements obscured by dominant history, through the rediscovery of politically-engaged theater, cinema, and archives. Her recent work focuses in particular on the French Arab Workers' Movement (MTA), who used theater as political propaganda. From poetry to the stage – and dipping into Laâbi’s extraordinary body of work which spans over 50 years – this panel explores the many ways in which language can be a source of political emancipation.
The Paris+ par Art Basel Conversations program is curated by Pierre-Alexandre Mateos and Charles Teyssou in collaboration with the Centre Pompidou.
With
Bouchra Khalili, artist, Berlin
Abdellatif Laâbi, writer, Créteil
Moderator: Coline Milliard, Executive Editor, Art Basel, London
When
2:30pm - 3:30pm
Attention, relocation to the Musée Picasso Paris
Where
Musée Picasso Paris
Abdellatif Laâbi
© Najwan Darwich