As Deep As I Could Remember, As Far As I Could See
This performance was presented for the first time in 2018 at Lafayette Anticipations foundation, then produced again in 2019 in New York as part of the Performa biennial. For this performance, a group of eleven-year-olds moves freely among the audience reciting passages from a text written by Tarik Kiswanson. These short poems, which combine childhood questions with adult reflections, create a polyphonic soundtrack while evoking in depth the issues of exile, borders, and diversity. The artist has an intimate relationship with writing: he began writing at the age of eleven, which he describes as “the forgotten age of childhood,” when he began to understand “what race, class, privilege and poverty mean.” Kiswanson conceived this performance as a total work of art by integrating kinetic sculptures with which the children interact, as well as designing his own costumes inspired by traditional Middle Eastern clothing and Western sportswear.
Text written by Marianne Tricoire as part of the partnership between the École du Louvre and Lafayette Anticipations – Fonds de dotation Famille Moulin
Exhibitions
Performa - Performance festival in NYC, New-York (États-Unis)
from 21 Nov to 24 Nov 2019
Lafayette Anticipations - Fondation Galeries Lafayette, Paris (France)
from 17 May to 20 May 2018
La pratique artistique de Tarik Kiswanson englobe la sculpture, la poésie, la photographie, la performance et la vidéo. Elle dessine les contours d’une politique de l’identité fluide et changeante qui reflète la diversité culturelle, l’exil et le métissage ayant marqué la vie personnelle et le parcours de l’artiste. Habitée par les enjeux de la frontière et de l’entre-deux, son œuvre s’attache à fusionner les traditions orientales et occidentales, l’art et le design, ou encore l’objet et la sculpture pour tenter de s’inscrire dans une forme d’histoire collective.
Né en 1986 à Halmstad (Suède), Tarik Kiswanson est un artiste suédois d’origine palestinienne. Il a étudié au Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design de Londres avant d’être diplômé de l’École nationale supérieure des Beaux-arts de Paris en 2014.
