Being Mediterranean

The exhibition Being Mediterranean invites us to lose ourselves along the Mediterranean coast and dive into a reflection on the world. Taking the Mediterranean basin as a starting point, the 23 artists on show develop their practices from the countries that border the Mediterranean. They may have been born there, live and work there, or be inspired by it from elsewhere to offer us works in a wide range of forms and aesthetics.

Some forty works have been grouped together, around three main, closely interconnected themes. The first is history, archaeology, and tangible and intangible heritage, which unfold between the real and the fictional, and take us into the interstices of stories great and small. Memories and legacies based on intimate accounts, tales, and legends also help us to share our common imaginary. Lastly, ancestral skills and practices, re-interrogated or assimilated by the artists, accompany a deep-rooted and renewed look at traditions and forms.

Across the board, the exhibition also raises political issues and questions of identity, which reflect a social and humanitarian emergency in a geopolitics in constant flux. Without ignoring the tragedies and dramas that have shaken the region, the exhibition aims to offer a celebration of the abundant and shared riches, like so many forms of resistance, of a territory that is not only defined by its borders, but which above all appears to be a vibrant hotbed of creativity.

The exhibition is also an opportunity for MO.CO. Montpellier Contemporain to reaffirm its support for contemporary art through the production of new and significant works.

Le commissariat

Under the artistic direction of Numa Hambursin, Chief executive director of MO.CO. Montpellier Contemporain. Curator: Rahmouna Boutayeb assisted by Julie Chateignon, production assistant, and Margot Béras.

The artists

With Nelly Agassi, Diana Al-Hadid, Andreas Angelidakis, Chiara Camoni, Ali Cherri, Aysha E Arar, Simone Fattal, Mounir Gouri, Nour Jaouda, Melike Kara, Elias Kurdy, Teresa Lanceta, Sanaa Mejjadi, Mladen Miljanović, Sara Ouhaddou, Adrian Paci, Zoë Paul, Aïcha Snoussi, Tarwuk, Elif Uras, Adrien Vescovi, Marina Xenofontos

Catalogue

Being Mediterranean will be accompanied by a richly illustrated catalogue, published for the occasion in French and English by Silvana Editoriale. The graphic design has been entrusted to the studio Atelier Tout va bien. It will include previously unpublished texts by Rahmouna Boutayeb and Numa Hambursin. Envisaged as a fourth axis of the exhibition, highlighting an art of transmission, sharing and circulation, it will also include recipes, and much more, collected from the artists in the exhibition.