Basel Abbas and Ruanne Abou-Rahme (both are born 1983), are an artist duo. Abbas is a Cypriot of Palestinian-descent visual artist and filmmaker; and Abou-Rahme is an American of Palestinian-descent visual artist and filmmaker. They utilize images, audio, text, installations, and performance in their work.

About

Basel Abbas was born in 1983 in

Nicosia Nicosia ( ; el, Λευκωσία, Lefkosía ; tr, Lefkoşa ; hy, Նիկոսիա, romanized: ''Nikosia''; Cypriot Arabic: Nikusiya) is the largest city, capital, and seat of government of Cyprus. It is located near the centre of the Mesaor ...

, Cyprus. Abbas worked as a sound engineer for the hip hop trio, Ramallah Underground. He has also worked as an installation artist, video artist, and performance artist. Ruanne Abou-Rahme was born in 1983 in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.. They work between

Ramallah Ramallah ( , ; ar, رام الله, , God's Height) is a Palestinian city in the central West Bank that serves as the ''de facto'' administrative capital of the State of Palestine. It is situated on the Judaean Mountains, north of Jerusale ...

and New York City.

History

Abbas and Abou-Rahme first began collaborating in 2009. Their approach to artwork has largely involved sampling both archival material and self-authored materials, in the mediums of sounds, images, text, objects, and performance; and then creating something new. Abbas and Abou-Rahme coined the term "archival multitude," and describe the act of archiving as a performance anyone could participate in. Their work has been featured in exhibitions at the ICA Philadelphia, Portikus,

The Palestinian Museum The Palestinian Museum is a flagship project of the Welfare Association, a non-profit organization for developing humanitarian projects in Palestine. Representing the history and aspirations of the Palestinian people, the museum aims to discuss ...

, Kunsthalle Wien, the

Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw Muzeum Sztuki Nowoczesnej w Warszawie is a museum in Warsaw, Poland. It was established in 2005. Until the construction of its new museum, the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw carries out its program activities in a temporary premises Museum at Pa ...

, and the

ICA London The Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) is an artistic and cultural centre on The Mall in London, just off Trafalgar Square. Located within Nash House, part of Carlton House Terrace, near the Duke of York Steps and Admiralty Arch, the ICA ...

. In 2009, Abbas and Abou-Rahme performed with the hip-hop trio

Ramallah Underground Ramallah Underground, based in Ramallah, Palestine, is a musical collective born from the desire to give voice to a generation of Palestinians and Arabs, in a situation of great economic, artistic, and political difficulty. The collective was found ...

, as the ''Ramallah Syndrome'' project which was featured in the Palestine Exhibition at the

53rd Venice Biennale The 53rd Venice Biennale was an international contemporary art exhibition held in 2009. The Venice Biennale takes place biennially in Venice, Italy. Artistic director Daniel Birnbaum curated its central exhibition, "Making Worlds". Awards ...

. In 2013 they were also inaugural fellows at the Akademie der Kunst der Welt in Cologne, Germany. Abou-Rahme and Abbas exhibited their work ''Oh Shining Star Testify'' (2019/2022) at Hamburger Bahnhof as part of the 12th Berlin Biennale in 2022. They exhibited ''May amnesia never kiss us on the mouth'' (2022) at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City; which was part of an ongoing series started in 2020 about Palestinian loss, colonial violence, displacement, and forced migration. They were award recipients of the Sharjah Biennale Prize (2015) and the Abraaj Prize (2016).

Artwork series

* ''The Zone'' (2011–ongoing), created with 15 video screens, an installation, digital c-type prints, an online platform, and a publication * ''The Incidental Insurgents'' (2012–ongoing) * ''And yet my mask is powerful, Part I'' (2016) * ''May amnesia never kiss us on the mouth'' (2020–ongoing)

Publications

* * * < *

References

External links