The Third Line is lining up with Art Basel‘s Statements sector to introduce Study for a Monument, a new solo presentation by Abbas Akhavan, running at the Dubai art space from June 18 to June 21.
Akhavan, who is represented by the UAE gallery, will be presenting a floor-based installation of bronze-case plants with Study for a Monument, a continuation of recent works that “archive and memorialize native and endemic flora in compromised ecologies”. The flora, created as metallic incarnations of flora native to the Iraq region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, is a suggestion of the immense socio-political turmoil in the region over the last decades, and the consequent irreparable damage to its topography.
Bronze, the material chosen for the reproduction, is intentional in its duplicitous nature—appearing permanent but in fact lacking loyalty. In addition to Akhavan’s installation, a new film by Moroccan artist Hassan Hajjaj will be featured as part of The Third Line’s Art Basel Film sector presentation, titled Karima: A Day in the Life of a Henna Girl and following the henna girls of Marrakesh.
See the exhibition page for details. **
