Soufiane Ababri

Barbican Arts Centre

Location

Barbican Arts Centre
Silk Street
London
EC2Y 8DS

Description

This exhibition has now closed

This exhibition runs from Wednesday 13th March 2024 to Sunday 30th June 2024.

Moroccan artist Soufiane Ababri's new commission, Their mouths were full of bumblebees but it was me who was pollinated, explores questions of desire, queerness, and diaspora.

In his first exhibition at a major UK institution, Ababri transforms The Curve in a new site-specific work. Uniting drawing, performance and installation, his work challenges the dominance of Western narratives in queer history.

The exhibition highlights how The Curve's shape reflects the Arabic letter Zayin (ز), the first letter of the word 'zamel', a derogatory term for gay men, whose buzzing sound is used to insinuate the slur without voicing it in Morocco. Zamel's evolution from originally meaning close friend shows how homophobia threatens not only same-sex sexuality, but restricts the possibility of radical forms of friendship.

With drawings exploring diasporic queer experience and queer nightlife as a space for collective and personal emancipation, the show is an act of reclamation that subverts architecture, language, and histories.

Prices

Free

Contact and Booking Details

More information at this website.

Upcoming Dates

This exhibition runs from Wednesday 13th March 2024 to Sunday 30th June 2024.

Forthcoming dates:

Disclaimer

The information and prices in this listing are presumed to be correct at the time of publishing, but please always check with the venue before making a special trip.

All images are supplied by the exhibition organiser.

Barbican Arts Centre
Silk Street
London
EC2Y 8DS

Map

This exhibition runs from Wednesday 13th March 2024 to Sunday 30th June 2024.

This event runs over several days/weeks. Dates include:

March 2024

April 2024

May 2024

June 2024