Newsreel 62 – Family and Worker

2019

video, HD, 28', 2019
photographic collage, archival material

In 1966 international exhibition Peace, Humanity and Friendship among Nations took place under the honorary patronage of the UN. Two artworks by Syrian artist Mahmoud Hammad entitled Family and Worker were exhibited in 1966. Both works arrived via the Yugoslavian embassy in Damascus, priced at just 25 and 15 dollars; however, after the exhibition, all traces of both works disappeared. Also missing from the collection was a print by the artist Jan Forsberg with the symbolic title War, which was awarded first prize by the international exhibition jury.

Absence of images dictated the questions that exhibition and video essay Newsreel 62 – Family and Worker reflect on: What were these images like, the images of the Worker and the Family, and what kind of image can we envisage today, when nearly half a century after the exhibition Yugoslavia has disappeared from the world map, which Syria may be about to, as well?

The intervention provided context with texts published in Newsreel Shreds, contributed for this exhibition by Andrej Šprah, Nace Zavrl, Andreja Hribernik, and Nika Autor.

Happiness for You and Your Family ,Tobacco 001 Cultural Centre, MGLM, Ljubljana, Slovenia, 2019
Museum of Contemporary art, KGLU, Slovenj Gradec, Slovenia, 2016

Photo of the installation by Katja Goljat.