This session will focus on close readings of the artwork, which allows students to get hands-on experience of textual and visual analysis, as well as formative feedback before any summative assessment.
Since official videos of the artwork are not available, the analysis is proposed in a fragmentary way. This allows students to absorb the particularities of both visual and textual elements, and to consider the juxtaposition of languages more clearly. This approach is also connected to the theoretical framework (Édouard Glissant’s archipelagic thinking) introduced in the following session.
You are able to find installation shots and close-up images of the artwork online; we recommend using images from different exhibitions in order to demonstrate the different ways in which the artwork has been installed. Below you can also find partial transcriptions of two videos, as well as a link to conference footage in which another video is partially screened.
Exercises
– Start the session by briefly introducing the notion of installation art and video-based/multimedia art. Give visual examples and focus on the importance of positionality and temporality;
– Show students the written excerpts from the videos, some close-up images, and potentially the video from the conference. Ask students to discuss the following questions in pairs or small groups:
– What do the verbal extracts have in common in terms of themes and structure?
– Are there any differences between narratives? If so, what are they?
– What feelings are evoked by these narratives?
– What can we know about the narrators through these narratives? What do we not know?
– What is the role of language (verbal and visual) in this artwork?
– What effect do the subtitles have on the narrative?
– What do the maps represent in these narratives?
– What is the relationship between the drawing over maps and the spoken narratives?
Secondary sources and additional reading
– Boris Groys, ‘Politics of Installation‘;
– Jeu de Paume, ‘Blackboard: Bouchra Khalili‘;
– Philippe Azoury, Pascale Cassagnau & Omar Berrada, ‘Story Mapping: Bouchra Khalili‘;
– Emma Chubb, ‘Differential Treatment: Migration in the Work of Yto Barrada and Bouchra Khalili‘;
– Florence Jou, ‘The Mapping Journey Project: La Cartographie à l’état dynamique‘;
– Patrick Joly, ‘Entretien: Bouchra Khalili‘.