Landscapes between reality and fiction: an exhibition in Venice

"Reality exists in the human mind, and nowhere else," said George Orwell. This approach connects two artists who meet in Venice for a joint exhibition project: "Sinkingscapes". Lebanese artist Tara Sakhi and British artist Loulou Siem explore the world in a very personal and intimate way, both convinced that what we see is often not enough. Moving between the real and the imaginary, the two artists explore different dimensions and perceptions of the urban landscape, in Beirut and Venice respectively. The meeting place of these two visions is the exhibition curated by Yasmine Helou, which can be visited until 15 July 2021 at the Venice Art Project, an exclusive exhibition space in the heart of the city.

Tara Sakhi displays a series of photographs entitled Strange Skies, through which she depicts the wounded landscape of Beirut in the days immediately following the terrible explosion of 4 August 2020. The author feels the need to add a new layer of meaning that represents her state of mind and the suffering experienced by all the citizens of the Lebanese capital. She therefore processes the films with expired chemicals, creating coloured filters that reflect Beirut's chemically polluted sky.

Loulou Sieme presents The Memory of Artificial Landscapes, an immersive video that catapults the public into her very personal vision of Venice. The work is conceived as a video game, in which space and time follow the subjectivity of the artist and not objective criteria. Loulou Siem goes beyond the simple visualisation of urban environments and contexts and depicts invented panoramas. Within these scenarios move cathartic avatars that are animated sculptures created by the artist himself. These landscapes are a unique combination of real and dreamed souvenirs, genuine and imaginative expectations, the need to narrate reality and to escape from it.

Combining these two visions, the exhibition "Sinkingscapes" is an expression of a lucid madness, of a distorted reality that is capable of revealing new worlds.