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"The role of the artist is exactly the same as the role of the lover. If I love you, I have to make you conscious of the things you don't see." James Baldwin
Resistance, once again.
Experiences of war and exile, migration and displacement, social struggles, identity issues, the climate emergency... are themes that emerge in art at a time marked by the intensification of inequalities and geopolitical clashes, and the strengthening of decolonial practices. Protest, personal or documentary narratives, testimonies, satire and provocation, empathy and solidarity... are forms of resistance wich art embraces. Amid murmurs of hope, they provide guidelines for understanding contemporary events.
FUSO 2024 remains steadfast in its commitment of presenting works in the field of the moving image that encourage viewers to critically engage with the world around them, reinforcing the importance of video as a tool for reflection and awareness-raising.
The Portuguese video art festival returns for the third time to our cultural centre for another outdoor soirée. Our courtyard serves as backdrop for a summer evening of five short films screenings, preceded by a discussion between Moroccan curator Laila Hida and Vítor Belanciano.
Borj El Mechkouk, 2023
Driss Aroussi
19’
Commissioned by his oasis village, a man goes into the desert to observe and eventually restore a system of underground water galleries called Khettara. We will follow his journey to the Borj el Mechkouk, during which he will work and live in this arid zone. What will he discover ?
Magic Carpet Land, 2020
Marianne Fahmy
11’11’’
Inspired by the diaries of an Egyptian oceanographer in the 1930s torn between his fascination with the West and his pride in his Oriental background, he was part of a British scientific expedition that took place on the first scientific research vessel in Egypt. The narrative imagines his thoughts regarding the collaboration with English scientists and his evolving relationship with the sea. Throughout the oceanographer's journey, he recalls historical events and memories reflecting the social and political struggles of that time, raising questions of nationalism and identity.
The Geomorphosis Cycle, 2023
Islam Shabana,
14’
This is an anthology looking into the intersection between water technologies and mythologies through simulation, science-fiction and poetry. In the Mediterranean, coastal cities are increasingly threatened by being swallowed by a rising sea, while inland ones face the risk of drowning under the waves of sand of an expanding desert. Between the polarised narratives of “submergence and drought”, governments in the region are beginning to use the latest technologies and top-down modes of governance for a ‘futuristic city’.
Spanning from Alexandria to Marrakech, The Geomorphosis Cycle explores the politics of human-made water crises in the region, while speculating about urban transformations in a post-anthropocene and more-than-human world. Surrounded by randomised sounds of wrestling winds and tempestuous seas, the two videos respectively combine the dissonant footage of flooding on the Egyptian coastline of Alexandria, with conditions of increasing drought in the in-lands terrains of the Marrakech palmgrove.
Biblical passages from Daniel for Alexandria's sequences respond to the poetic verses by Ibrahim Al-Koni from his book "The Land And The Sea''
The last observer, 2020
Lina Laraki
11’
After all human life disappeared from earth, a bored artificial intuition connects to non-human life. A plant is having a recurrent dream about a 'last observer'. A dystopian narrative set in a speculative future tries to reconnect us to possible lost affects. All the components of the film take us on a journey through time. The pairing of the images of a speculative future shot with Super 8, a format from the past, creates a contemplative and rather endearing environment that throws us directly into reflections around artificial intelligence, anthropocentrism, and self projections.
On the river, we celebrated, 2024
Sara Mounia Kachiri
5’25’’
Khaddouj and Nejma Batta, two sisters, reminisce about their childhood in Tahannaout, at the foot of the Ourika Valley, renowned for its flowing waters and verdant gardens.
In their village, a spring near the Carob tree was believed to bestow long, lustrous black hair upon those who drank from it, attracting neighbours seeking its rumored benefits.
They wander through their memories, intertwined by life and beliefs around the source.
Credits:
Photographic archives, songs and stories: Khaddouj and Nejma Batta
Directing and Editing: Sarah Mounia Kachiri
This film was made as part of the workshop ‘Rivering Together’ By Manar Al Moursi, part of the Collective Workshops of the Dar Bellarj Foundation.
Thanks to Maha El Madi, Rania Berrada, Manar Al Moursi, Francesca Masoero and Rim Mejdi
The 16th edition of FUSO happens from 27th August to 1st September and features works by artists whose practices define contemporary realities and bring attention to the ways in which these complex issues have existed, and still remain, in society. As past editions, the sessions take place in outdoor spaces such as the, the National Museum of Contemporary Art, the Sinel de Cordes Palace or the Puppet Museum.
Created in 2009, FUSO is the only Portuguese video art festival with a program of national and international production that takes place annually in Lisbon and the Azores (FUSO Insular). The programme is as eclectic as the languages that video art embodies. As a medium, it is undoubtedly the one that has greater flexibility, greater ability to encompass and cross contemporary artistic disciplines: the visual arts, performance, dance and theatre, film or literature.