HRVATSKA UDRUGA LIKOVNIH UMJETNIKA

CROATIAN ASSOCIATION OF VISUAL ARTIST

Karam Natour / Blurred lines

July 15- July 27 in Zlatna vrata

Blurred Lines

Curator: Olga Stefan

It is this shifting power relationship that is central to his work, a topic he explores

through the mise-en-scene of situations he tries to control but which always

run the risk of ending in chaos. In the first videos he made, starting with Yoman

(2014), and continuing with Heat in My Head (2015), he used his immediate

then his extended family. A key moment in the latter video that may help us

understand the power interplay that preoccupies him is at the beginning when

Karam tells his mom, “speak in Hebrew not Arabic, and say something intelligent

to impress my friends”. These friends are, in fact, his colleagues at the Bezalel

University, all Jewish Israeli and non-Arab speakers. Initially his mother, looking

bored, leaves the frame, then she delivers some truisms, which Karam derides

as “embarrassing”. This incident may be interpreted as typical in a motherson

relationship, but the question arises: Who is in charge in this exchange?

Karam the director, his mother, who subverts the process he established,

or the viewers for whom the video was made in Hebrew, let alone us, the

global audience, for whom it was later subtitled in English despite Karam clearly

declaring that he doesn´t want people to have to read a translation?

or Karam, language is inherent in power relations, it is a tool of control but also

a means of connection and often, misunderstanding. Therefore its function is

always thematised in his work. Take the video Nothing Personal (2017),

Karam Natour´s work, much like the author himself, inhabits a place in between

states. Natour makes video, but also digital illustration drawings. The films videos

are at times cinematic, other times basic. Linguistically he navigates between

Hebrew, his native Arabic, and the global English mandated of every artist. The

dialogue is scripted and improvised, metaphorical and concrete. Small events

and moments open the way to universal truths. With humor, Natour shows us

how serious existence in this world of ambiguity and uncertainty really is. He is

both an Arab and an Israeli, an artist and citizen, and always a minority.

While lying on a bed in the middle of the frame and recording the entire event

with the video cam on his computer, Natour calls an ambulance because “I

cannot move, and I am so scared”, speaking to the operator in English, not

Hebrew. Both the operator and himself speak broken English, neither being

completely comfortable, thus levelling the field and neutralising the power of the

majoritarian which is also manifested through language. Recorded in real time,

the video shows the paramedics arriving about three minutes later, bringing

two teams, not only one, and demonstrating extreme care for the mysterious

case of the immobilised artist. “There is something in me that I can´t get out

myself, “ whines Natour. After a few minutes, one of the paramedics notices

the camera filming the crew and mentions it in Hebrew, but the others don´t

seem troubled by this fact. Soon after this, Natour starts feeling better, he is

able to move and breathe normally. “It is typical of stress,” claims one of the

paramedics. Before leaving, someone takes Natour´s ID number and health

insurance information, then wishes him a quick recovery. Natour made the

video a week before a solo exhibition when he was under extreme stress, not

knowing exactly what to produce.

where the artist directs an event in which he plays an immobilised artist in his

studio needing help from the paramedics. Swerving between reality and fiction,

metaphor and plain speech, Natour explores the condition of the artist who, in

fact, needs the help of outside forces to complete his work.

There are many layers of meaning to unravel in this work, starting with the

limited freedom of movement of the artist who depends on various benevolent

outside forces, from audience to participants, and from exhibiting institutions to

funders. But of course there is also the topic of the tension between minority

and majority tempered by the usage of English by both parties, and maybe

even of ethics: what is OK to do in the name of art? Natour opened himself up

to risk, assuming the potential consequences of his action, maybe even putting

a sick person´s life in jeopardy if another ambulance could not reach them, but

also of course of being discovered by the paramedics for staging the situation.

Karam Natour is an artist who undertakes sometimes poetic, sometimes blatant

analyses of identity, citizenship, intimacy and power relations by playing with

language, and performing actions through repetition, humor, and mutual trust.

He doesn´t make any absolute political statements, yet by using himself and his

family in his videos, he becomes the incarnation of the political body through

which we can grasp the existential conflicts that he, and other minorities, carry.

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