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Khaled Sabsabi, Integration, Assimilation and a fair go for ALL, Gallery 4A Asia-Australia Arts Centre, Sydney, until 25 July

In Winter 2009 Gallery 4A's focus shifts towards West Asia and the Arab world, shedding light on the ways in which international issues of migration, integration, assimilation are interpreted and influence the work of contemporary artists.

Khaled Sabsabi
Left-Centre-Right, 2007/2009
Video still
Courtesy of the artist

Gallery 4A presents a solo exhibition by Khaled Sabsabi, a Western-Sydney-based artist, who over the last 10 years has developed an impressive exhibition profile, working with important curators and museums in Berlin, Poland, Shanghai, Auckland and Western-Sydney. Integration, Assimilation and a fair go for All is a multi-channel video installation that will occupy both levels of Gallery 4A. Aaron Seeto, Director of Gallery 4A says "This is the latest in Khaled Sabsabi's ongoing body of work that addresses contact and conflict. Sabsabi is the kind of artist who is not only engaged politically, but an artist who offers us different ways of thinking through our relationships and our place in the world. Sabsabi presents a complex project which poetically and intelligently unravels some of the big issues of our time."

The exhibition presents work made over the last three years which invert our expectations and question the level of engagement of the viewer. The 3-channel video installation Left-Centre-Right presents an ominous storm sequence over the suburbs near Newcastle. This natural event was documented by the artist in 1997. When viewed in the gallery, there is an eerie similarity to news imagery of war offensives in other countries. In Fuck off we're full a large black vinyl text is presented on a black painted wall - the unpleasant directness of the text melds into the physical surroundings - Sabsabi critiques our institutions, asking whether the conflict of land ownership and occupation are inscribed silently all around us. On the ground floor galleries, the video installation Australians is visible 24 hours a day. This work is a 12-channel video installation of oscillating human faces, fragments of noses, eyes, mouths, collaged from various faces across many different cultures.

Born in Lebanon, Khaled Sabsabi migrated to Sydney in the 1970s. He has worked across sound, music production and the visual arts in Australia for the past 16 years. From 2002-2004, he completed an Australia Council fellowship in Beirut. Internationally he has participated in exhibitions in Beirut, Te Tuhi Centre for the Arts, Auckland; Zendai MoMA Shanghai and recently at Kunstverein Tiergarten, Berlin. Working across Western Sydney he has exhibited at the Campbelltown Arts Centre, Casula Powerhouse and Blacktown Arts Centre. Integration Assimilation and a fair go for All will be officially opened on Friday 12 June at 6pm by Lisa Havilah, Director of Campbelltown Arts Centre.

Panel Discussion - 20 June 2009 Saturday 2pm

Gallery 4A will present a panel discussion to explore some of the key ideas within Khaled Sabsabi's exhibition. In this exhibition Gallery 4A's focus shifts towards West Asia and the Arab World through an artist whose ongoing body of work addresses contact and conflict and the role of the artist. As issues of migration, contact, conflict, traditional land ownership and occupation affect much contemporary art production in this country, what is the changing role of the artist, and what strategies are employed that bridge the creative and the political. The informal afternoon session will include speakers curator Alissar Chidiac, academic and poet Farid Farid, Indigenous Curator - Contemporary Art, Campbelltown Arts Centre, Djon Mundine and Khaled Sabsabi, chaired by Aaron Seeto.

GALLERY 4A - Asia-Australia Arts Centre
181-187 Hay St(between Pitt & George Sts)
Sydney 2000
ph: 02 9212 0380
fax: 02 9281 0873
www.4a.com.au
info@4a.com.au
Open Tues - Sat 11am - 6pm