Fouad Elkoury, The Greatest Day (installation view), 2015. © Fouad Elkoury
Fouad Elkoury, The Greatest Day (installation view), 2015. © Fouad Elkoury

Press release -

Fouad Elkoury / The Greatest Day

On Sunday 12 June, Bildmuseet opens The Greatest Day, a video installation by French Lebanese artist Fouad Elkoury on being in a time of war. Press preview on Thursday 9 June, at 10:00. Welcome!

The exhibition Saara Ekström / Alchemy is presented to the media on the same occasion, and both artists will be present.

Fouad Elkoury / The Greatest Day. In the video installation Le plus beau jour [The Greatest Day] photographer and film-maker Fouad Elkoury couples his own images, from various times and geographical locations, with excerpts from the poem To Be in a Time of War by the Lebanese author and artist Etel Adnan.

To rise early, to hurry down to the driveway, to look for the paper, take it out from its yellow bag, to read on the front-page WAR, (…) To feel a shiver down the spine, to tell that that’s it, to know that they dared, that they jumped the line, (…)

In a poetic interplay between image and text the work communicates experiences of a changing existence through parallel stories of war, daily life, love and despair. The video work is 21:38 minutes long.

In the 1980s, Fouad Elkoury documented the civil war in Lebanon. He has subsequently started to question the individual photographic image and now combines several media in order to create new meaning: photography, text, sound and video. Juxtaposing different layers of information evokes the viewer’s associations and new stories are generated.

Fouad Elkoury (b. 1952, Paris) lives and works in Paris and Beirut, and he was one of the founders of the Arab Image Foundation. Elkoury has published a series of photo books, and his images have been exhibited at venues such as the Palais de Tokyo in Paris, the Venice Biennale and the Beirut Art Center.

Fouad Elkoury / The Greatest Day will be on view until 4 September. This is the artist’s first exhibition in Scandinavia.

Press preview: Thursday 9 June, at 10:00-12:00
Press images: www.bildmuseet.umu.se/current_press_images
Opening: Sunday 12 June, at 14:00

Further information

Questions on the preview, images, slots for interviews etc.:
Helena Vejbrink, Communications Officer Bildmuseet
helena.vejbrink@bildmuseet.umu.se, 090-786 9073

Questions on Fouad Elkoury’s work:
Sofia Johansson, Curator Bildmuseet
sofia.johansson@bildmuseet.umu.se, 090-786 9353

Topics

Categories

Bildmuseet exhibits contemporary international art, photography, architecture, design and other forms of visual culture. Existential, political and philosophical issues are key to the programme. Bildmuseet received a Special Commendation from the European Museum of the Year jury last year, and was one of the top candidates för the Swedish Museum of the Year Award as well as for the Council of Europe Museum Prize.

Bildmuseet is a part of Umeå University. It is housed in an acclaimed building at the Umeå Arts Campus, right next to the Umeå Academy of Fine Arts, Umeå Institute of Design, Umeå School of Architecture and Humlab-X. Umeå university is a multifaced university where studies and research within the creative realm make up an important part of the universty's cornerstone. It is one of Sweden's largest institutions of higher learning with over 32,000 students and 4,200 employees.

Contacts

Helena Vejbrink

Helena Vejbrink

Communication officer Bildmuseet +46 90 786 9073

Umeå University

Umeå University is one of Sweden's largest universities with over 37,000 students and 4,300 employees. The university is home to a wide range of education programmes and world-class research in a number of fields. Umeå University was also where the gene-editing tool CRISPR-Cas9 was discovered – a revolution in gene-technology that was awarded the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

Founded in 1965, Umeå University is characterised by tradition and stability as well as innovation and change. Education and research on a high international level contributes to new knowledge of global importance, inspired, among other things, by the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The university houses creative and innovative people that take on societal challenges. Through long-term collaboration with organisations, trade and industry, and other universities, Umeå University continues to develop northern Sweden as a knowledge region.

The international atmosphere at the university and its unified campus encourages academic meetings, an exchange of ideas and interdisciplinary co-operation. The cohesive environment enables a strong sense of community and a dynamic and open culture in which students and staff rejoice in the success of others.

Campus Umeå and Umeå Arts Campus are only a stone's throw away from Umeå town centre and are situated next to one of Sweden's largest and most well-renowned university hospitals. The university also has campuses in the neighbouring towns Skellefteå and Örnsköldsvik.

At Umeå University, you will also find the highly-ranked Umeå Institute of Design, the environmentally certified Umeå School of Business, Economics and Statistics and the only architectural school with an artistic orientation – Umeå School of Architecture. The university also hosts a contemporary art museum Bildmuseet and Umeå's science centre – Curiosum. Umeå University is one of Sweden's five national sports universities and hosts an internationally recognised Arctic Research Centre.

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