Spiraling

x Haus der Kunst München

Spiraling – spelt with one L – is Tarek Lakhrissi’s most recent film work produced during May 2021 with Haus der Kunst, Munich, DE in collaboration with Shedhalle, Zürich, CH. The video features queer activist pole dancer Mila Furie performing a routine on a pole in which the spiral is a regular action set in the middle of the authoritarian architecture of one of Haus der Kunst’s galleries. Lakhrissi considers the spiral to be a positive and meditative movement that enables someone to twist and adapt to a situation in which someone feels lost, weary or uncomfortable socially. In a recent interview with Hans Ulrich Obrist, the artist stated that the “video is about a close friend performing inside the museum, addressing the spiral as a poetic movement in relation to pole dancing”. The shape and form of the movement can be seen in prior works of the artist, most notably his installation series Unfinished Sentence I and II (2019 & 2020). The film is inspired by Felix Gonzales Torres’ work “Untitled” (Go-Go Dancing Platform) (1991), in which a performer dances with headphones to inaudible music on a lit-up platform that is empty except for short moments of a day when the dancer appears. Celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, Spiraling is not only a homage, but a continued reinvocation of poetic space that Torres captured in the work.

Tarek Lakhrissi (b. 1992, Châtellerault, FR) is based between Paris, FR and Brussels, BE. Lakhrissi has had international solo presentations at museums and galleries including: VITRINE, London, UK; Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin, IT; Centre d’Art Contemporain, Noisy-Le-Sec, FR, with an upcoming solo show at MOSTYN, Llandudno, UK. Further group exhibitions at galleries, museums and biennials internationally include: Palais de Tokyo, Paris, FR; Wiels, Brussels, BE; NIRIN 22nd Biennale of Sydney, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney, AU; Baltic Triennial 13, Contemporary Art Centre, Riga, LV & CAC, Vilnius, LT. Forthcoming exhibitions include Horst Festival, Brussels/Vilvoorde, BE; Manchester International Festival, UK (all July 2021). He has been shortlisted for the 22nd Foundation Pernod Ricard Prize 2021.