Output details

Palestinian Pavilion at Venice Biennale 2013

Research content/process:

The output is both this official collateral event of the 55th Venice Biennale, the Palestinian exhibition Otherwise Occupied, as well as Makhoul’s individual artefact in Otherwise Occupied, Giardini Occupato. This exhibition formed a part of the official programme of the 2013 Venice Biennale and is featured in Vol. 2 of the official Biennale catalogue. Makhoul conceived this exhibition with curator Rawan Sharaf and they then invited the participation of co-curator Bruce Ferguson and artist Aissa Deebi (whose work The Trial formed the other artefact in the exhibition). Makhoul’s artefact Giardini Occupato was the driving force in shaping the exhibition Otherwise Occupied as it dictated the location of the exhibition (a space in Venice providing use of a garden was necessary for the execution of Makhoul’s installation) and created the conceptual framework for the theme of the exhibition: alternative readings of ‘occupation’. Makhoul built nearly 3000 cardboard boxes, complete with apertures cut to resemble windows, and installed a city in the garden at Liceo Artistico Statale di Venezia, Palazzo Ca' Giustinian Recanati, Dorsoduro 1012 (Accademia), 30123 Venezia, Italia. The occupied garden was further occupied by the public who were invited to assemble their own boxes from the materials provided and to parade into the walled outdoor space and add their creations to the 1000s already in-situ, further transforming the landscape which Makhoul had already transformed. The work, while wholly original in terms of materials and theme, draws on a complex modernist legacy involving artworks by Warhol, Christo and Duchamp.