Author Description

<i>Mona Hatoum: Turbulence</i>, published to accompany the artist's first major exhibition in the Arab world, highlights the diverse artistic output of Mona Hatoum (born 1952) over the past 30 years. Its centerpiece is the work <i>Turbulence</i>. Placed exactly at the exhibition space's center, this installation comprises a 13 x 13-foot square composed of thousands of glass marbles laid directly into the floor. The notion of "turbulence" as a conceptual framework for the exhibition is derived not only from this key piece, but also from the thematic and formal dichotomies and unexpected juxtapositions within Hatoum's work at large. As collected in this volume, "turbulence" arises on three levels: the internal, as a questioning of her own identity, confused by alienation and displacement; the public, as a reflection upon common notions of belonging and collective memory; and formal, as an inquiry into ways of expanding artistic expression.