Public Programme for the exhibition Mahmoud Khaled | Fantasies on a Found Phone, Dedicated to the Man Who Lost it
The Mosaic Rooms announces the public programme for the exhibition Fantasies on a Found Phone, Dedicated to the Man Who Lost it by Mahmoud Khaled. The programme is following the speculative notions in the exhibition and further investigating some of the concepts proposed, spanning from the intimacy of the bedroom to political states of being. Drawing on ideas of fantasy, desire and technology, and the interplay of absence and presence through memory, the programme features artists, activists, collectives and thinkers from cross-disciplinary fields including visual cultures, architecture, history, and gender studies. The programme will take place in the gallery and at partnership spaces offsite, with some elements featured online.
Artist Mahmoud Khaled and writer Omar Kholeif will speak about the new installation at The Mosaic Rooms and Khaled’s interest in repositioning the museological notions of a house museum in a contemporary queer lens.
Two performances will respond to the exhibition. The programme launches with an evening of sound pieces presented by Joe Namy with Alya Al-Sultani, and Khabat Abas. Inspired by ballroom/voguing culture, movement artist Duane Nasis will traverse sleeplessness, anxiety and desire through dance. A listening session with Sound Advice and Arman Nouri will cultivate solidarity through sound and conversations on (un)learning and musical cultures.
A series of discussions will take the bedrooms in the exhibition as a departure point to untangle and queer notions of the politics of sleep and desire. Beatriz Colomina will present a lecture on the architecture of the bed. Artists and researchers Bahar Noorizadeh, Zach Blas, and Matthew Fuller will explore the intersection of these themes, fantasies and the digital realm. Sara El Adl and Hannah Elsisi will present and discuss their research on biopolitics, carceral systems and gendered violence. The book accompanying the exhibition, designed with Marwan Kaabour and co-published by BookWorks will be launched. Researcher João Florêncio will be in conversation about ecologies of intimacy and technologies in gay networks.
Tours and talks will shed light on dimensions and concepts of a house (museum). A walking tour will look at architecturally significant, eclectic and fictive house museums in West London, leading through the exhibition, Walmer Yard and The Cosmic House. In partnership with the Architecture Foundation, we will host a panel bringing together researchers, artists and architects Mahmoud Khaled, Nadine Nour el Din and Laura Mark to critically engage with concepts of house museums. A shuttle tour will lead through Mahmoud Khaled’s two London exhibitions, at Brent Biennial and The Mosaic Rooms, setting off with a conversation between Mahmoud Khaled and co-editor Sara El Adl on the book and show Proposal for a Museum of the Unknown Crying Man.
A highlight of the programme is a literature day celebrating small-press and independent publications, including the87press, Barakunan, daikon*, Haramacy, Khidr Collective, with poetry and performances, with Sarona Abuaker, Zia Ahmed, Eve-Esfandiari-Denney, Mira Mattar, Memoona Zahid and Barakunan, and films curated by HOAX.
Children and families are always welcome at The Mosaic Rooms. This summer, play in the new interactive commission The House of Many Ways by our 2022 family artist Sahra Hersi at The Chelsea Theatre – opening with a launch party in July. In the gallery, explore and create with vibrant materials and sensory play activities in our play area. Participate in a playful, sensory workshop by artist Sarah Marsh, part of a new commission designed to create opportunities for families to explore the exhibitions in a new way.
In addition, our bookshop will present Issam Kourbaj‘s filmed performance Imploded, burned, turned to ash as part of Refugee Week (22-26 June).