The House of Osama Bin Laden at IMMA

dublin | arts and media | press release

Wednesday November 26, 2003 14:11

by pat c

press at modernart dot ie

The House of Osama Bin Laden at IMMA

An exhibition featuring an interactive digital model allowing a virtual exploration of the former home of Osama bin Laden opens to the public at the Irish Museum of Modern Art on Wednesday 10 December 2003 and the exhibition continues until 8 February 2004.

The model is one of six works by British artists Ben Langlands and Nikki Bell on show in Langlands & Bell: The House of Osama Bin Laden over the next two months. All of the works are the result of a two-week visit to Afghanistan in October 2002 on a research commission for the Imperial War Museum, London.

Using a still and a digital video camera, Langlands & Bell recorded visits to ISAF HQ (the multi-national task force in Kabul led by the Turks at that time), the American airbase at Bagram, a murder trial at the Supreme Court in Kabul, the site of the statues of Buddha at Bamyan that were destroyed by the Taliban, and, after a long and dangerous journey, the former home of Osama bin Laden at Daruntah, west of Jalalabad, where he lived for a brief period in the late 1990s.

In The House of Osama Bin Laden, 2002, viewers can navigate through whitewashed rooms, store cupboards and bunkers and even gaze out of the windows at the surrounding countryside. While bearing testimony to bin Laden’s absence, it also serves as a reminder of his forbidding presence in the Wests’ collective consciousness.

On arriving in Afghanistan Langlands & Bell were immediately struck by the large number of NGOs (Non-Governmental Organisations), UN and other donor agencies operating in the country and began taking photographs of the signs they place in the streets to advertise their presence. These images are being shown as a slide sequence in the exhibitions alongside an animated film using the acronyms of the NGOs in a series of graphic templates.

Zardad’s Dog (2003) is a short film edited from live footage that the artists shot at the trial of a notorious war commander at the Supreme Court in Kabul. In this extraordinary piece, justice does battle with evil in scenes that seem to have come straight from Biblical times.

Ben Langlands (born London 1955) and Nikki Bell (born London 1959) have been collaborating since 1978, and exhibiting internationally since the early 1980s. Based in London, they create works which explore the complex web of relationships linking people and architecture.

Langlands & Bell examine our experience of architecture, and our primarily urban culture, on many different levels, exploring the places and structures we inhabit, and the routes that penetrate and link them. Their work looks at real buildings and the ways we think about them, revealing their histories and associated human activity.

Major exhibitions of the work of Langlands & Bell include: Serpentine Gallery, London, 1996; Kunsthalle Bielefeld, Germany, 1996; Architecture as Metaphor, Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1997; Venice Biennale, 1997; Sensation, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1997; Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin, 1998 and Brooklyn Museum, New York, 1999; Frozen Sky, Centre for Contemporary Art Kitakyushu, Japan, 1997; TN Probe, Tokyo, 1998; Henry Moore Institute, Leeds, 1998; Yale Center for British Art, New Have CT., US, 1999; The Central House of The Artist Moscow 2000; Turner Studio Residency Exhibition, Petworth House, Petworth, UK, 2002; The House of Osama bin Laden, Imperial War Museum, London, 2003; Henry Urbach Architecture, New York.

The exhibition is commissioned by the Imperial War Museum, London, and is curated by Angela Weight, its Keeper of the Department of Arts. It is organised in collaboration with IMMA.
An exhibition of large-format photographs by Belfast-born artist Paul Seawright created in response to his recent travels in Afghanistan, also commissioned by the Imperial War Museum, has been on show at IMMA from 18 September to 30 November 2003.

Artists’ Talk

Wednesday 10 December at 11.30am.
Langlands & Bell will discuss the works in the exhibition.

East Ground Floor Galleries at IMMA.
Booking is essential as space is limited.
Tel: 01-612 9948; Email: ed.comm@modernart.ie

The exhibition continues until 8 February 2004.

Admission is free.
Opening hours:

Tue - Sat 10.00am - 5.30pm

Sun and Bank Holidays 12 noon - 5.30pm

Mondays Closed

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Comments (6 of 6)

Address

Wed Nov 26, 2003 14:20

Irish Museum of Modern Art
Royal Hospital
Military Road
Kilmainham
Dublin 8
Ireland

Note.

by Pat C

Wed Nov 26, 2003 18:24

Nobody should be under any illlusion that Osama Bin Laden is nothing less than the most evil man on the planet at the moment. If you despise intolerance and religious extremism, you should despise OBL.

No, no, that won't do...

by Barney

Thu Nov 27, 2003 06:59

This is Indymedia, remember. In this universe, George W Bush is the most evil man on th eplanet and Osama Bin laden, can't help himself, he was provoked.

Instead of putting OBL in prison when he is captured, he should get counselling in a nice comfortable rest home and day release to see his family, so he can be integrated back into the community.

Bush should be put up against a wall and shot.

i didnt post the comment above

Thu Nov 27, 2003 11:09

osama is a mere patsy, trained by the cia, presently funded by ????

the real prince of darkness is of course tony blair, his king is dubya.

No Sense Of Humour

Thu Nov 27, 2003 12:27

Israelis Seize Bin Laden, Saddam Dolls
Wed Nov 26, 5:02 PM ET

JERUSALEM - Israeli customs agents seized 400 Osama bin Laden dolls and 50 more Saddam Hussein dolls Wednesday, saying they were inciteful material, the customs authority said in a release.

An Arab Israeli had ordered the singing and dancing dolls that carry toy guns as a "gimmick" for sale to Arabs and Jews in Israel, he told the agents when he was questioned.

Customs agents discovered the dolls during a routine check of cargo at the port of Haifa, in northern Israel, the customs authority said.

The ship carrying the toys from China also contained 450 Teletubby dolls, which agents are examining to see if they are counterfeit, the release said.

While Palestinians have held some demonstrations in support of Osama bin Laden, there have been no mass displays of affection for the accused terror mastermind.

Most Israelis abhor Saddam Hussein as an enemy who fired missiles at the Jewish state during the 1991 Gulf War (news - web sites). Popular sentiment in the Palestinian areas is largely in favor of the deposed Iraqi leader, especially for his support of the Palestinian cause.

you'll like this.

by -

Fri Nov 28, 2003 15:43

I witnessed a minute's silence yesterday for Copa de Nieve Snow Flake the albino gorilla in a Catalan secondary school at the students' suggestion. Sweet.

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The House of Osama Bin Laden at IMMA

Comments (6 of 6)