Manaf Halbouni
Dreamland, 2023
Site-specific installation of painted wood, 200 x 1200 cm
Courtesy of the artist
Supported by IFA – Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen, Stuttgart
With his highly acclaimed installation Monument, consisting of three upright buses, presented in 2017 in front of the Frauenkirche in Dresden and then in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Manaf Halbouni (*1984) took a socially critical stance on the war in Syria, global conflicts, and migration. Other central themes in his works are colonialism and military violence, borders and uprooting. Halbouni’s Dreamland installation is specifically related to the town of Motovun in Istria. Motovun is a popular holiday destination, known nowadays as a center of hedonists from all over the world. But it is not the vineyards and not the Motovun forest with its enticing truffles, nor is it the traditional Motovun game of throwing ox horns that particularly fascinates the artist. It is simply the supernatural view of the Istrian landscape full of absolute beauty that gives the artist a “point of ecstasy” (according to Nietzsche), combined with the exclamation: “I have found my dreamland.”
Manaf Halbouni
Dreamland, 2023. Photo by Jules Spinatsch.
Svojom vrlo hvaljenom instalacijom “Monument”, koja se sastoji od tri uspravna autobusa, predstavljenom 2017. ispred Frauenkirche u Dresdenu, a potom i ispred Brandenburških vrata u Berlinu, Manaf Halbouni (*1984.) zauzeo je društveno kritički stav prema ratu u Siriji, globalnim sukobima i migraciji. Druge središnje teme u njegovim djelima su kolonijalizam i vojno nasilje, granice i iskorjenjivanje. Ideja za Halbounijeva instalaciju “Dreamland” vezana je uz gradić Motovun u Istri, danas popularno odredište za odmor, poznato kao središte hedonista iz cijelog svijeta. Ali nisu vinogradi i Motovunska šuma sa svojim zamamnim tartufima, niti tradicionalna motovunska igra bacanja volovskih rogova ono što umjetnika posebno fascinira. Jednostavno, nadnaravni pogled na istarski krajolik pun apsolutne ljepote daje umjetniku “točku ekstaze” (prema Nietzscheu), uz uzvik: “Pronašao sam svoju zemlju snova.”