PRESS RELEASE
NATURE MORTEA contemporary outlook on Giorgio MorandiPALAIS DES BEAUX-ARTS, Brussels, BE12.07 > 03.09.2013
The artist Hamza Halloubi (1982, Tangier) will be presenting his videoNature Morte, 2013 in conjunction with the Giorgio Morandi retrospective. He presented this work at the Higher Institute for Fine Arts in Ghent and it is a reference to the works of Giorgio Morandi (1890-1964). Morandi led a secluded life and he filled his time painting still lifes for a few of his friends. He worked during turbulent times in Italy and the two world wars and the Mussolini regime had a clearly visible impact on his work. The video Nature Morte takes the work of Morandi out of this enclosed context. The still lifes of Morandi are brought face to face with images from the agitated history of the 20th century in the form of a fictional book presentation.

Hamza Halloubi’s work is very socially committed and offers an indirect view of social happenings in the world today such as the Arab spring or the European economic crisis. By creating this work about Morandi, Halloubi questions the social commitment of artists. Is it possible to dedicate a life to a purely aesthetic search that is completely cut off from political and social reality?