Basic Instinct

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Basic Instinct

Edition: 1/7
Syria, 2008
Photographs
Archival print on cotton paper
43 5/16 × 55 1/8 in. (110 × 140 cm); Frame: 49 7/16 × 61 × 1 3/16 in. (125.5 × 155 × 3 cm)
Anonymous gift (M.2013.39.4)
Not currently on public view

Curator Notes

Ammar Al Beik is a conceptual artist and filmmaker....
Ammar Al Beik is a conceptual artist and filmmaker. In these four photographs, Al Beik, like the better known Akram Zaatari, makes use of old archival and found photographs, which he partially obscures and recontextualizes. As a frame, Al Beik uses wildly chromatic thumbnail depictions of ancient goddesses displayed in the National Museum. His interest in the circulation of images has to do with the manipulation of memories and their impact on current political/religious divisions.

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