“There is infinite hope—but not for us.” Franz Kafka

How does one archive the absent, the immaterial, the inaccessible at times of crisis? How does one make visible disappeared and displaced populations? In the aftermath of the 1975-1990 Lebanese Civil War, how might the production of latent images and spectral, deferred archives speak for the dead and disappeared? In approaching these questions, this talk will look at the work of Lebanese artists Akram Zaatari, Lamia Joreige, Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige, explored in terms of their testimonial, evidentiary and historiographic potential. The talk will be in English.

Photo: Akram Zaatari, Time Capsule, Karlsaue Park, Kassel (2012), Reinforced concrete foundation and 16 buried objects. Concrete, steel, wood, acrylic, time and photographic memory. 83 x 83 x 268 cm. Installation view dOCUMENTA (13).