A Strange Encounter / Hey you (2)
Lydia Ourahmane
Performance
July 16, 2017, 7:00 PM


Lydia Ourahmane: common id

Performed by Lias Kaci Saoudi
Chello: Hans Wagner


common id is a stark chorus of sound and voices filling the space, spoken as a commentary against common reason, the taught and the habitual. The central figure, transports antagonistic voices and characters, that emerge from contemporary landscapes of social conflict.

The protagonist moves through space, reluctantly, as a disagreement is acted out in call and response, introduced by a Medahat song – the folk music sung traditionally by female singers in a code that men could not understand – recorded by Ourahmane in Sidi El Houari, Oran, Algeria. The cello behaves as a conversation between two positions of consciousness, a witness at the scene of a crime.

The performer in chant like speeches, carries the conflictual scenario of a scene of crime, its witness, its victim, its offender, and its system of justice. Positioned within unspoken laws that are inscribed in the individual and collective mindset, she re-enacts an oral history which is confronted by accusation, a call for cleansing, swallowed resistance and final acceptance.


Lydia Ourahmane (b. 1992 Saïda, Algeria) lives in London and works between the UK and Algeria. She graduated from Goldsmiths, University of London and her artistic practice spans new media, video, public interventions, lecture-performance, sculptures and found objects. Ourahmane’s work explores complex social and political structures, internal and external forces that govern one’s existence and which shapes collective futures and agencies, often stemming from frustrations, disillusion, the expression of nationality in the context of contemporary, postcolonial Algeria.

Ourahmane has presented works at Bloomberg New Contemporaries 2014 at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London and World Museum, Liverpool; John Jones Project Space, London; Delfina Foundation, London; Ellis King Gallery, Dublin among others. Her work was included in the group exhibition “Territoires Arabes” at Constantine Capital of Arab Culture 2015 and “Natural Instincts” at the Espace Arlaud in Lausanne (curated by Samuel Leuenberger). In 2017 she will participate in the 15th Istanbul Biennial, “A Good Neighbour” (curated by Elmgreen and Dragset) and present a solo exhibition in 2018 at Chisenhale Gallery London.

British/Algerian Lias Saoudi (b.1986, Southampton, UK) is lead singer Fat White Family (FWF) formed in 2011. He grew up across Scotland and Northern Ireland before studying at London’s Slade School of Fine Art. He is renowned for his deeply personal, manic performances built on his utter commitment to the intensity of total expression, scepticism and hard-left politics.

Lydia Ourahmane & Lias Kaci Saoudi, common id, Kevin Space 2017. Photo: Laura Schaeffer
Lydia Ourahmane & Lias Kaci Saoudi, common id, Kevin Space 2017. Photo: Laura Schaeffer
Lydia Ourahmane & Lias Kaci Saoudi, common id, Kevin Space 2017. Photo: Laura Schaeffer
Lydia Ourahmane & Lias Kaci Saoudi, common id, Kevin Space 2017. Photo: Laura Schaeffer
Lydia Ourahmane & Lias Kaci Saoudi, common id, Kevin Space 2017. Photo: Laura Schaeffer
Lydia Ourahmane & Lias Kaci Saoudi, common id, Kevin Space 2017. Photo: Laura Schaeffer
Lydia Ourahmane & Lias Kaci Saoudi, common id, Kevin Space 2017. Photo: Laura Schaeffer
Lydia Ourahmane & Lias Kaci Saoudi, common id, Kevin Space 2017. Photo: Laura Schaeffer
Lydia Ourahmane & Lias Kaci Saoudi, common id, Kevin Space 2017. Photo: Laura Schaeffer
Lydia Ourahmane & Lias Kaci Saoudi, common id, Kevin Space 2017. Photo: Laura Schaeffer
Lydia Ourahmane & Lias Kaci Saoudi, common id, Kevin Space 2017. Photo: Laura Schaeffer
Lydia Ourahmane & Lias Kaci Saoudi, common id, Kevin Space 2017. Photo: Laura Schaeffer
Lydia Ourahmane & Lias Kaci Saoudi, common id, Kevin Space 2017. Photo: Laura Schaeffer
Lydia Ourahmane & Lias Kaci Saoudi, common id, Kevin Space 2017. Photo: Laura Schaeffer
Lydia Ourahmane & Lias Kaci Saoudi, common id, Kevin Space 2017. Photo: Laura Schaeffer