Wael Shawky

About this book

The heart of the exhibition starring Egyptian artist Wael Shawky is his famous puppet film trilogy Cabaret Crusades, shown for the first time in Denmark. The exhibition also presents a rich selection of other works, including puppets featured in the films, vast wooden reliefs, drawings, photographs and collages ? and an entirely new, site specific work that takes the form of a 50-metre wall. The trilogy Cabaret Crusades relate the history of the medieval Crusades in the Middle East ? seen from an Arab point of view. Taking his point of departure in original historical sources and an innovative use of marionettes, Shawky re-enacts historic events from the distant past, focusing on the complicated relationship between the West and the Middle East. He depicts a past characterised by fierce conflict and violent clashes that continue to inform the relationship between the West and Middle East today, giving us a chance to see the Crusades and our own present day in a new light.00Exhibition: ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum, Copenhagen, Denmark (19.05-09.09.2018).