Baytuna, meaning our home in Arabic, is an interactive, mobile exhibition celebrating Southwest Asian and North African (SWANA) literature and art, in which audiences of all ages and backgrounds can gather to read, play, listen, touch, watch, and feel the present and the distant past in a cozy and relaxed atmosphere.
Baytuna features artworks by artists Shareef Askar, DJ 1UAN, Meri Helmi Särkkä, Yassine Khaled, and Haliz Yosef. The exhibition consists of three small living rooms where visitors can read a selection of books covering 4000 years of history of art, literature, and science, watch interviews voicing the experience of multiculturalism in today’s Finland, dive into the work of contemporary artists, practice cuneiform writing, handle 3D printed historical artifacts, compare material heritage from different places, and understand how archaeologists reconstruct long gone worlds from the material culture left behind.
Baytuna completes and enters into a multi-leveled dialog with the Exploring the Ancient Near East exhibition, shown in the National Museum until 4th of September, and re-opening in the Museum of Central Finland in October 2022. The exhibition has been co-curated by both of these museums together with the University of Helsinki’s Centre of Excellence in Ancient Near Eastern Empires.
—
Shareef Askar is a graphic designer, illustrator, media artist and art director who creates visually and politically compelling images and engages the viewer through multi-dimensional storytelling.
DJ 1UAN, a well-known figure of the Oulu club scene, has taken his smooth mixes all around Finland and his conceptual soundscapes are invitations to inner voyages far beyond the limits of the self.
The art of Meri Helmi Särkkä (former Mariam Haji) involve observations of social practices and interactions between the ways in which European art history has had an effect on postmodern Arab Art.
Yassine Khaled visualizes power relations between individuals caused by, for instance, ever-increasing gaps in wealth, socio-cultural differences, labor conditions, educational opportunities.
Haliz Yosef works with memories, cultural-identity and language which mediates through moving image, sound art installations.
—
You can visit our project website baytuna.fi for more information, and follow the project on Instagram @baytuna_exhibition
Baytuna is produced by the Making Home Abroad project, and follows safer space guidelines.
For more information, please contact:
Yasmin Ibrahim, yasmin.ibrahim@helsinki.fi
Caroline Wallis, caroline.wallis@helsinki.fi