"Fassih Keiso: Skins - A Multi-media Installation and Projection"
2002-06-21 until 2002-07-06
24 HR Art - Northern Territory Centre for Contemporary Art
Darwin, NT, AU

24HR Art is transformed into a wild Middle Eastern disco for the multi-media installation and projection, Skins.  The gallery is blacked out, partially illuminated by a mirror ball and party lights. Two huge animal skin drums, on which images are projected, dominate the space.  

Fassih Keiso is a Melbourne-based artist whose multi-media installation Skins explores tensions between Eastern and Western perceptions of the body and sexuality. Keiso works with fragments of the human body, breaking it up, removing it from normal contexts and reconstructing it. The skins of the title refer to the taught surface of the drums as well as the cliche of forbidden flesh.  The artist connects traditional Arabic elements and music with technologies like video, slide projection, soundscape and text creating an exciting, immersive installation.

Fassih Keiso was born in Syria, lived in Beirut and moved to Australia in 1993.  His work has been exhibited in New York, the UK, Europe, many venues in the Middle East as well as in Australia. The opening will feature a performance by a percussion group.  The drums will remain for the duration of the exhibition to be played by the audience.

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