Larissa Sansour & Søren Lind – Tomorrow’s Ghosts

Palestinian artist/director Larissa Sansour and Danish author, director and scriptwriter Søren Lind have been collaborating for over a decade. Their works have been presented at museums and film festivals worldwide, as well as at the Danish Pavilion at the 58th Venice Biennial (2019). In their first major museum exhibition in Denmark as a collective, they present works that address the aftermaths of trauma and loss, which also serve to underline the impact of political conflict and ecological disasters, while taking on the very foundations of history writing and the possibilities of rewriting and influencing history.

The sci-fi short In Vitro (2019) depicts two scientists sheltering in an underground compound in the aftermath of an eco-disaster. They discuss the effects of memory, exile and nostalgia. Sansour and Lind’s newest film As If No Misfortune Had Occurred in the Night (2022) chronicles a century of a post-war, never-ending cycle of violence and inherited trauma, displacement, and mourning. Blending the European music tradition of Gustav Mahler’s Kindertotenlieder with a traditional Palestinian song, Palestinian soprano Nour Darwish, dressed in a futuristic remake of a folkloric costume, performs a single aria in the setting of a derelict chapel. The videos will be accompanied by bronze munition sculptures from the series Archaeology in Absentia (2016/17). The works are inspired by Cold War Russian nuclear bombs and are engraved with the coordinates of hand-painted porcelain plates buried across Palestine and Israel.

Larissa Sansour

Larissa Sansour (b. 1973) is a Palestinian artist/director. Central to her work is the dialectics between myth and historical narrative. In her recent works, she uses science fiction to address social and political issues. Working mainly with film, Sansour also produces installations, photos and sculptures. Her work is shown in film festivals and museums worldwide. In 2019, she represented Denmark at the 58th Venice Biennial. In 2020, she was the shared recipient of the prestigious Jarman Award. She has shown her work at Tate Modern, MoMA, Centre Pompidou and the Istanbul Biennial. Recent solo exhibitions include Copenhagen Contemporary in Denmark, Bluecoat in Liverpool, Bildmuseet in Umeå and Dar El-Nimer in Beirut.  Sansour lives and works in London.

Søren Lind

Søren Lind (b. 1970) is a Danish author, visual artist, director and scriptwriter. With a background in philosophy, Lind wrote books on mind, language and understanding before turning to film, art and fiction. He has published novels, shorts story collections and several children’s books. Lind works with film, sculpture and installation. He screens and exhibits his films at museums, galleries and film festivals worldwide. Recent venues and festivals include the 58th Venice Biennial, FACT (UK), MoMA (US), Barbican (UK), Copenhagen Contemporary (DK), Berlinale (D), International Film Festival Rotterdam (NL) and BFI London Film Festival (UK). He lives and works in London.

Photo: In Vitro, film, 2 channels, 28’, Larissa Sansour and Søren Lind, 2019
Courtesy of the artists and Kunsten Museum of Modern Art Aalborg. Supported by Augustinus Fonden.