YOU ARE IN HEAVEN BUT SUDDENLY EVERYTHING BEGINS TO BURN
you are in heaven but suddenly everything begins to burn
June–September 2024
Kunstverein Aughrim
Kunstverein Aughrim presents you are in heaven but suddenly everything begins to burn by Bassam Issa Al-Sabah. The exhibition carries top notes of frankincense, decadence, and oil-spill glamour, undershot with hints of neroli, pink pepper, and the distant memory of nature. Al-Sabah’s work foretells an inescapable dystopia, built on the ruins of capitalism amid total ecological collapse. A new short film at the centre of the show depicts a bleak speculative future, where a lone figure seems to transcend the ravaged landscape by embodying a new fragrance, one that defies extinction. This desolate world leaks from the digital realm back into our present-day bodies through the molecules of scent, the pixels of the moving image, and the decibels of an apocalyptic soundscape.
The fragrance at the centre of this exhibition was developed during a scent-making workshop as part of a Micro Residency at Cow House Studios, convened by the artist in collaboration with Kunstverein Aughrim in May 2024.
Join us from 3–5pm on Saturday 29 June for the Summer Preview with Bassam Issa Al-Sabah, for a chance to smell the new fragrance created specially for the exhibition, as part of a special reception with the artist, amid the local festivities of Aughrim’s Craic in the Granite Music & Arts Festival 2024.
you are in heaven but suddenly everything begins to burn is on view throughout Summer 2024, closing on 1 September. The exhibition may be visited during our opening hours 10am–5pm, Thursday–Sunday by appointment. Please email office@kunstverein.ie to schedule your visit.
About the artist:
Bassam Issa Al-Sabah works across digital animation, painting, sculpture and textiles creating visions of resistance, transformation and queer possibility. Recent exhibitions include: Uncensored Lilac, in collaboration with Jennifer Mehigan at Silent Green, Transmediale, Berlin (2024), IT'S DANGEROUS TO GO ALONE TAKE THIS!, The Douglas Hyde Gallery of Contemporary Art, Dublin (2022), I AM ERROR, Gasworks, London (2021), and De La Warr Pavilion, Sussex (2022); Dissolving Beyond The Worm Moon, Solstice Arts Centre, Navan (2019); and Illusions of Love Dyed by Sunset, The LAB Gallery, Dublin (2018). Recent group exhibitions include Queer Embodiment and Social Fabric at the Irish Museum of Modern Art (2021-2022), The Dock, Carrick-on-Shannon (2021) and Golden Thread Gallery, Belfast (2020). Recent screenings include the Barbican, London (2022), Transmediale, Berlin (2021), EX-IS, South Korea (2021) and Jeu de Paume, Paris (2021). Al-Sabah's work is part of collections at the Irish Museum of Modern Art, the Arts Council of Ireland and Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council. In 2021 he received the Golden Fleece Award and he is currently a studio member at Temple Bar Gallery + Studios.
This new commission is produced by Kunstverein Aughrim in collaboration with the Courthouse Arts Centre, Tinahely, and supported by Wicklow County Council Arts Festival Award Scheme and The Arts Council / An Chomhairle Ealaíon, as part of the Craic in the Granite Music & Arts Festival 2024.
Kunstverein Aughrim’s ongoing collaboration with Bassam Issa Al-Sabah is made possible with the support of The Arts Council / An Chomhairle Ealaíon.