AFGHANISTAN by Farid Rahimi

The project AFGHANISTAN by Farid Rahimi, curated by Luca Cerizza, is conceived as a multi-channel video installation. The work is the upshot of long research through which to reconnect people and memories linked to the artist’s father’s land of origin: Afghanistan. Through a series of journeys, encounters, dialogues and testimonies, Rahimi reconstructs a geographical and emotional mapping of this network of contacts in an itinerary that goes from Italy, to Switzerland, Germany, the United States, and then on to Australia and Japan. Ar/Ge Kunst will stage the first presentation of the work, through the viewing of an initial editing of the video and a conversation that will go into the articulation and history of the project, coupled with a broader reflection on the theme of diaspora.

The project will be accompanied by a publication released by Archive Books, featuring a collection of essays on the Afghan diaspora edited by experts in the field such as Francesca Recchia (Bocconi University, Milan), Zafar Sayan and Dawood Tawana, Afghan sociologists and researchers. The publication will be introduced with a conversation between Farid Rahimi, Luca Cerizza, Antonio Rovaldi and Francesca Recchia.

AFGHANISTAN by Farid Rahimi was made possible thanks to the support of the Italian Council (12th edition 2023), a programme for the international promotion of Italian art by the General Directorate for Contemporary Creativity of the Ministry of Culture. The project was presented by Centro Itard Lombardia, in partnership with Archive Kabinett e.V. of Berlin, with the collaboration of MUFOCO Museo di Fotografia Contemporanea of Milan-Cinisello Balsamo (which will acquire the work), Ar/Ge Kunst of Bolzano and MAO Museo d’Arte Orientale of Turin (cultural partners). The work will be presented at the venues of the European partners: in Bolzano at Ar/Ge Kunst (13 May 2024), in Turin at the MAO Museum (23 May 2024) and then in Berlin at the SAVVY Contemporary spaces of Archive Kabinett e.V. (August 2024).